McCain's sleazy "celebrity" ad

John McCain has an ad that describes Obama as a "celebrity," implying that there is something wrong with that. I noted earlier that Republicans have apparently forgotten that Ronald Reagan got his start in politics because he was a Hollywood celebrity. You can see the ad here on TPM; I don't want to dignify it by posting it on my blog.

What's ridiculous about this ad are the shots of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. Those are completely gratuitous. They have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with Barack Obama. Zero. Zilch. Nada. They're just celebrities with reputations for bad behavior. And it is transparently obvious that the only reason they are in this ad is to somehow associate their bad behavior with Obama.

This is sleazy. Is John McCain completely unaware that there are many Republicans out there with good taste, who will be offended by this? Is this what an "honorable" campaign looks like?

What's even more bizarre is that there are a number of shots of people shouting "Obama" and the man himself smiling and waving. Isn't the McCain campaign aware that images like this speak louder than words? Did these people learn NOTHING from Reagan?

I like Obama's response (from TPM):

"You know, I don't pay attention to John McCain's ads, although I do notice he doesn't seem to have anything to say very positive about himself. He seems to only be talking about me... You need to ask John McCain what he's for and not just what he's against."

Now that's classy. John McCain is clearly afraid of Obama, and he wants other people to be afraid of him as well. But Obama is NOT afraid of McCain, and he refuses to play that game. Which, in the long run, is a much more powerful approach.