ANOTHER INCOHERENT McCAIN AD

Can anyone explain to me what the hell is going on in this new McCain ad? Specifically, can anyone explain what the end of it has to do with the beginning? And if there's no connection, can anyone explain why it's so difficult for the McCain people to stick to one subject, or even a series of genuinely related subjects, for, y'know, an entire minute?



Here's the script:

ANNCR: It was a time of uncertainty, hope and change. The "Summer Of Love." Half a world away, another kind of love -- of country. John McCain: Shot down. Bayoneted. Tortured. Offered early release, he said, "No." He'd sworn an oath. Home, he turned to public service. His philosophy: before party, polls and self ... America. A maverick, John McCain tackled campaign reform, military reform, spending reform. He took on presidents, partisans and popular opinion. He believes our world is dangerous, our economy in shambles. John McCain doesn't always tell us what we "hope" to hear. Beautiful words cannot make our lives better. But a man who has always put his country and her people before self, before politics can. Don't "hope" for a better life. Vote for one. McCain.

JOHN MCCAIN: I'm John McCain and I approved this message.

What was the thought process on this? I'll venture a guess. Back in the fall, the McCain people must have been quite proud of their attack on Hillary Clinton for supporting a Woodstock Museum -- after all, they made two ads about it. But now they're not running against Hillary Clinton -- and they want her voters. But they couldn't bear to let the peacenik/POW compare-and-contrast go. So they decided to equate McCain in Nam with the Summer of Love -- sort of. It's all about luv. Hey, that oughta resonate with those back-in-the-day hippies!

But, er, where does the guy McCain is actually running against fit into all this? Oh, yeah -- "hope." "Hope" is kinda like "love," isn't it? It's an abstract noun. It has four letters, two of which are o and e. Close enough, right? And Barack Obama could be a sixties archetype ... if he had about five hundred times more hair, wore dashikis instead of suits, and hadn't been six years old during the actual Summer of Love.

Whatever!

In short, a mess, as usual for Team McCain.