OK, but if they really want to hit McCain hard while addressing legit concerns, here are two ads I'd like to see:

1) An ad addressing the trauma McCain endured as a POW, and whether that experience has left him too mentally and emotionally scarred to be trusted as president. Splice in the footage of that other POW talking about how he "doesn't want to see McCain with his finger on the button." Question: can we trust McCain?

2) An ad addressing McCain's health. Namely, the guy is 72 with a history of recurrent melanoma. If he drops dead in office, are you comfortable with Sarah Palin, who has said she wants to go to war with Russia and attack Iran but has never met a foreign head of state, as president? Can we afford to trust McCain?

Yes, they are "innunendo" ads that some people might find sleazy, but they address genuine concerns. And this is a knife fight for the future of our nation; the gloves are off.

Furthermore, the "Still" ad is clearly aimed at the younger voters who are expected to turn out in droves to vote Obama this year. It's actually pretty smart: younger people have less invested in their biases and views, so their minds are easier to change. I suspect this ad was targeted at the 20-30 crowd that's still on the fence about Obama. "My God, that old dude probably doesn't even know how to TEXT or TWITTER! I'm voting for the black dude!"

Right on, Barack. Now start really going after them.

I agree, but you have to remember, the Dems are new at this sort of thing, namely, responding to attacks rather than sitting back and assuming American voters will see through them and rise above it all. Pardon me while I double over laughing.

I'm so glad to see them hitting back, even with something as tepid at these, that I'll cut them some slack this time. But the next round needs to be far more intense, a drama in four different ads:

A: Obama hitting specific problems and coming back with specific solutions, not wonky but simple and to the point. Economy, healthcare, war, etc.

B: Biden savaging Palin's clear cluelessness, her questionable ethics in office, her support for and husband's membership in an Alaskan separatist group, and her rejection of science and women's reproductive rights.

C. Hillary as a surrogate going after the GOP in general and its many disastrous policies, linking McCain to each and presenting the Democrats as the better alternative (though this might take some, ahem, reality distortion).

D. General narrated ads nailing McCain in the ways I described in my previous post.

Together with stump speeches that continue to call McCain and Palin out on their lies while continuing to propose specific solutions to specific troubles, and the debates in which we all expect Obama to wipe the floor with McCain, this is a strong offensive. Let's hope they get moving

I respectfully disagree with you. This is actually a smart tactic: take the high road, not panicking because there are actually almost two months left in the campaign, and then act as though your mean, corrupt, lying opponent forced you to go into the gutter. Smart. This way, Obama gets to take the high road while still attacking.

Now the question remains, will they attack savagely, precisely, relentlessly and effectively, or will they surrender to the Democratic tendency to be wonks and try to be nice guys? We'll see.

The Planned Parenthood folks got it right: sharp, smart and intense. Learn and emulate, Obama campaign.

By the way, courtesy of HuffPost, here's one hell of a quote (apparently, there's a recording of this as well) to use in the next Obama ad:

"I didn't decide to run for president to start a national crusade for the political reforms I believed in or to run a campaign as if it were some grand act of patriotism. In truth, I wanted to be president because it had become my ambition to be president. . . In truth, I'd had the ambition for a long time." - John McCain

Obama campaign, clip, save, and use alongside the Robert Greenwald video of the fellow POW who says McCain has too short a fuse to be trusted with his finger on the button.

I LOVE it. The growing meme that McCain and Palin are liars of the first order who will say anything to get elected is gaining serious traction. Let's keep it growing.

Brava, ladies.

Oh, and how long do you think it will be before the Right Wing Nutjob Blogosphere decides that the ladies of The View are suddenly a bunch of lefty Hollywood lesbians who Hate America (TM)? They might tar and feather Hasselbeck, who's been such a loyal stooge up to now.

Could she be any more clueless? She's going to drive those rehearsed, rote answers into the ground assuming that the media will be spineless enough to let her get away with it. The cool thing is, maybe it's not working this time around.

Maybe.