John Cusack Ties McCain

To Bush in New TV Ad

 Promotes Online Game: The Bush/McCain Challenge

*** View Ad At: http://www.moveon.org ***

Actor John Cusack stars in a new TV ad released today that highlights the nearly identical policies on key issues of Senator John McCain and President George Bush. The ad, paid for by MoveOn.org Political Action, focuses on the similarities between McCain and Bush on the war, health care and Social Security, and encourages voters to play the online game, “The Bush/McCain Challenge.”

“With four dollar-a-gallon gasoline, an endless war in Iraq and an economy in recession, our nation cannot afford another four years of Bush policies,” said Ilyse Hogue, MoveOn’s Communications Director. “But, that is exactly what John McCain is offering the American public. The Bush/McCain Challenge is a fun and engaging way to educate voters on how hard it is to tell the two apart.”

Since the campaign was launched last month, more than 500,000 people have taken the Bush/McCain Challenge either online or at one of the over 300 related nationwide events.

To find out more about "The Bush/McCain Challenge" click here: http://www.bush-mccainchallenge.com/.

MoveOn.org has also been supporting Cusack’s new film War Inc, a futurist satire that exposes war profiteering and has been a grassroots phenomenon, largely due to the support of MoveOn members. 

“War Inc is a futuristic look (like two weeks into the future) at what could happen if our current administration’s deranged privatization policies are continued,” said John Cusack.  “It’s clear the republicans are going to try to rebrand their standard bearer and the party, and run away from Bush at a sprint.  The last 8 years under the Bush administration have been a lawless and terrible time.  Any man who has stood with Bush should have to answer for that, Democrats included.  McCain and Bush ARE the Republican party.  I agree that a McCain presidency is the continuation of a whole bunch of policies that have been disastrous for the country, so I’ve been working with MoveOn.org, both in terms of getting the word out about War Inc and getting the word out about the Bush-McCain Challenge.”

MoveOn will spend $45,000 to run the ad nationally on Bravo and in DC on MSNBC, Comedy Central and CNN starting Thursday.

AD TEXT:     Think YOU can tell President Bush apart from John McCain? Really?   Pop quiz:       Who supports keeping our troops in harm’s way in Iraq, but not a bipartisan GI Bill of rights to support them when they return home?                                               Whose top advisers are linked to war profiteers?                                                                     Who tried to convince Americans to privatize our Social Security?                               Who OPPOSED health care for uninsured children last year?             And the answer is?  BOTH President Bush & John McCain.  Kinda hard to tell them apart.

DOCUMENTATION:                 Senator McCain repeatedly voted against a timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq. [S. Amdt. 3876 to S.Amdt. 3874 to H.R. 2764, Vote #438, 12/18/07; S.Amdt.. 3875 to S.Amdt.. 3874 to H.R. 2764, Vote # 437, 12/18/07; S.Amdt.3164 to H.R. 3222, Vote # 362, 10/3/07; S.Amdt. 2898 to S.Amdt. 2011 to H.R. 1585, Vote #346, 9/21/07;  S.Amdt. 2924 to S.Amdt.. 2011 to H.R.1585, Vote #345, 9/21/07;  S.Amdt.2 087 to S.Amdt. 2011 to H.R. 1585, Vote #252, 7/18/07; S.Amdt. 643 to H.R. 1591, Vote #116, 3/27/07; S.Amdt. 4320 to S. 2766, Vote #182, 6/22/06; S.Amdt. 4442 to S. 2766, Vote #181, 6/22/06; S.Amdt.. 2519 to S.1042, Vote # 322, 11/15/05]   Five years after he green-lighted the war in Iraq, President Bush will mark the anniversary by calling the debate over the conflict "understandable" but insisting that a continued U.S. presence there is crucial. [CNN,3/18/08]     Senator John McCain missed a vote on and opposes a proposal, sponsored by a Democrat Senator Jim Webb of Virginia, passed in the Senate last week by a vote of 75 to 22, that would provide tuition assistance and other benefits to veterans. [New York Times, 5/26/08]   President Bush has threatened to veto the GI Bill. [Boston Globe, 5/23/08]     Senator McCain’s “chief political adviser,” Charles R. Black Jr., served as chairman of one of Washington's lobbying powerhouses. [Washington Post, 2/22/08]   In a statement sent by e-mail, Paul Cordasco, a spokesman for Burson-Marsteller said BKSH helped Blackwater CEO Erik Prince prepare for their congressional hearing. [Associated Press, 10/5/07]   Blackwater, Charlie Black says over steak salad at the Morton’s off the K Street lobbying corridor, “is a fine company that’s provided a great service to the people of the United States and Iraq.” [New York Times, 4/13/08]       There have been three contracts awarded to Haliburton/KBR since the beginning of the war in Iraq – two of which were no-bid contracts.  The first no-bid contract was for supplies for U.S. troops.  The second no-bid contract was for fuel and oil industry repairs. The third contract, awarded in January 2004 after a competitive bidding process, was for the repair of oil fields in Southern Iraq. [Los Angeles Times, 3/29/06]   Halliburton has been the fastest growing contractor under the Bush Administration. Between 2000 and 2005, Federal spending on Halliburton contracts increased over 600%. [Committee on Government Reform, Minority Office, 6/19/06]   Vice President Dick Cheney was Halliburton's chief executive from 1995 until he joined the Republican ticket with President Bush in 2000. [Boston Globe, 3/6/08]         John McCain told The Wall Street Journal on March 3 that "as part of Social Security reform, I believe that private savings accounts are a part of it -- along the lines that President Bush proposed." [Knight Ridder, 3/29/08]   Bush wants to let workers born after 1950 divert a portion of their payroll taxes into individual, privately managed retirement accounts invested in stocks and bonds. In return, workers would have to accept a cut in the traditional Social Security benefit. [Los Angeles Times, 3/23/05]               Sen. John McCain said he agrees with President Bush's veto of legislation expanding a children's health insurance program, saying the bill provided a “phony smoke and mirrors way of paying for it.” McCain:  “Right call by the president.” The bill, which would cost $35 billion over five years, is meant to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program to provide coverage to an additional 10 million children. [CNN,10/3/07]

###