'But his star's fading'
SPOT: "Disrespectful"
AIRING IN: Key states
SCRIPT: Announcer: "He was the world's biggest celebrity, but his star's fading. So they lashed out at Sarah Palin. Dismissed her as 'good looking.' That backfired, so they said she was doing 'what she was told.' Then desperately called Sarah Palin a liar. How disrespectful. And how Governor Sarah Palin proves them wrong, every day."
JOHN McCAIN: "I'm John McCain and I approved this message."
IMAGES: A blaze of camera flashes engulfs Barack Obama as he accepts the Democratic nomination at Invesco Field in Denver. A dramatic symphony soundtrack accompanies a photo of him and his running mate, Senator Joseph Biden. An increasingly irritated voiceover follows, with shots of Biden and Obama recounting criticisms of Palin. The closing shot shows Palin addressing a crowd from behind a podium while McCain stands by her side.
FACT-CHECKER: Biden did call Palin "good looking" at a campaign event in Toledo, Ohio, as part of a discussion of the differences between him and his Republican counterpart. The ad, though, shows the quote with an image of Obama. In fact, an Obama spokesperson said that Palin was doing "what she was told" in response to her mischaracterization of Obama's record. The Obama campaign said, "maybe that's what she was told." The accusation of calling Palin a liar rehashes arguments about Palin's claim to have killed the proposed "bridge to nowhere," despite evidence that it was killed in Congress.
ANALYSIS: The McCain campaign's barrage of ads lampooning Obama's celebrity status continues here, but with a new twist designed to highlight the sudden ascension of Palin to the limelight, at Obama's expense. The ad's repeated use of "they" blurs individuals' comments about Palin into "the Obama campaign," but it also could be interpreted to target the news media. The McCain campaign has suggested several times that the media have aligned with Obama and his surrogates to denigrate Palin. The ad emphasizes the vice-presidential nominee rather than McCain, apparently seeking to capitalize on the attention Palin is commanding.
ERICH SCHWARTZEL 