"The Arizona Republic" wrote that the McCain–Bush primary contest in South Carolina "has entered national political lore as a low-water mark in presidential campaigns", while "The New York Times" called it "a painful symbol of the brutality of American politics". A variety of interest groups, which McCain had challenged in the past, ran negative ads. Bush borrowed McCain's earlier language of reform, and declined to dissociate himself from a veterans activist who accused McCain (in Bush's presence) of having "abandoned the veterans" on POW/MIA and Agent Orange issues.