We all know the McCain campaign is becoming increasingly desperate with their scurrilous and baseless attacks on Senator Obama. When you think about it, there really is no other option for them since they're on the wrong side of literally every single issue. But if you're going to smear your opponent, you should probably aim to help your cause rather than hurt it. McCain latest ad, called "Troops," attacks Obama as some kind of troop-hater because he didn't bother to visit with wounded soldiers during his trip overseas. The only problem? The ad contains footage of Obama meeting with the troops during his overseas visit. You can't make this stuff up.

ABC Blog:

Sen. Barack Obama's landing at Chicago's Midway airport this evening was greeted with the news that rival Sen. John McCain launched a new TV ad attacking Obama for that canceled visit to see wounded troops in Germany. McCain's ad asserts that Obama "made time to go to the gym, but cancelled a visit with wounded troops. Seems the Pentagon wouldn't allow him to bring cameras." The McCain campaign provides no evidence for the assertion that being told he couldn't bring media had anything to do with the trip's cancellation. Oddly, when discussing Obama's trip to the gym, the ad uses footage of Obama playing basketball with US troops in Kuwait over the weekend.

I thought those Bush/Cheney guys McCain hired -- remember, the same ones who viciously smeared him during the 2000 campaign -- were supposed to be good at this stuff?

Here's the ad. Check out the video clip in the upper right-hand corner between :13 and :21. You'll clearly see footage of Obama in Kuwait bouncing a baskteball with hundreds of soldiers cheering him on. Did I mention he drained that three-pointer, too?

Keep 'em coming, Team McCain.

UPDATE: Jake Tapper adds this little nugget to his post. In case there was any doubt left that Senator Obama wanted to "use the troops as a photo-op," this should put that to rest:

Obama campaign spokeswoman Linda Douglass says, "We told military officials explicitly that Senator Obama had absolutely no intention of bringing any members of the media or photographers in with him to visit the wounded warriors. In all of our communications with the military, we stressed that this was to be a private visit by Senator Obama."

Somehow I don't think this will stop the wingnuts from foaming at the mouth, though. How sad.