jayjay is on target.
And Corker is makin’ hay whilst the sun shines.
It must be said that no taint of fraud haunts young Ford personnal.
I’ve followed the news on this, but didn’t see the ad until this thread, via spokes post #12. My first reaction was to laugh, “What a cartoon!”, but, of course, see how these cartoons play into the important scope of things. Some observations, after viewing the ad many times, and some deconstruction, with good mind toward how they are constructed in the first place, with a better paycheck than mine, I’m sure:
All with a “man on the street” perspective:
1st woman,young, black: “Harold Ford looks nice, in’t that enough?” She leads in with a plausible interview on the street, but is looking confused about it.
2nd, solo young white woman: “Terrorists need their privacy” Not sure how to phrase this tactic, but, basically, showing someone saying something you wouldn’t hear anyone say; trying to be ironic? Who would say that? I’m gonna call it FauxSpeak.
3rd, Older white man with “approving wife”: “When I die Harold Ford will let me pay taxes again…” Point of view, can see him saying that.
4th, Solo white guy in hunter garb: “Harold Ford’s right, I do have too many guns.” FauxSpeak
5th, Scantily Clad Lass, white : “I met Harold (ooohh, intimate) at the Playboy party.” Could be a straight interview. Too much toward camera mugging, though.
6th, to contrast with Party Gal, a rather dour looking, yet stylish, white middle age woman: “I’d Love to pay higher marriage taxes.” FauxSpeak
7th, Downhome white couple, graying, he in overalls: “Canada can take care of North Korea, they’re not busy” FauxSpeak
8th, in a grand finale, Rather sleazy white Hollywood type, with shades: “So, he took money from porn movie producers…who wouldn’t?” Could be a straight interview, but, he’s an actor, check the forced odd smile at the end.
Rather innocous , yet firm femme voiceover stating the producers of the ad, then,
“Harold Ford, He’s Just Not Right”
Then, the late night dial-up come-on “Call Me!”
To start: I don’t know that people outside the South would cue to the “Just not right” finale. There is a basic saying when someone is more than a bit messed up; “He just ain’t right”. So the ain’t got cleaned up, but a lot of people will get that bit as “messed up in the head”.
What I find amazing in this cartoony ad is the shift between showing people, in an obvious “man on the Street” sense, making quotes normal people might, and then contrasting a person that resonates with the Base, saying something that person wouldn’t normally say; my" FauxSpeak". The effect is to create a jarring sensation with people portrayed, “Hell, no! I didn’t say that!” The hunter gun control guy might be the most effective use of it.
But, then, it shifts to other cartoon folk, Playboy Party Gal and Porny Pimpy Guy, who just got stopped on the mean streets to tell of their experience with Mr. Ford. And, they are by far the worst cartoons, and cast actors. Yeesh.
I think the ad is racist, from my knowledge in living in N. Mississippi, close to Harold Ford’s district, and thanks to vibrotronica for articulating better some things I wanted to say here.
The ad ends with a sly wink, which was, I suppose, to be a clincher. Let’s hope that type of idiocy is not.
I’m from Ohio and I didn’t see any racist implications in the ad. I showed it to my husband who is from a virulently racist Kentucky family, and he said, “He’s after the white wimmen!”
So I agree with the people who think this is almost a code language.
C’mon now. How do you think bloodsuckers vote? 
Republican…
Well, I did say the Straight Party.
In an attempt to kind of start over, given (arguably) that the ad is supposed to be humorous; and given (arguably) that there is somewhat of a connection between Playboy and Ford; and given (arguably) that the stereotypical Playboy bunny is white and dumb …
is there any reason to immediately assume that the ad is RACIST other than the past history of ads in the south?
And is assuming so any different than other prejudices that might be directed toward blacks or others?
Yeah, that’s basically my problem with that argument.
There are racists in the south.
This ad could be seen as racist.
Therefore it was designed to be racist.
I’ve lived in lots of places, and there are racists everywhere. I’m suspicious of the idea that just because this is “the south” that there are secret code words that prove it’s racist.
Ford is going to be on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace in a few minutes. I saw an excerpt earlier in which he (Ford) said he didn’t consider the ad racist. Would he have any motivation to lie about that? Should be an interesting interivew. Maybe CW will ask Ford if he thinks he should have done more to capture ObL.
Any motivation? During a campaign? How about a motivation to look more statesmanlike, more mature than the other guy, instead of just another accusation-thrower? It isn’t hard to imagine.
What IS hard to imagine, for a non-Southerner like you or me, is the intended effect on voters who have grown up there. It’s a different place in that regard from your Cal or my MA. Let’s not pretend we understand it as well as the natives, or continually throw around cheap opinions about how we don’t see what the problem is, shall we? There’s enough testimony even in this thread, even from Tennesseeans themselves, that there’s something behind this ad other than simple mockery. How about respecting that and considering it?
You look statesman-like by lying? I didn’t know that. Remember, the other guy didn’t make this ad-- it came from the RNC-- and he denounced it as soon as it was shown.
I grew up in NE, like you, but I have lived in the south as well as in CA. I respect other people’s opinions and obviously have considered that it might be racist since I agreed that it might be. I don’t recall you giving any deference to the many people in this thread, some from the south, who say that they don’t see the racism. Did I miss the post of yours where you did?
Black folks take a lot of flak for saying something is racist, even when there are white people saying the same thing. I don’t blame him for not making a fuss about the ad. Why would you expect him to “play the race card” by saying that its a racist ad when other people can say that for him? He’s just being smart.
I understand that, and I wouldn’t expect him to bring it up, but he was asked by the interviewer if he thought the ad was racist and he said no. He did, btw, “make a fuss” about the ad, but because he thought it was cheap and tasteless (which it was). I haven’t seen the whole clip yet, so maybe in context it’ll be clearer. I’m sure the transcript will be posted within a day at the most.
Sometimes yes, you do. Ever hear of “white lies”? If you have, do you understand the concept?
Come on now, you’re better than that. You really don’t think anyone talked to anyone else beforehand? You can’t conceive of the denunciation being an attempt to look statesmanlike on Corker’s part, while letting the ad have its effect anyway? The ol’ “Some people may say my opponent is a puppy-abuser, but I wouldn’t; that accusation is despicable” act is a political staole. I’m surprised it surprises you.
You’ve spent much more time claiming that it probably isn’t.
They’re not the people the ad targets, are they? The ones it does target, as several Southerners here have pointed out already, most likely do get the point.
Trouble I have is all the people who must have signed off on this for it to go forward. Judging from my own reaction, it is entirely possible to completely miss the “jungle love” innuendo. And it is also possible that several of the abovementioned persons who signed off on the ad missed it as well. But surely, Shirley, somebody must have taken it that way! Somebody must have gone “Well, shitfire, ya’ll! Some of my knuckle-walking kinfolks are gonna see this and think about black guys after our wimmens! Oh, and they think that’s a bad thing.”
So who didn’t see anything racist in this hardly counts. Somebody did, and signed off on it anyway.
How many people had to sign off on it?
I watched the interview, and it was pretty short so not a lot of context. Ford did take a very statesman like position at first saying that he didn’t know what was on the minds of those who made the ad, but then later said he didn’t think it had anything to do with race when Wallace pressed him further. Maybe it was a white lie (pardon the pun), as Elvis suggests, but I don’t see why we shouldn’t take Ford at his word. Doesn’t prove the ad wasn’t racist, but it’s another data point from someone who is in a very good position to know.
I don’t think him being the target makes him any better a judge than anyone else. The person who’s in the best position to know is the one who created the ad in the first place. Everyone else can only speculate.
He’s a politician trying to win a tight election. That alone is a good reason why we shouldn’t take him at his word.
But I think whether the ad is intentionally racist or not is neither here nor there (as I said earlier). It is easily and reasonably viewed as such. It would have been wise for its creators to stick to the substantitive issues and steer clear from the white-girl stuff. Anyone who has spent five minutes in a US history class should have known the implications of that ad.
If you can’t attribute malice, you can at least attribute pure-dy stupidity.
I find it really strange that John Mace and What the … !!! see the ad as humorous. Of course, if it is funny to you, then it just is. But I saw no humor in it at all. I thought it was a vicious attack ad. Could it be that you found the woman’s dialect to be humorous? (This question is coming to you from someone who often makes Yanks grin and online friends break out into fits of laughter when they hear my voice the first time.)
Here in Tennessee her voice doesn’t sound humorous. It sounds normal.
I just had a recorded phone message from the Corker campaign implying that if I vote for Ford I will be supporting rights for terrorists, abortions, blah, blah. That sucks.
About Ford’s family – He is much more distinguished than the members of his family that I am familiar with. His uncle is a flake. Nothing like him. Think Billy and Jimmy Carter.
Big turnout for early voting here in Nashville! We also voted for Ford.
Clearly, it was intended to be humorous, much like Dennis Miller monologues are intended to be humorous, you can see ironic constructs (“Sure, I’d like to be taxed more! Sure, I’d like a pineapple slammed up my Nixon…”) which corresponds in a rough analogue of humor, much like a termite mound is similar to the Pyramids of Giza.