I just gone done watching the ad. What is all of the uproar over? A flash of Brittney and Paris which compare Obama’s popularity to style over substance. A total of 17 of the 30 seconds is devoted to issues.
0-8sec. Tribute to Obama’s cult of personalty
8-25sec. Who is the real Obama?
25-30 sec. I’m John McCain and I approve this message.
Hearing the hype, I was expecting 30 seconds of comparing Barak to pantyless crotch-shots but Obama’s talk about THEY (I’m guessing THEY is The Man), and funny names and dollar bills comes across as more juvenile than this ad.
It struck me as racist. Putting a black man on the screen next to hot white women is probably intended to invoke “they’re going to come after our women” feelings among certain segments of the population.
Jon Stewart pointed out the real dickishness of this add. Paris Hilton’s parents gave money to McCain. “Thanks for the money, Mr. and Mrs. Hilton. Now I will make fun of your daughter.”
Besides the fact that his use of the quotes is a classic example of taking quotes out of context (i.e., they would be clearer if the beginning of the point Obama was actually making was known; also another quote was Obama talking about a criticism Clinton made, not Obama talking about himself), it doesn’t make any sense to simply equate popularity and worldwide appeal to lack of substance. If McCain believes Obama lacks substance then absolutely he should point that out. He can’t seem to really do that on any consistent and valid basis and therefore seems to be reaching.
Also, the ad itself is just one more in a series of the McCain campaigns utterances nitpicking and misconstruing shit about Obama and not actually presenting anything of substance about what McCain himself stands for. It is also quite telling when members of the campaign itself speak publicly and disagree with the ads and, in an instance not totally related to the OP, says “McCain does not speak for this campaign.”
I would welcome direct and substantive criticism of Obama and explicit statements about what McCain stands for. It just hasn’t been happening over a substantial period of time and that’s why the ad is another ridiculous one among many.
The McCain campaign can’t seem to find a comherent message and certainly can’t seem to find one the has anything praiseworthy to say about McCain.
Do me a favor and click the link in my OP. I know the radio spot you’re talking about and it is just horrible and his campaign people took the respect I had for McCain and kicked it in the nuts. I guess they counted on no one doing any research into the original quotes. Equally dickish is the Obama contention that racism is working against him (THEY is ambiguous enough to apply to Hillary in the primary and McCain in the general). With these two running, a third party may win if the didn’t nominate the Bob Barrs and Cynthia McKinneys of the world. Fuck! Is Australia accepting emigrees?
But enough hijack. This ad is simple - no Obama quotes just three talking points:
Popularity =/= ready for president
Obama opposes off shore drilling
Obama want to increase energy taxes
Advertisers know you don’t have to beat people over the head with a visual. You can show Spears and Hilton for less than a second in an ad padded with thirty seconds of filler and people will call it the Britney and Paris ad. If Obama’s campaign ran an ad talking about McCain and showed a split-second image of a burning cross, you think people wouldn’t notice it?
The problem with the ad is that it’s silly. It’s trying to suggest there’s something wrong with Obama because he’s getting a lot of press coverage. Of course he’s getting a lot of press coverage - he’s running for President.
McCain is just trying to tie Obama to that LeftistHollywood/celeb/ crowd.
The funny thing though is McCain has been hob-nobing for what–20+ years now…with the reputation as a bit of tom-cat, and he’s married now to the consumate Paris Hilton…a hundred million dollar heiress that has been surgically “Barbie tized”.
So, being popular is a bad thing for winning… the popular vote? I’m confused as to McCain’s logic on this one. It seems like being popular would be a good thing for a presidential campaign, right?
Not if you’re too popular! Its kind of like a rubber band, stretch it too far and snap! you’ve got millions of people stampeding to vote for the guy they don’t much like! Or something.
But didn’t you secretly resent and detest the really really popular kids in high school? Didn’t you think they were too big for their britches, looking down on ordinary shlubs like you and me? Didn’t you wish they’d get taken down a peg or two? Didn’t you wish you could stick it to them, show them they weren’t so hot after all? Isn’t there some little hidden place in your heart that still seethes with resentment at the big shot who humiliated you when you made the mistake of trying to talk to a kid in the In group?
Well, baby, now it’s your turn! Now’s your chance to get back at those jerks who thought they were so much better than you! Now you can vote for a guy like you and stick it to the hotshot!
Hi, welcome to Modern Republican Politics 101! Today we’ll learn about projection and spin. For instance, if Goldwater were a modern Republican, he’d accuse his opponents of being too anti-communist. If Nixon were a modern Republican, he’d accuse his opponents of having enemies lists. If Coolidge were a modern Republican, he’d accuse his opponent of being too cold and noncommunicative.
This is a joke, right? I’m pretty sure it’s a joke. It’s got to be a joke. If so, discontinue reading this post.
If not . . . :eek:. Wow. People who tend to see racism in everything strike me as racists themselves. Like conservative zealots who see homosexuality everywhere often turn out to be homosexual themselves. I mean . . . never in a million years would what you said cross my mind after seeing that ad. It just would not occur to me. If I had a racist mindset to begin with, however . . .
And you probably saw nothing racist about the “Call me, Harold” ad against Harold Ford in the Tennessee Senate race in 2006, either, right?
Just because you, personally, appear to be unaware of the dog-whistle qualities of white women juxtaposed with a black man, rest assured that the intended audience for that dog-whistle did NOT let it go past unnoticed. Mel Brooks didn’t put the words “Where all the white women?” in Cleavon Little’s mouth in the satirical Blazing Saddles because he thought it up out of thin air. There is a there there.