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Home  »  McCain Camp Stirs 2008 Memories In Response To Hayworth Ad

McCain Camp Stirs 2008 Memories In Response To Hayworth Ad

Posted by: macaoidh on Sunday, March 7, 2010, 18:27
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Late last week, U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Hayworth, who is challenging five-term incumbent and failed 2008 presidential candidate John McCain for the Republican nomination in McCain’s Arizona senate seat, ran an online ad spoofing his opponent as a fake conservative. The response was predictable, and indicative of the sluggish nature of the “maverick” senator’s approach to virtually everything political over the past several years.

The ad itself isn’t exactly a masterpiece. It’s meant to coincide with this weekend’s Academy Awards, specifically the likelihood that the James Cameron film Avatar will take home a few Oscars – thus McCain is depicted with blue war paint on his face a la Cameron’s Na’vi protagonists:

Initially, there must have been some confusion about what Hayworth’s campaign was going for, because after the first reactions to the ad it was changed to more closely reflect the message:

Is the ad stupid? Sure. It doesn’t quite rank up with the ridiculous “Demon Sheep” ad Carly Fiorina’s senate campaign ran in California last month, but it’s still a dumb campaign ad.

But the McCain Avatar ad is likely to resonate, a little, because it speaks to something conservatives like Hayworth have thought about McCain for a long time – namely, that he’s a poser as a conservative. McCain’s record on amnesty for illegal aliens, on the global warming fraud, on bailouts and so forth place him far from the mainstream of the Republican Party’s conservative base in 2010, and yet he continues to put himself forward as a conservative. So even a poorly-executed ad which fires at him from the right is going to hit home to an extent.

McCain’s response should have been to ignore it, dismiss it as idiotic or ridicule it as something a high school kid threw together with Photoshop. Instead, they called it offensive and elevated it into a national issue – the worst possible move. First, McCain’s campaign manager went ballistic…

“Ex-Congressman J.D. Hayworth should immediately apologize and and take down his latest online ad, which is an outrageous offense to John McCain’s lifetime of honorable service to our state and nation, and insulting to Native Americans here in Arizona and across America,” said Shiree Verdone, McCain’s campaign manager. “Mr. Hayworth is welcome to debate the challenges facing our state and nation, but this kind of character assassination has no place in the Republican Party, and Mr. Hayworth should ashamed of his campaign for running it.”

Then, McCain got fellow Arizona senator John Kyl to denounce the ad…

“Ads like this have no place in the Republican primary, and J.D. Hayworth should immediately take it down and apologize.”

…and then his campaign spokesman Brian Rogers put out an official-sounding whine after the ad changed to blue-faced McCain:

“The Hayworth campaign obviously understands that the ad is offensive since they’ve already changed it. Unfortunately, this proves yet again that Mr. Hayworth isn’t focused on solving the big challenges Arizona faces, but instead seems consumed by petty and insulting attacks against Senator McCain. It’s another example of just how hollow all of Mr. Hayworth’s talk about ‘respecting’ Senator McCain actually is.”

A little free advice for the McCain camp – “outrageous,” “character assassination,” “petty,” “insulting” and “offensive” are the wrong words to use, because they sound like emotional screaming from a stuck pig. That kind of response doesn’t make anyone think the ad is untrue – and Hayworth was able to score with their counterpunch:

“We respectfully decline the request and would encourage Senator McCain to get a sense of humor. After all, if Sunday’s show did have an award for best election year flip-flopping and transparent conservative conversion, the incumbent would surely win the Oscar.”

What does this exchange say to the casual observer? First, that while Hayworth might be a little goofy and perhaps a tad classless he’s definitely not boring. And second, that McCain’s 2010 senate campaign is a lot like his 2008 presidential campaign – slow, poorly-thought-out, lacking in punch and on the defensive. McCain has a lot more money than Hayworth and the GOP establishment has lined up behind him despite decades in which he was akin to an abcessed tooth to it, but it doesn’t seem to be translating into the senator having a greater ability to control the narrative.

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  • Ryan Booth

    As a political consultant, I can tell you that Hayworth definitely made a mistake with that ad. Trying to comically distort your opponent's appearance will usually backfire. I was involved in one campaign that we were winning until we called our opponent "the Tax King" and photoshopped a golden crown on his head. Voters usually consider distorting your opponent's image to be unfair, and they (especially women) become more sympathetic to the "victim" of the distortion.

    That said, what McCain did was worse. His campaign would have been far, far better off laughing it off and letting others attack Hayworth for the ad, instead of whining and coming off like a little girl.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/macaoidh macaoidh

      I didn't think it was a particularly good ad when it first ran, though political caricature goes back to before the American revolution. But you're correct – McCain's campaign came off as too dumb for a snappy comeback; all they could offer was typical manufactured outrage. Between this fiasco and the news last week that McCain is trying to put together a new Gang of 14 to keep the Democrats from using reconciliation on health care, you get the impression that all he offers is the same old crap that people were tired of when he ran one of the worst campaigns for president I've ever seen in 2008.

      • Ryan Booth

        Political caricature is great and effective, but actually distorting a photograph of a candidate is somehow different, at least in the minds of voters — I've seen it on multiple occasions.

        And even then, Hayworth's ad doesn't really make sense. How is McCain similar to the Navi? Most people aren't going to make an initial connection. Then they read the ad and finally understand the point — McCain is acting and isn't genuine. Except that there weren't any actors "playing" Navi! The Navi were computer generated.

        It's even dumber because that whole line of attack is poor. McCain is famous for being a "maverick" and his reputation is that of honesty (remember the "Straight Talk Express" from 2000?). McCain's weakness isn't character, it's issues and McCain's voting record, and that's how Hayworth should go after him.

  • Ryan Booth

    As a political consultant, I can tell you that Hayworth definitely made a mistake with that ad. Trying to comically distort your opponent's appearance will usually backfire. I was involved in one campaign that we were winning until we called our opponent "the Tax King" and photoshopped a golden crown on his head. Voters usually consider distorting your opponent's image to be unfair, and they (especially women) become more sympathetic to the "victim" of the distortion.

    That said, what McCain did was worse. His campaign would have been far, far better off laughing it off and letting others attack Hayworth for the ad, instead of whining and coming off like a little girl.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/macaoidh macaoidh

      I didn't think it was a particularly good ad when it first ran, though political caricature goes back to before the American revolution. But you're correct – McCain's campaign came off as too dumb for a snappy comeback; all they could offer was typical manufactured outrage. Between this fiasco and the news last week that McCain is trying to put together a new Gang of 14 to keep the Democrats from using reconciliation on health care, you get the impression that all he offers is the same old crap that people were tired of when he ran one of the worst campaigns for president I've ever seen in 2008.

      • Ryan Booth

        Political caricature is great and effective, but actually distorting a photograph of a candidate is somehow different, at least in the minds of voters — I've seen it on multiple occasions.

        And even then, Hayworth's ad doesn't really make sense. How is McCain similar to the Navi? Most people aren't going to make an initial connection. Then they read the ad and finally understand the point — McCain is acting and isn't genuine. Except that there weren't any actors "playing" Navi! The Navi were computer generated.

        It's even dumber because that whole line of attack is poor. McCain is famous for being a "maverick" and his reputation is that of honesty (remember the "Straight Talk Express" from 2000?). McCain's weakness isn't character, it's issues and McCain's voting record, and that's how Hayworth should go after him.

  • James

    War paint or no, mcain is a poseur, not a conservative and it's past time that he went to the house…

  • James

    War paint or no, mcain is a poseur, not a conservative and it's past time that he went to the house…