Don’t confuse Republican presidential candidate John McCain with the old counterculture society that brought us the Woodstock concert in August 1969.

The 71-year-old senator from Arizona has made a television ad to run in the early voting state of New Hampshire on Thursday criticizing Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for backing a project to spend $1 million on a Woodstock concert museum in Bethel, New York. (The federal funding effort has since been abandoned.)

In the ad, McCain says he was busy during the summer of ‘69 concert — a U.S. prisoner of war in the Hanoi Hilton in Vietnam.

The advertisement captures the moment from a Republican debate in Florida last Sunday when McCain ridiculed Clinton and the Woodstock project.

“Now my friends, I wasn’t there. I’m sure it was a cultural and pharmaceutical event,” McCain says, as Republican front runner Rudy Giuliani roars with laughter.

“I was, I was tied up at the time,” McCain says.

The picture moves to black-and-white video of a younger McCain strapped to a prison bed. The Navy pilot was shot down in 1967 and spent five-and-a-half years as a POW.

The ad covers many fronts. It reminds voters of his national security credentials, takes a shot at the Democratic front-runner and revives his concerns about government spending in Washington.

“No one can be president of the United States that supports projects such as these,” McCain says.

Clinton campaign spokesman Phil Singer shot back:

“Sen. McCain should focus more on explaining to New Hampshire voters why he supported the fiscally irresponsible Bush policies that squandered a federal surplus and left us with the largest deficit in American history. As president, Sen. Clinton will reverse those policies and restore the nation to fiscal responsibility,” he said.