Analysis: This John McCain ad is mostly accurate and largely pointless.
The one serious distortion is in claiming that Barack Obama was "born" of the Chicago machine. Obama was actually an independent outsider who challenged the party establishment, both in running for the state Senate and in unsuccessfully opposing incumbent congressman Bobby Rush. Obama did use hardball tactics on occasion, such as knocking an opponent off the ballot through a petition challenge, but was not embraced by the party apparatus until later in his career.
Three of the four names included here do no damage to the Illnois senator and serve mainly to reinforce the impression that Obama swims with sharks. Bill Daley might be a lobbyist and the brother of Mayor Richard Daley, but he is a former Commerce secretary with a solid reputation. State Sen. Emil Jones gave Obama a boost early in his career, in part by assigning him to shepherd ethics legislation through the legislature. Obama has no connection to allegations that Jones has helped some family members on the state payroll. And while Blagojevich is Obama's governor -- indeed, he is governor of Oprah Winfrey and Mike Ditka and every other Illinois resident -- he and Obama are not close politically, and Obama has no involvement in the corruption that has plagued his administration. Read more.
Here's the ad
