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Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2008 > August > 15 > Entry
Eye on Ohio: “Taxman” ad for McCain
The ad: “Taxman,” 30 seconds.
Producer: McCain campaign.
Where to see it: It recently began airing in battleground states, including Ohio.
Script Narrator: “Celebrity? Yes. Ready to lead? No.
“Obama’s new taxes could break your family budget. The press warns the ‘taxman cometh.’ Obama’s taxes mean ‘higher prices at the pump.’ Obama’s taxes a ‘recipe for economic disaster.’
“Higher taxes. Higher gas prices. Economic disaster.
“That’s the real Obama.”
McCain: “I’m John McCain, and I approved this message.”
Video: The ad opens with footage of Obama before a huge crowd and camera flashes while people chant his name. It cuts to video of a family with two young children and a stack of bills on the table, a worried-looking white couple standing at a window, and a young couple. Each scene has ominous quotes from newspaper editorials along the bottom of the screen. Then it goes to a smiling Obama and flashes, “Higher Taxes,” “Higher Gas Prices,” “Economic Disaster.” It ends with a photo of McCain, with softer lighting and music.
Analysis: Once again, the McCain campaign is branding Obama as a celebrity and a tax-hiker. Viewers are hit over the head with the suggestion that Obama lacks substance and that he is dangerous. The narrator warns that Obama’s new taxes could break your family budget, but leaves out the part that the families most likely to see tax increases under Obama would be making more than $250,000 a year. In fact, Obama and McCain offer starkly different approaches to tax policy. Obama has proposed extending the Bush tax cuts for all but the wealthiest Americans, and he wants to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit, expand the child-care tax credit and eliminate taxes for senior citizens making less than $50,000. McCain’s tax policy calls for cutting taxes for all income groups, extending the Bush tax breaks for everyone, including the wealthy, and chopping corporate tax rates from 35 percent to 25 percent. After the “Taxman” ad was unveiled, the Obama campaign responded that Obama will cut taxes for the middle-class, while McCain will give new tax breaks to big business.
Laura Bischoff is a reporter in the Columbus Bureau of the Dayton Daily News. Her e-mail address is lbischoff@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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