On August 8, Fox News' Fox & Friends aired an August 5 Web ad from Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign that shows video of Democrats praising McCain, but did not air the Democratic National Committee's August 7 response, which contains clips of many of the same Democrats criticizing McCain. Earlier, while teasing the segment, guest co-host Dave Briggs stated: "[I]t's 88 days until the election. Are top Democrats pulling for McCain?"

By contrast, the August 8 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe aired both the McCain ad and the DNC's response, and the August 7 edition of MSNBC's Countdown aired clips from both ads.

From the August 8 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:

BRIGGS: And it's 88 days until the election. Are top Democrats pulling for McCain?

HOWARD DEAN (chairman of the Democratic National Committee) [video clip]: I admire Senator McCain greatly, and he's one of the people we modeled our campaign over -- on, because he is very direct, very blunt.

BRIGGS: This new McCain ad -- Democrats to stump for him, but how will it play with voters?

[...]

BRIAN KILMEADE (co-host): Let's talk about this brand-new ad from John McCain. You know he was a sometimes a darling of the Democrats. You want proof? Watch.

[begin video clip]

FORMER SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD): He can work with Democrats on key issues, whether it's campaign finance reform or tobacco policy, he's worked with us.

SEN. JOE BIDEN (D-DE): Look, John McCain is a personal friend, a great friend, and I would be honored to run with or against John McCain.

SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA): And I have enormous respect for him. He is a courageous, patriotic American who stands up for what he believes.

DEAN: I admire Senator McCain greatly.

[end video clip]

KILMEADE: The best is Hillary Clinton. The best is Hillary Clinton, because she describes her -- “This is me, I'm really qualified, and John McCain's really qualified, and Barack Obama -- he has a speech that he said once.”

GERALDO RIVERA (host of Fox News' Geraldo at Large): Well, you know it's --

KILMEADE: Well, actually here it is. Here, it's coming up. Listen to this.

[begin video clip]

OBAMA: -- begins with the proposal put forward by Senator [Joe] Lieberman and Senator McCain.

CLINTON: I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House, and Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002.

[end video clip]

KILMEADE: That's exactly how she still feels today, Geraldo. I mean --

RIVERA: Well, putting that issue aside, the fact of the matter is, John McCain is the most -- the strongest Republican candidate you could possibly have in an election cycle where the Republicans should have no right to even consider a victory given the last seven and a half years, how difficult things have become with the United States economy for example, the war in Iraq, and everything else.

From the August 8 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe:

JOE SCARBOROUGH (co-host): So anyway, Willie.

WILLIE GEIST (co-host): We've got some more ad wars.

SCARBOROUGH: These are great ads.

GEIST: These are good ads.

SCARBOROUGH: On both sides.

GEIST: John McCain's gotten a lot of credit for being funny, coming out with some good ads lately. Well, the Democratic leaders have come out with sort of dueling ads -- intentionally dueling. Here's one, the first praising John McCain. This from the Democrats.

[begin video clip]

DASCHLE: He can work with Democrats on key issues, whether it's campaign finance reform or tobacco policy, he's worked with us.

BIDEN: Look, John McCain is a personal friend, a great friend, and I would be honored to run with or against John McCain.

JOHN KERRY: And I have enormous respect for him. He is a courageous, patriotic American who stands up for what he believes.

DEAN: I admire Senator McCain greatly, and he's one of the people we modeled our campaign over -- on, because he is very direct, very blunt, and nobody has to guess at what he's thinking.

SEN. RUSS FEINGOLD (D-WI): You know, I love John McCain. He's a great guy.

OBAMA: Since coming to Washington, I have believed that the right approach begins with the proposal put forward by Senator Lieberman and Senator McCain.

CLINTON: I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House, and Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002.

[end video clip]

MIKA BRZEZINSKI (co-host): Oh, OK. They all love him.

GEIST: So that's -- that was paid for by the John McCain campaign.

SCARBOROUGH: That was the first one.

BRZEINSKI: That's good. They all love him.

GEIST: Democrats in their own words, supporting John McCain.

BRZEZINSKI: They love him.

GEIST: Who is that good for, Harold?

HAROLD FORD (NBC News analyst): Well, if you're just watching that, you would have to think it's good for John McCain --

BRZEZINSKI: Yeah.

FORD: -- if you don't -- if you wait -- if you don't catch the end of it. But you can find John McCain saying as many nice things about Democrats. He has praised Hillary Clinton. He has praised the wonderful [Sen.] Ted Kennedy [D-MA], who we -- our prayers continue to go out to. He has praised Tom Daschle before.

SCARBOROUGH: Yeah.

FORD: So you could probably find a slew of things he's done as well, and I've got a funny feeling you just might hear that from the campaign at some point.

SCARBOROUGH: Willie, lets here the other side.

GEIST: All right. Let's check out the DNC. Is John McCain a maverick? Here's what the DNC says.

[begin video clip]

BIDEN: Stylistically and substantively, there is no daylight between George Bush and John McCain. They are joined at the hip.

KERRY: John McCain has changed in profound and fundamental ways that I find personally really surprising and, frankly, upsetting. He is not the John McCain as the senator who defined himself, quote, as a maverick, though questionable. This is a different John McCain.

DASCHLE: On Iraq, on the economy, on tax policy, on domestic policy, across the board, he is espousing the Bush policies. He's changed a lot since 2001.

CLINTON: But in the end, after eight devastating years under President Bush, Senator McCain is simply offering four years more.

DEAN: You know, the John McCain of 2000 wouldn't vote for this John McCain. We've got -- we don't need another four years of George Bush. What he's proposing is four more years of George Bush's economic policy. And it's ridiculous, and it's unfair to the American people.

BUSH: It's been my honor to welcome my friend John McCain as the nominee of the Republican Party. I wish you all the best. I'm proud to be your friend.

[end video clip]

GEIST: Harold, you predicted --

BRZEZINSKI: OK.

GEIST: -- a quick response from the DNC. Same music, same look, the whole thing. Now you've seen both of them.

FORD: One thing here.

GEIST: Who wins that?

FORD: Two things. One thing you've got to admire about it, and it's been said on this show about Obama. They respond very quickly --

BRZEZINSKI: They do.

FORD: -- and they do it forcefully, one. Two, John McCain has changed, and that ad got to some of the surface of it. But they're going to have to dig a little deeper and talk about what that change is. Because I agree with Joe. On the surface, this thing -- I mean, it has probably a little -- McCain's ad is a strong ad. Whenever you have five or six leading Democrats making that kind of case, it's a positive thing for you.

SCARBOROUGH: And of course, Harold, you expect people from the opposite party to attack the other party's nominee. So that's not a big surprise. You don't expect [unintelligible]

FORD: But there is a little substance to this. I think people who -- Democrats in the House and the Senate who like John McCain, liked him for -- he was principled on, they believed, on campaign reform, on tobacco legislation, it's been said before. They agreed with him on tax --

SCARBOROUGH: Yeah.

FORD: -- legislation. Then he shifted all of those positions during the course of this campaign. So all of that will come out, and the context has got to be put into some of these ads. But I admire the way the Obama people are able to respond quickly.

SCARBOROUGH: Yeah. Give the Obama people an A for responding that quickly. I think -- probably, advantage goes to McCain there. But I think it's a tossup.

From the August 7 edition of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann:

KEITH OLBERMANN (host): The McCain campaign today released a Web ad with the testimonials of Democrats attesting to his maverick-atude. Problem: Only one of the testimonials was less than two years old. Our fourth story on the Countdown. Second problem: The DNC promptly followed with its own Web ad with the testimonials of all the same Democrats attesting to how McCain has since betrayed his principles for the sake of the campaign.