During the Vietnam War, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain survived air-combat missions, a bayonet wound, countless injuries and, perhaps most harrowing of all, an extended stay as a prisoner of war at the Hanoi Hilton. In a 30-second campaign ad that debuted last week , McCain mocked Democratic rival Senator Barack Obama ’s image as a media star by flashing pictures of tabloid staples Paris Hilton and Britney Spears in the opening shots. To the tune of “America the Beautiful,” a bikini-clad Hilton goes on to discuss in the video where you can get the best tan (”Maui”) and suggests that we combine McCain’s desire for offshore drilling with Obama’s plan to offer tax incentives to auto companies for making hybrid and electric cars (”We can do limited offshore drilling,” the socialite suggests, “with strict environmental oversights”). Hilton’s video is a good-humored attempt at spoofing the first ad, but representatives for McCain’s campaign nevertheless immediately responded to the clip on TMZ. Head to Choose or Lose for nonstop coverage of the 2008 presidential election, including everything from the latest news on the candidates to on-the-ground multimedia reports from our 51 citizen journalists, MTV and MySpace’s Presidential Dialogues, and much more.

Technorati Tags: the, to, a, and, hilton, on, celebrity gossip