John McCain: The True Politician

In John McCain's new ad entitled True Conservative, the McCain campaign plays up McCain's association with Ronald Reagan. Moreover, the McCain camp tries hard to portray himself as "the true conservative"--a line similar to one that former senator and presidential candidate Fred Thompson used extensive.

On the whole, this ad is about a B-. It is not great, but it is not terrible. It evokes a connection between McCain and Reagan, but it fails to inspire. Moreover, it is extremely narrowly focused and it rehashes ground candidates have covered so many times (e.g., who's the true Reagan?) Similarly, the ad fails to differentiate substantially McCain from other candidates because everyone is citing evidence of being the true Reagan conservative. Finally, this ad makes the campaign about the past when the voters have clearly indicated they want the election to be about the future--about change.

Let's unspin the political rhetoric in this advertisement.




"[McCain:] I enlisted as a foot solider in the Reagan revolution."

John McCain is trying to forge a powerful association between himself and Ronald Reagan. In essence, he is trying to portray the aura of an endorsement from Ronald Reagan. In addition, McCain's language is designed to evoke subtly the aura of national security (e.g., "solider" "revolution"). Notice that these words are used instead of economic terms. The reason for this is obvious as McCain's strength is national security.
For those with experience in politics, it is well known that a photo with the president is not substantial. But, that does not matter to the campaign's message.



Many individuals will see this photo and simply think of Ronald Reagan with John McCain. However, there is a subtle message. This photo is taken in the Oval Office with Ronald Reagan at the President's desk. In addition, the video makers are incredibly subtle in their timing of the original video. As soon as John McCain says, "I enlisted as a foot solider in the Reagan Revolution," President Reagan's head nods, almost to give the appearance of agreeing with John McCain's statement and affirming him.



The advertisement ends with the above image. One wonders, "if John McCain is the true conservative, why did the advertisement only talk about McCain's military experience? Why was there no substantiative mention of economic or social conservative?" Moreover, one wonders, "why are so many true conservatives such as Sean Hannity so upset with McCain if he is a true conservative?"