McCain defends internet advertisement mocking Obama

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Republican John McCain on Friday defended his campaign's new Web ad mocking Barack Obama as a presumptuous messianic figure, saying it was important to "display a sense of humor" in the presidential contest. The new ad, with a voiceover calling Obama "The One," features clips of the Democratic contender appearing to describe himself and his presidential quest in grandiose terms - saying such things as, "This was the moment when the rise in the oceans began to slow, and our planet began to heal." The ad ends with Charlton Heston as Moses parting the Red Sea in the movie, "The Ten Commandments." The ad was not set to air on any television stations, so the campaign was counting on it to attract viewers by circulating broadly on the Web. Still, it was McCain's latest attempt to caricature his rival as an overweening but empty media phenomenon, coming on the heels of the campaign's new television ad juxtaposing Obama with lightweight celebrities Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan slammed the Web ad, saying the Arizona senator was "spending all of his time and the powerful platform he has on these sorts of juvenile antics."