# What? No Spears/Hilton/Obama thread yet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 4, 2008, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-spears-hilton-obama-thread-yet/458858 "2008-08-04T23:54:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-spears-hilton-obama-thread-yet/458858/21 "2008-08-05T19:43:57Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay] And you probably saw nothing racist about the “Call me, Harold” ad against Harold Ford in the Tennessee Senate race in 2006, either, right? [/quote] Never heard of it. > [@jayjay](#): > > 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. I’m quite aware. I studied _Birth of a Nation_ in college. Only thing is, it’s damn near a century old. Even growing up in the bible belt around tons of racists, I didn’t hear or feel a lot of _they’re stealin’ our white wimmin_ sentiment; it’s old, and I only ever hear it these days from the people claiming to decry racism. Bottom line is, Harold Ford, Mel Brooks, and DW Griffith aside, do _you_ think the ad in discussion is racist? Is it a stretch to say that someone who saw racism in it was looking for racism? I don’t think so at all, to both questions. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Call_Me_Shirley)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-spears-hilton-obama-thread-yet/458858/22 "2008-08-05T20:18:00Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] 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 . . . [/QUOTE] I liken it to Bush using christian “code words” and phrases in a lot of his speeches. He rarely comes right out and quotes the bible, but he constantly slips in phrases that would be familiar to christians. I was raised in a very christian household, and my wife was not. One time we both listened to a Bush speech, and I came out of it disgusted at all the christian pandering, but when I commented on it to my wife, she had not noticed any christianity in it at all. For example, I remember Bush referred to the “power, wonder working power” of some program. Any christian will immediately recognize that phrase as coming from a popular hymn, while a non-christian will not get it at all. So the christians, without even realizing it, take away from the speech that Bush is a really devout and open christian, while the non-christians don’t see anything religious at all. Same thing here. And if you don’t think the Republicans would stoop to putting in coded references playing to racist fears, google “Southern Strategy.” ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-spears-hilton-obama-thread-yet/458858/23 "2008-08-05T20:29:23Z")
I’m well aware of the way racism is used as a tool - like I said, I grew up in the bible belt. But sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Are there ditzy black ultra-celebrities Obama should’ve been compared to instead\*? And would that not have garnered cries of racism as well? _What, you can’t compare him to a \* white \* person? Why, because he’s_ black\*?\* \*not that he necessarily should’ve been compared to ditzy ultra-celebrities in the first place, but that’s a different discussion ---
**Author:** ![holmes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e95f7d/32.png) [@holmes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/holmes)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-spears-hilton-obama-thread-yet/458858/24 "2008-08-05T23:15:55Z")
Not bad: [Old white haired guy](http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/64ad536a6d) ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2008, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-spears-hilton-obama-thread-yet/458858/25 "2008-08-05T23:18:53Z")
Here is a re-post of what I wrote in another thread. [McCain’s attack strategy paying dividends.](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/mccain_obama_poll) > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON - Intensified attacks by Republican John McCain on the character of his Democratic opponent have coincided with Barack Obama losing a nine percentage point advantage in a national poll, which showed the candidates running dead even over the weekend. In every election there is an outcry over negative campaigning. It is juvenile and dishonest, and yet it almost always works. I want to meet a voter that changed his mind because of the Britney ad, just so I can kick him in the nuts. And Paris Hilton [responds.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/05/paris-hilton-responds-to_n_117137.html) ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-spears-hilton-obama-thread-yet/458858/26 "2008-08-06T00:01:20Z")
On the Britney and Paris thing: am I the only one who sees sexism being exploited moreso than racism? I see the ad as an attempt to cast Obama as weak, stupid, and young…what better way to do that than by grouping him in with a couple of silly, blonde women. Sure, the style-over-substance angle is there, but I think the stronger take-home message is that Obama is not a “real man”. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-spears-hilton-obama-thread-yet/458858/27 "2008-08-06T00:20:55Z")
[QUOTE=holmes] Not bad: [Old white haired guy](http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/64ad536a6d) [/QUOTE] Hilton 2016! ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-spears-hilton-obama-thread-yet/458858/28 "2008-08-06T00:48:51Z")
[QUOTE=holmes] Not bad: [Old white haired guy](http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/64ad536a6d) [/QUOTE] Oh, criminy, but that was funny! Oh, my sides are achin’ and I’m rollin’ on the floor. And you know, you just _know_ the media are going to take this and run with it, play it over and over and over, not just on the news and pundit shows but on the entertainment gossip shows as well. People are going to howl at her sendup of the “wrinkly white-haired guy” in a way that will be just devastating for McCain. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-spears-hilton-obama-thread-yet/458858/29 "2008-08-06T00:55:34Z")
[QUOTE=holmes] Not bad: [Old white haired guy](http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/64ad536a6d) [/QUOTE] Is she running as an independent? If so I’m voting for her! ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-spears-hilton-obama-thread-yet/458858/30 "2008-08-06T00:55:54Z")
I’ll see you at the debate, bitches. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-spears-hilton-obama-thread-yet/458858/31 "2008-08-06T00:57:38Z")
[QUOTE=foolsguinea] Hilton 2016! [/QUOTE] Well done. That’s the year she turns 35. She WILL still be hot then, won’t she? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-spears-hilton-obama-thread-yet/458858/32 "2008-08-06T01:30:25Z")
I’m sure the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Washington Monument were just thrown in by accident… yeah right. Hot white women plus phallic symbols plus black man. Gee, what COULD they be trying to get across subliminally? ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-spears-hilton-obama-thread-yet/458858/33 "2008-08-06T01:33:03Z")
[QUOTE=kaylasdad99] Well done. That’s the year she turns 35. She WILL still be hot then, won’t she? [/QUOTE] Still? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-spears-hilton-obama-thread-yet/458858/34 "2008-08-06T02:30:56Z")
She’s a pampered, worthless ruling class diva, and if a thought came into her mind, it would rattle about like a BB in a boxcar. But when the moment arose wherein her vapidity and shallowness could be a force for good , however briefly, she stepped up. And she actually has a sense of humor, or can act, or was subjected to rigorous, Skinner-esque behavior mod so that she could present a near-perfect simulation. \*C’est la vie \*say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-spears-hilton-obama-thread-yet/458858/35 "2008-08-06T03:11:56Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] She’s a pampered, worthless ruling class diva, and if a thought came into her mind, it would rattle about like a BB in a boxcar. But when the moment arose wherein her vapidity and shallowness could be a force for good , however briefly, she stepped up. And she actually has a sense of humor, or can act, or was subjected to rigorous, Skinner-esque behavior mod so that she could present a near-perfect simulation. [/QUOTE] Everyone who knows her says she’s the funniest person they know, and that the whole dumb blonde thing is a front she puts on to amuse herself. Donald Trump called her a brilliant businesswoman. I dunno how true any of that is, but it’s an idea to toss around next time you see her acting like an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-spears-hilton-obama-thread-yet/458858/36 "2008-08-06T03:17:05Z")
> [@](#): > > 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? There’s good popular and bad popular. Obama is bad popular, the liberal kind of popular where celebrities and foreigners like you. McCain is good popular, the conservative kind of popular where ordinary Americans and God likes you. Like what Reagan had - you never saw him hanging out with that Hollywood crowd … wait a second … ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2008, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-spears-hilton-obama-thread-yet/458858/37 "2008-08-06T18:19:43Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem] I’m sure the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Washington Monument were just thrown in by accident… yeah right. Hot white women plus phallic symbols plus black man. Gee, what COULD they be trying to get across subliminally? [/QUOTE] Not to be one of those people who cites the Daily Show, but Jon Stewart pointed out that it’s [not the Tower of Pisa](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_victory_column), and that “it’s in the ad because _that’s where Barack Obama was speaking in front of._” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-no-spears-hilton-obama-thread-yet/458858.md?page=1)