"I spent 5 years being tortured in a tiny box. Obviously this makes me qualified to make strategic military decisions and continue diplomatic relations. Also, my ancestors had distinguished military careers, though I did not. Vote for me, I'm insane!"

John McCain, he's insane: Official slogan of McCain 2008.

Between the noisy, out-of-focus lights, the bad compositing, and the joint smoke wafting in the background -- let's hope he keeps his ad agency. That's one of the worst campaign ads I've seen in years... ;)

While we are currently a nation at war, we are also a nation on the brink of domestic collapse. I do not doubt for a moment that our next President needs to reach out to military professionals to determine the best way to extricate ourselves from the current neo-con led debacles in the middle east.

I do, however, doubt that we need a one note candidate whose entire resume is built around his military experience. We need to a focus on correcting the utterly disasterous course that our nation is on.

While this ad tells me exactly what qualifies John McCain to strengthen our economy, tackle unemployment, correct defecit spending and save our country descent into utter idiocracy; it tells entirely through exclusion.

On these truly important issues, McCain's got less than nothing.

In fact his militarism and focus on continued war and continued unfettered spending will throw our country so deep down the rabbit hole we will be begging Canada to invade and free us from a McCain administration.

Should a once good man who sold his soul to the Devil still be considered a good man?

The past matters less than the here and now.

That's why McCain supported John Kerry for president in 2004, isn't it?

for anything other than bragging rights at the local VFW. And hopefully that's where he'll end up. Where you can lunch on being a POW for the rest of your life, and whatever else you have done or have not done doesn't matter. Don't get me wrong, he deserves respect for his service.

However, unfortunately for us...it matters a lot who else John McCain is. Let's hope all those folks who voted W in for his manure kickin' ways (sans cattle)don't think McCain's war mongering history is reason enough to reward him with the responsibility for our already jeopardized future.

For the record, my ancestors have fought in every war since the Revolution, too. Yet, somehow, I don't think that qualifies me for the oval office. Then again, my family comes from working class soldiers, not General Washington's staff and West Pointers. And therein lies an important political distinction. It's the difference between cannon fodder and gentlemen. Right now we need a leader who identifies more with the cannon fodder we are sending to Iraq, than with his own elite military history, POW status notwithstanding.

This is a truly bad and strange ad. What's with the smoke? Strange little pictures. Nice to hear about his ancestors' family values, but isn't he the guy who had an affair with his current wife before he left his marriage to marry the younger woman? If I were McCain, I'd stay away from the whole "family values" message... The Clinton's come out ahead of him on that one -- and the Obama's come out way ahead.

And just how is it that a politician can run on his family's reputation? George Bush may be the last one for a long time who pulled that one off -- I think we're onto it now.

Lynx, what's ironic about your slogan is that's exactly what was bouncing around the Republican echo-chamber in 2000. John McCain is crazy from torture, and is a hothead who can't have his finger on the button. Now that's they're stuck with him for 2008, however, Republicans are outraged when Democrats suggest the same thing.

I agree completely. He admits he knows nothing about ecomonics. His speech addressing the topic made that clear (as well as his apparent lack of concern). He was certainly on the wrong side of the Iraq debate and his stand on Iran is frightening. So the question really is, why is his military background important if his judgement is worth shit?

The commercial? Why doesn't he just run the Killgore scene from Apocalypse Now as a commercial?

So not only is John McCain a warmonger so was his pappy and his grandpappy and his great grandpappy. Now that I know that I'll be sure to vote for him. Eight years of a madman just whet my appetite for more. Kill kill kill kill kill. Or, not.

I occasionally see people positing that McCain must be hot-tempered and shy a few bricks as a result of having been a POW. I'd like to point out that here in Florida we had Pete Peterson as a congressman for six years. He too had been a prisoner of the Vietnamese, but he was also a quiet, soft-spoken, judicious character. He got the ire of conservatives for voting against Poppy Bush's 1991 smackdown of Saddam Hussein. Hold me at the time that, sure, "We'll squash Saddam like a bug," but he did not want to see American soldiers standing guard in Baghdad and being targets for a shot in the back. Which is what happened. I would say that if John McCain is a hot-tempered jerk, maybe he was just a hot-tempered jerk before he was held prisoner. I would add that there were plenty of other people over the years who have been held prisoner by enemy soldiers. As several people here have said, it takes a bit more than just that to be president.

And yes, heyjude, your post was the first thing I thought of when I heard "McCain" and "family values."

One last thought: if we call John McCain a warmonger for cheering on an attack on Iran that's one thing, but I think it's wrong to call him a warmonger because he was a pilot in Vietnam. If we were to be consistent, we'd have to point out that George McGovern, pilot of the B-24 "Dakota Queen" also bombed his share of civilians. It was war and that's why the war cheerleaders should remember that it sucks.