Deceptive Ad From MoveOn, AFSCME

The NYTimes fact-checks a new MoveOn/AFSCME ad:

ON THE SCREEN A young, blonde mother speaks directly to the camera as she sits on a living room couch, holding on her lap a baby boy dressed in overalls.

THE SCRIPT The woman says, “Hi, John McCain; this is Alex. He’s my first. So far, his talents include trying any new food and chasing after our dog — that, and making my heart pound every time I look at him. So, John McCain, when you said you would stay in Iraq for 100 years, were you counting on Alex? Because, if you were, you can’t have him.”

The Times duly notes that McCain was contemplating a peace-time occupation similar to the extended presence of USA troops in Germany or South Korea and adds this:

Because advertisement fact-checking reports like this one are never viewed as widely as the spots themselves, a good many people may take from this advertisement that Mr. McCain is supporting 100 years of an overwhelmingly unpopular war.

That's the hope, anyway.

Comments

[Jane]

I hope the kid grows up to be a General in our all volunteer Army. It would serve that woman right.

[s gerber]

Anyway, once her kid is an adult he can make up his own mind (or her own mind) and tell the mother to go to hell.

[Paul Zrimsek]

Don't be misled by the name, lady: the 3rd Infantry Division is not made up of infants.

[MikeS]

McCain needs his own StopTheSmears task force. They should issue a press release.

"NYT reports that Obama supporters lied"
After fact checking a $500,000 ad by Obama Campaign supporters, the Times concluded that the ad intended to mislead people into believing that John McCain has said he supported 100 years of war in Iraq.

[GnuCarSmell]

Alex's mother can relax. Somehow, I don't think she will inspire in young Alex the love of country that leads to service in our all-volunteer force.

[RichatUF]

Imagine my surprise that it was produced by Fenton. I'm curious though of the buy in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio with Great Lakes and Wright-Patterson.

Also, the ad is creepy, and with greater exposure could end up backfiring.

[cathyf]

I hope the kid grows up to be a General in our all volunteer Army. It would serve that woman right.

...and her grandchildren come back excited that the 2 years they spent in peaceful, prosperous, exotic Iraq while their father was stationed there were totally awesome!

[PeterUK]

Seems to have escaped their notice that McCain is nearly 72.

[PeterUK]

Moveon obviously has a stake in withdrawal from Iraq,somebody might have a nice little earner but the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees,surely the child is too young to be a member?

[Bill in AZ]

Her kid will likely be driving an Iraqi Motor Works sports car when he grows up, our own auto manufacturers having long been nationalized out of existence during Obama's tenure.

[clarice]

AFSCME is determined to do away with secret elections re union representation. They need a Dem president to get this. If they get it every municipality and state govt will be putty in their hands.

[Richard Palmer]

It is interesting how the Left uses children in their political ads. Not children's issues, but child actors. Anyways, the mother could no more keep her child out of Iraq when he's 18 then she could send him there. It is interesting how the Left thinks our soldiers are children.

[richard cadena]

thats interesting, i just saw the newsclip of the kid asking mccain the question and thats the impression i got. as for like korea or germany. can mccain or any of you patriotic americans tell me more or less when THE WAR will end and when we can have our troops stationed there where they can walk freely as they do in germany andkorea without fear of getting shot or blown apart. when mccain can be specific about this then i will reconsider this silly claim that his mnouth said one thing and his mind meant another.

[Ted]

Sure, if Iraq were peaceful we could keep troops there for a hundred years. And if we could train them to breathe water we could keep them on the bottom of the ocean for a hundred years. McCain's got about the same chance for either one happening.

[David Casper]

Let's also not forget that by the time Alex is 18, not only will McCain be long out of office, so will his successor, even if they each serve two terms.

[Schornick]

richard:

Can any of the patriotic Obama supporters tell us why it is that they have such a hair up their ass to surrender? I think that if Bush had been a Democrat people like Obama would have supported the war. They would have been happy to liberate the people of Iraq. But Bush is a Republican and politics is way more important than country.

BTW, we have troops in dozens of countries around the world, does Obama have plans to bring them home to their families any time soon?

[clarice]

We must have been linked to some whack job site...In three critical respects the conventional wisdom on Iraq has been proven wrong. History will judge this president kindly because on the one big thing he was entrusted to handle--our defense--he was absolutely right.
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/wehner/12441

[Schornick]

Okinawa, Germany, Italy, Dubai, Bahrain, Kuwait, Turkey, Afghanistan, Korea, just to name a few of the countries where we currently have troops, and who cares? No one. That is of course McCain's point. People are either dishonest or stupid if they say they can not understand what he is getting at.

[bgates]

Richard, wars do not have predefined durations. You may be thinking of war movies.

[GTL]

Quote: "as for like korea or germany. can mccain or any of you patriotic americans tell me more or less when THE WAR will end and when we can have our troops stationed there where they can walk freely as they do in germany andkorea without fear of getting shot or blown apart."

Richard, it's pretty much that way now. Not entirely and not everywhere in Iraq, but probably within a year or so. Unless Barry Hussein O is elected.

[Chuck]

If I were on the McCain staff I would have just had to retort with "The American Military have no use for Mama's boys. Thanks for thinking of us".

[Doc99]

The way things are going, let's hope this woman's son has an America worth growing up in.

[PeterUK]

"It is interesting how the Left uses children in their political ads. Not children's issues, but child actors."

So the kid is more at risk of ending on the meat rack in Hollywood.

[GnuCarSmell]

"It is interesting how the Left thinks our soldiers are children."

Except when they are portrayed as psychopathic killers.

Or when they are acquitted, at which point they become invisible.

[Chuck]

If I were on the McCain staff I would have just had to retort with "The American Military have no use for Mama's boys. Thanks for thinking of us".

[jblog]

What? You mean we still have troops in Germany, Japan and Korea after all these years?

It's a QUAGMIRE!

[Virginian]

What war is Times claiming is "overwhelmingly unpopular"? The one in 2004-05, or the one we actually have right now? And by "overwhelmingly unpopular" do they mean "among journalists" or "among soldiers"? When you ask "is the war being handled well?", do you have a clue whether the "no" answer you get means "we should pull all those dear children out and let the Iranians and Iraqis kill each other", or does it mean "stop screwing around, hit em harder!" ?
I mean, if I pulled my stats and polls from 2004, I could prove that Barry O is barely on the political landscape at all.

[Mars vs Hollywood]

BTW, we have troops in dozens of countries around the world, does Obama have plans to bring them home to their families any time soon?

Of course not. They'll be too busy invading Sudan, Burma, Haiti (again), and Congo in order to accomplish the vital national security interest of making the Left look like they care about the world's suffering.

[Sara]

I hope the kid grows up to be a General in our all volunteer Army. It would serve that woman right.

When my son was in 1st grade, it came to my attention that he was lagging behind and I found out that the teacher was sending the boys out of the room at the beginning of class and making them stand with their nose to the wall, while she taught only the girls. A couple of other mothers contacted me and together we raised holy hell.

It came out in one highly vocal exchange that she hated little boys, couldn't stand they way they behaved compared to the "nice little girls."

We demanded she be fired. They let her stay until the end of the school year. During that time she became pregnant. What goes around, comes around ... she was pregnant with twin boys.

[Sara]

Darn

[jay]

Barrack Obama's side never tackles or acknowledges the core problem. Unlike Korea/Germany... the region's radicals have a religious belief that infidels in thier homeland is an insult to thier god. So, theoretically, if we are there for 100 years, that radical group will continue to fight, because they choose to believe such idiocy.

Which illustrates the problem. Not our presence. Not the technological, sociological and cultural progress we represent. It shines a bright spotlight for the entire world to see, that THIER stone age belief system encourages all manner of barbaric and backward practices.

Recent events give us hope that the radical groups wont be around or have any influence in 10 years, let alone 100 years.

My guess, as to why today's left ingores the nature of the enemy, because doing so would mean uniting with hated enemies on our own shores behind the common cause of individual rights, liberty, and such... forcing them to cast aside thier real quest, chasing pet projects that make them feel good, and require little discipline and sacrifice.

[RichatUF]

Mars vs Hollywood-

I'm not so sure about this. Looking at the reworked Winnie the Pooh approved Hug-A-Thug and Make-A-Terrorist-Wish team I'm sure invasions or any sort of unplesantness will be avoided.

Looking over the list: Susan Rice and Maddy Albright could give him pointers on how to cover up and dissemble about genocide (Rwanda). Perry could give him pointers on how to avoid conflicts even when it makes US soliders sitting ducks (Khobar Towers and the related Iraq NFZ's). Christopher can give him pointers on how to sit down with dictators, get worthless promises, and go and sit down with them again (essentially what Christoper got in his 20 odd visits to Assad's Syria during his tenure).

[kim]

Twenty visits to Syria? What, was he expecting to hear something new?
======================

[syn]

Ugh. It's that type of woman who makes me so ashamed of my gender; I'll wager she beats up her boyfriend.

[Rick Ballard]

Kim,

He became addicted to the taste of Assad's boot polish.

Rich,

Not even China's cut (on top of India's) on top Of Abdullah's promise to pump could move oil prices more than about 4%. That is one thick skinned bubble.

[Jim Treacher]

Cindy Sheehan: The Early Years

[Dave]

Hey lady, don't worry about it.

In the event that your little Snowflake ends up in the military and deployed overseas serving our country during wartime, it's far more likely given the track record since the start of the previous century that it's going to be at the behest of one of your beloved Donk presidents-- like maybe President Chelsea C. Mezvinsky.

[RichatUF]

Rick-

Not even China's cut (on top of India's) on top Of Abdullah's promise to pump could move oil prices more than about 4%. That is one thick skinned bubble.

I noticed that today. Saw a news item about how people are driving less too, and my back of the envelope calculation is that US demand reduction alone is 150k bbl/day. We'll see, the contract expires tomorrow and the Jeddah conference is this weekend, so some might try to brave it out and see if KSA can actually deliver.

The other bit of news is that Iraq is gearing up for oil infrastructure contracts and since Maliki has cleared out Basra and violence overall is getting tamped down wouldn't be surprised of an upside surprise in Iraqi production data.

[kim]

Rick, I half wonder if pending climate news may be helping to keep the price of oil up. There is a news conference/discussion by three heavy hitter meteorologists, Harry van Loon, Roland Madden, and William Gray, at 3:00 PM, June 26th at New York's Marriott Marquis which promises news bearing on the energy market. They claim to have noted weather pattern changes in the last month in the Pacific that have not been seen for 70 years.
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[edh]

Funny, I'm more worried about the baby who pukes-up after making a stock trade.

[clarice]

Traffic is down considerably in the Dist of Columbia--people seem to be using public transportation or car pooling. (Interestingly real estate prices in DC went up over 3% this year, down about that same amount in the near suburbs and down very much (the biggest frop in the nation) in the far suburbs,Part of this may have to do with the fact that those far suburbs contained the largest no. of subprime mortgages, but part undoubtedly id the higher commuting cost.

[t]

How about a counter-ad with the kid wearing red "moveon.org" pajamas and mama saying,

"Hi, America; this is Alex. He’s my first. His talents include spitting. Are you counting on him? Because if I can help it, he will never, ever pick up a gun in defense of his country.”

Behind her should be one of those Che Guevara posters.

[Soylent Red]

"Hi, America; this is Alex. He’s my first. I send him off to a nanny every day and hire a sitter when he gets in the way of my busy schedule of social activism and riot promotion.

He's going to grow up a maladjusted Ritalim addict because I just can't be bothered with spending any time with him. He'll probably wet his pants until he is eleven because I don't let him actually be a boy.

I let him watch a lot of HBO because they can help teach him how rotten and miserable everything about life is.

I didn't really want him anyway, but that rat bastard Chimpy McHitlerburton made abortion legal. At least that's what Cameron Diaz told me.

By the say McSame, you can't have him because I'm currently using him.

And if anyone knows who his daddy is, my child support lawyer's number is at the bottom of the screen. I could sure use the money for some kind bud and some pithy bumper stickers for my '78 Volvo wagon."

[Soylent Red]

Oh I forgot the tagline...

"Do you want these people running our country. If so, vote Obama."

[Fat Man]

"Somehow, I don't think she will inspire in young Alex the love of country that leads to service in our all-volunteer force."

You never know. I have a friend who is a dyed in the wool academic leftist. He is a professor at an Ivy League university who writes regularly for the NY Review. His son went to a college that had never had an ROTC. When he graduated about five years ago, he joined the Corps.

[PeterUK]

"They claim to have noted weather pattern changes in the last month in the Pacific that have not been seen for 70 years."

Yes! Yes! But is it short or Sou'Westers.

[PeterUK]

I knew a kid extremely bright,his mother,a social worker, had LIBERAL written through her like a stick of rock.She let him smoke dope,but broke all the guns off his toy soldiers,he became a drop out dope head.

[clarice]

Well, that's what I call irony-y,PUK.

[george]

"Rick, I half wonder if pending climate news may be helping to keep the price of oil up. There is a news conference/discussion by three heavy hitter meteorologists, Harry van Loon, Roland Madden, and William Gray, at 3:00 PM, June 26th at New York's Marriott Marquis which promises news bearing on the energy market. They claim to have noted weather pattern changes in the last month in the Pacific that have not been seen for 70 years.
"

That may be the dumbest thing I have ever heard. 70 years ago it was 1938. We had no satellites or any other way of looking or measuring weather patterns in the Pacific. You saw what you saw from either the deck of a boat or within a few miles of the coast in a biplane(war machines were not just flying around looking at weather patterns). What a bunch of loons. The climate change cult gets more laughable by the minute.