MoveOn launching ad campaign against McCain

The liberal, anti-war group MoveOn.org announced Wednesday it is launching a $1 million ad campaign against presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).

{mosads}The group plans to start the ads Thursday, the five-year anniversary of President Bush's proclamation aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln that the mission in Iraq had been accomplished.

The first ad, entitled "Candles," will run at a cost of $160,000 in Iowa and New Mexico, two states in which the group said McCain is running ads unopposed.

The ad features a birthday cake with the words "Mission Accomplished" and five candles while McCain is heard saying the American people would not be concerned if U.S. troops are in Iraq for 100 years. Over the course of the ad, the candles multiply from five to 100. The first ad is set to run for a week.

The McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) have repeatedly clarified that McCain said those conditions in Iraq would only be acceptable if violence against U.S. troops stopped, comparing such a presence to the U.S. presence in South Korea.

“Voters need to know Sen. McCain would continue President Bush’s failed policies — in Iraq and elsewhere. A vote for him is basically a vote for a third Bush term,” Eli Pariser, MoveOn’s executive director, said in a statement.

The RNC, pointing out that MoveOn has endorsed Democratic front-runner Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), again refuted the claims in the ad.

“MoveOn.org is attempting to smear Sen. McCain just like it smeared Gen. Petraeus," Alex Conant, an RNC spokesman, said. "MoveOn.org is joining Barack Obama and the DNC [Democratic National Committee] in maliciously misquoting John McCain. At nearly every event, Obama bemoans the ‘negative tone’ of politics, even while groups that support him are now running negative ads. Now, Obama should prove his rhetoric is more than ‘just words’ and stand up to MoveOn.org.”