Leave a Comment

Axelrod Indignant About McCain Ad
The Page by Mark Halperin - TIME.com — ... Plus: Former McCain aide Weaver dismisses the ad as “childish,” adding, “For McCain’s sake, this tomfoolery needs to stop.” ...

Weaver: Stop the tomfoolery
Ben Smith's Blog — ... "There is legitimate mockery of a political campaign now, and it isn't at Obama's," he tells Marc Ambinder. "For McCain's sake, this tomfoolery needs to stop." ...

Former top McCain strategist unloads on new ad and strategy
Jonathan Martin's Blog — John Weaver, not happy with the direction of John McCain's campaign, is going public with his criticism. In a candid assessment shared with Marc Ambinder, Weaver accuses McCain aides of diminishing the candidate. The ad's premise, he said, is "childish."  "John's been a celebrity ever since he was shot down," Weaver said. "Whatever that means. And I recall Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush going overseas and all those waving American flags."  Weaver remains in contact with senior McCain strategists and, ...

Tomfoolery
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan — By Patrick Appel McCain's new anti-Obama ad has pushed former McCain strategist John Weaver over the edge: John's been a celebrity ever since he was shot down," Weaver said. "Whatever that means.  And I recall Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush going overseas and all those waving American flags...For McCain to win in such troubled times, he needs to begin telling the American people how he intends to lead us. That McCain exists. He can inspire the country to greatness...There is legitimate mockery of a ...

Conservatives Wonder If Negative Ads Could Reduce McCain's Stature
The Huffington Post | Full News Feed — Over at the Atlantic, Marc Ambinder has an interesting reaction from former McCain strategist John Weaver to the Arizona Republican's new ad attacking Barack Obama's celebrity status (complete with references to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears). Calling it "childish," Weaver also claims that harping on Obama "reduces McCain on the stage." He's not the only conservative to wonder about that possibility. Former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum says McCain's latest ad only addresses one type of voter, while perhaps turning off others. "McCain goes ...

Wednesday’s Mini-Report
Political Animal — ... * John Weaver, one of John McCain’s closest allies and confidants, is deeply unimpressed by the direction of the McCain campaign, and believes the latest campaign strategy “diminishes John McCain.” Weaver called today’s celebrity-driven ad “childish.” Saying he’s had “enough,” Weaver added, “For McCain’s sake, this tomfoolery needs to stop.” ...

Weaver's Right
The Corner — [image] [image] NRO BLOG ROW | THE CORNER | ARCHIVES SEARCH E-MAIL PRINT RSS STAY SANE THROUGHOUT 2008: SUBSCRIBE TO NR (50% OFF!) HERE . [image] Wednesday, July 30, 2008 [image] Weaver's Right [Ramesh Ponnuru] McCain's recent ads are juvenile . 07/30 05:34 PM [image] [image] [image] © National Review Online 2008. All Rights Reserved. Home | Search | NR / Digital | Donate | Media Kit | Contact Us This page loaded in 0.009313 seconds. ...

Ex-McCain Aide Blasts Former Boss
Taegan Goddard's Political Wire — John Weaver, a long time confidant and friend of Sen. John McCain, told Marc Ambinder that McCain's current campaign strategy "diminishes John McCain" and the ...

Obama on the Britney ad: “You need to ask John McCain what he’s for, not just what he’s against”; Update: Another weak Obama rebuttal ad
Hot Air » Top Picks — ... . Consider this a complement to former McCain aide John Weaver unloading on him this afternoon for the campaign’s descent into goofiness : The ad’s premise, he said, is “childish.” “John’s been a celebrity ever since he was shot down,” Weaver said. “Whatever that means. And I recall Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush going overseas and all those waving American flags.” Weaver remains in contact with senior McCain strategists and, for a while early this year, regularly talked to McCain. The strategy of driving up Obama’s negatives “reduces McCain on the stage,” Weaver ...

Obscured by the past
Interesting Times — Obscured by the past "childish" I, of course, agree. But what other option does McCain have? Weaver argues that, "[McCain] needs to begin telling the American people how he intends to lead us. That McCain exists. He can inspire the country to greatness." The McCain of 2000 is such a large figure in so many people's eyes that it blocks their view of the McCain of 2008. Sorry John. That McCain no longer exists. posted by Chris Andersen at ...

Weaver on McCain Ad: "Childish"; On New Negative McCain: "Like Asking Wilt Chamberlain to Play Point Guard"
Political Punch — ... of going negative against Obama "reduces McCain. John is capable of inspiring Americans." Likewise, Weaver said that McCain's attack against Obama for canceling a trip to visit wounded soldiers -- an ad that McCain friend Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., called "inappropriate" -- is "very not John. It's not the John brand at all." The new negative McCain, Weaver said, doesn't work. "It's like asking Wilt Chamberlain to play point guard." Weaver earlier today took issue with the McCain ad in an interview with Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic . Earlier today, Obama responded to ...

Longtime friend and confidant calls McCain Ad "Childish"
Daily Kos — The Obama campaign is describing John McCain's switch from blatantly false ads to patently ridiculous ones as an "Oops! He did it again" moment. But McCain's former chief strategy advisor John Weaver, a man of whom the McCain campaign said in February, "Weaver's loyalty was not in doubt," has another take on it.   ...With the exception of an occasional interview, he has, by his own account, bit his tongue as McCain's campaign has adopted a strategy that Weaver believes "diminishes John McCain." With the release today of a McCain ...

Telling Moment
Talking Points Memo — ... an angel on the other, John McCain had his reform/Dem-leaning advisors and others who were more conventionally Republican. John Weaver through most of the last decade was McCain's inner-Reformer, inner-Dem. I think at some point in the early part of this decade he switched his own party registration to Democrat. In any case, he was dropped in the big house-cleaning McCain did late last year. He's bitten his lip until now. But apparently, with McCain's Britney-Paris-Obama ad, he's finally had enough. ...

Nets Agitated by McCain's 'Nasty' & 'Childish' Anti-Obama 'Attack' Ad
NewsBusters.org - Exposing Liberal Media Bias — ... “Tonight, McCain says Obama is all star power and no substance. Obama says McCain is using scare tactics. It's getting nasty. And it's only July.” Reporter David Wright, who relayed how “Obama told an audience in Missouri the Republicans are just trying to scare voters,” concluded with how “it's getting ugly early, and some Republicans are expressing concern about McCain's tone, in particular one former McCain aide calling the new celebrity ad 'childish.'” (That would be John Weaver.) ...

Celebritology
The Anonymous Liberal — ... is to portray Barack Obama as a "celebrity" in the sense of Brittany Spears and Paris Hilton, someone who sells magazines and attracts crowds but isn't qualified to be president. Indeed, Obama isn't just a run of the mill celebrity, according to McCain's ...

John McCain: Mr. Nice Guy Or Back Alley Mugger?
The Huffington Post | Full News Feed — ... "See the ending to the latest McCain attack ads? 'John McCain: Country First.' I wonder who or what interests the other candidate could be putting first? Just like the ending to his first general election ad: 'John McCain: The American President Americans have been Waiting for.' Hmmm. What other kind of president could we have? Un-American? Anti-American? African-American?" John Weaver, McCain's former top campaign strategist, was harshly critical in remarks he made to Marc Ambinder: For McCain to win in such troubled times, he needs to begin ...

The McCain Ad Strategy
Sound Politics — ... campaign have drawn much fire from the MSM, which has declared their content unfair and too snarky. First, the latest one: Now, the precursor with a similar theme: These ads turn comfortable conventional wisdom on its ear. Indeed, the lovable maverick of 2000 would never say such things about the Second Coming Barack Obama. Yet, this election only turns John McCain's way if he pops the protective bubble of Obama's celebrity. This will grate on some people, even some Republicans like former McCain advisor John Weaver . And yes, if such ads are running in October then McCain ...

No More Mister Nice Blog — ... in the foreground and used the bad-boy side as seasoning. That made sense -- Bush ran against two guys who were portrayed as geek losers, so it made sense to run Bush as the popular Big Man on Campus. But McCain's opponent is no unpopular geek -- so how do you run against him? Maybe you run your guy as a rebel, a cool guy, who doesn't get good press because he shocks respectable society. Hell, if you were Rove, you might even try to get ex-aides to say things like this: John Weaver, for years one of John McCain's closest friends and confidants, has ...

Senator Small
Political Animal — ... have blamed Barack Obama for high gas prices, falsely accused Obama of snubbing wounded U.S. troops, and compared Obama to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. It is, of course, only July. Taken together, the three ads combine to make McCain look “desperate” or “relentlessly negative.” But there’s another adjective that comes to mind: “small.” Of all the reactions to the campaign’s new advertising, the most striking came from John Weaver. John Weaver, for years one of John McCain’s closest ...

Ex-McCain Aide Blasts Former Boss
The Hollywood Liberal — ... John Weaver, a long time confidant and friend of Sen. John McCain, told Marc Ambinder that McCain’s current campaign strategy “diminishes John McCain” and the ...

Dana Milbank, Crypto-Racist?
Ross Douthat — ... and John Weaver rightly call childish - is actually playing on white America's subliminal fears that Barack Obama wants to sleep with promiscuous white starlets, and proceeds to the claim that any pundit (like ...

The Britney Ad
The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan — By Patrick Appel Ramesh Ponnuru agrees with Weaver that McCain's recent ads are juvenile. Allahpundit expands: The problem is that it follows a line of spots that were either stupid, dishonest, or borderline incoherent; that’s why some GOP analysts are worried about Maverick’s negative turn lately. It’s not that attacks are bad per se, it’s that McCain has a solid brand of his own that he’s neglecting or even devaluing by hitting Obama in such petty ways. ...

Jujitsu
If I Ran the Zoo — ... politics' (a politics, apparently, that existed before the invention of color--that's how old it is). Of course, linking McCain to the Bush-era politics of fear and smear also strengthens the link to Bush's wildly unpopular policies (as the ad makes explicit). Also, they use the word 'old' a lot of times, which has got to hurt. Meanwhile, former McCain adviser John Weaver (whom Josh Marshall describes as "McCain's inner-Reformer, inner-Dem") really doesn't like McCain's ads: The ad's premise, he said, is "childish." "John's ...

“What Happened, Cindy?”
Comments from Left Field — John Amato has the Obama campaign’s latest ad, responding to John McCain’s two recent attack ads, here and here. It’s not just Obama supporters who are criticizing McCain’s recent ads: John Weaver, for years one of John McCain’s closest friends and confidants, has been in exile since his resignation from McCain’s presidential campaign last year. With the exception of an occasional ...

A Lying Thief We Can Believe In: McCain's Latest Ad Campaign
BuzzFlash.org - Progressive News and Commentary with an Attitude | Fight Ignorance: Read BuzzFlash — ... buddy who wouldn't, knowingly at least, hurt us. But when Schmidt and his team try to paint this image on McCain, he comes off as a cranky old man trying to convince his granddaughter's friends that he's still cool. Not to mention, anyone who thinks Spears and Hilton are at the top of the celebrity food chain is considerably out of touch themselves. Though they don't go as far as to accuse McCain of falsification or forgery, Republican strategists are calling this new campaign " childish " and " ...

Why Didn’t the RNC Run the “Celebrity” Ad?
The Next Right — ... spot yesterday and taken a more aggressive tone overall there’s been a huge amount of second guessing from the pundit class and politicos like John Weaver and ...

McCAIN CAMPAIGN STILL FOUNDERING
Right Wing Nut House — ... Marc Ambinder talked to former McCain campaign confidante John Weaver who was not impressed by the campaign’s latest efforts in going after Obama: ...

Obama and McCain, substance and celebrity
Political Animal — ... Indeed, John Weaver, McCain’s long-time friend and confidant, made a similar observation yesterday, saying, “John’s been a celebrity ever since he was shot down.” ...

Andrea Mitchell Confronts McCain's Campaign Manager On 'Celebrity' Ad
The Huffington Post | Full News Feed — ... Mitchell wasn't having any of it, and deployed McCain intimate John Weaver's arch-criticism of McCain's tactics. And then Davis impugned Obama further on his decision to not visit the troops in Europe, on the grounds that the troops would have enjoyed the visit. So...Obama's "celebrity," in that case, is valuable? ...

John McCain Orders Up an Acme Self-Hoisting Petard
Firedoglake — ... You can imagine the high-fiving in the McCain camp:  "Yessss!  We've applied the Rove handbook perfectly!  We are suuuuper geniuses!" Um, except for a few problems.  First, just because your attack is aimed at your opponent's strength doesn't mean it makes sense -- and even McCain's own allies and former close advisers are agreeing that the "celebrity" angle is simply ridiculous. Second, by their own desperate personal attacks, the McCainites have created their own unflattering narrative, which the Obama campaign is ...

Open Thread
Booman Tribune — ... : A few months ago, I wrote that John McCain was an honorable man and he would run an honorable campaign. I was wrong. and long-time friends and confidants have "had enough" . it's probably safe to say that the print media, and it's internet versions, infatuation with him isn't holding up too well. however, it doesn't seem to have afflicted the tv talking heads to a major extent... yet. the revolution will not be televised ... ...

Friday McBush Bashing
Discourse.net — ... endorsement anyway… It gets worse: Carpetbagger, How low can McCain go? Werblog, McCain’s Entrepreneurial “Supporters” Carpetbagger, McCain still doesn’t speak for the McCain campaign Call him “the albatross” — the question is what does McCain do with “W” at the GOP convention. Slate’s John Dickerson considers The Party Crasher Weaver, McCain’s Former Strategist, Calls “Celeb” Ad “Childish”. ...

RNC Launches Obama Is A Celeb Website
The Huffington Post | Full News Feed — ... John McCain's "Celeb" ad, which he portrayed Barack Obama as an intellectually vacant pop star, made several members of the GOP recoil. Most notably, McCain's former campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, derided the spot as trivial and childish. ...

I hear their gentle voices calling Old Black Joe
SteveAudio — ... and John Weaver rightly call childish - is actually playing on white America's subliminal fears that Barack Obama wants to sleep with promiscuous white starlets, and proceeds to the claim that any pundit (like ...

McCain team ‘practically giddy’ over tire gauges
Political Animal — After a week in which the Republican presidential campaign was panned for being “immature,” “juvenile,” and “childish,” John McCain’s team has responded this week by literally acting like children with a new toy. A practically giddy Mark Salter, the senior aide to John McCain best known for his gruffness, told the traveling press corps before takeoff Monday morning that the would be handing out copies of Barack Obama’s energy plan during flight. Moments after the Boeing 737 ...

8/5: Mood Swings
Blogometer — ... of Blogometer: "In other news, liberal bloggers are buzzing about ex-McCain strategist John Weaver 's criticism of the McCain camp's recent tactics, which they see as evidence that the McCain camp's negativity is causing a backlash. Conservative bloggers, meanwhile, are linking to Dana Milbank 's ...