McCain's ad

The blogs are pretty critical about McCain's first general election ad, fretting that "McCain doesn't have a general election message strategy":



Personally I think the no-message concern is a little bit too insider and meta. Normal people (and even most political junkies) don't give a crap about what a candidate's "message" is, and one ad doesn't necessarily signify anything about the campaign in general. So I think the reactions are overblown.

That said, it is a bit curious for its lack of substance. I suppose it's a complement to McCain's so-called "biography tour", where he emphasizes his ultra-patriotic history of service to the country--which, I think, is fair enough.

However, I think he ought to be careful about how he presents his stint as a prisoner of war. It would be bad if he flaunted it and made too much of a political object out of it, like how John Kerry jumped the shark with his "I'm John Kerry and I'm reporting for duty" schtick. At the end of the day, "vote for me because I was tortured" is not an argument that makes any real sense.