by MoDo"Now John McCain is pea-green with envy. That’s the only explanation for why a man who prides himself on honor, a man who vowed not to take the low road in the campaign, having been mugged by W. and Rove in South Carolina in 2000, is engaging in a festival of juvenilia.
The Arizona senator who built his reputation on being a brave proponent of big solutions is running a schoolyard campaign about tire gauges and Paris Hilton, childishly accusing his opponent of being too serious, too popular and not patriotic enough.
Even his own mother, the magical 96-year-old Roberta McCain, let slip that she thought the Paris Hilton-Britney Spears ad was “kinda stupid.”"
14 comments:
I think these viral ads are genius moves by the RNC. So much exposure for so little cost. And as silly as they are, they really do pinpoint exactly what makes people uneasy about B. O.
Oh get a grip.
Maybe in your neck of the woods this election has been reduced entirely to race, but I think most rational people see it as experience vs. change/hype/inexperience, however you want to put it. And that's all these ads are saying.
Do you honestly believe the idea behind putting Paris Hilton in the ad was to imply that he was going to rape her? Huh?
And doesn't using Barack's own messianic language against him imply arrogance more than apocalypse?
You're trying pretty hard to make something out of nothing and I think you're coming up empty.
You're not a racist if you don't vote for Barack Obama, Brad, just like you're not a sexist if you didn't vote for Hillary Clinton.
You're the one who seems desperate to make this election about good vs. evil and reduce the whole thing to black and white, not the Republicans.
The thing is that these ads are made for two different audiences. Of course there are those that think he's a glorified celeb and nothing more than empty drivel. But in rural parts of the country, along Appalachia in Ohio, parts of western Pennsylvania, rural North Carolina, the panhandle of Florida, they see these ads differently. And when you couple these ads with the false email smears, the 6 weeks of Rev Wright the country was feed, the drudging up of every acquaintance he's ever had, and the admittedly exotic background of Barack Obama, and you've got a recipe for terror for some folks.
And of course you aren't a racist if you don't vote for Obama, that's a false argument. But if you won't vote for Obama because he's black you are. Last I heard 8% of the country said they won't vote for him because he's black. 15% believe he's a secret Muslim. Elections are won by margins of 3 and 4 points, so an ignorant few who base their votes on race or xenophobia can really fuck it up for the rest of us.
But we knew there were racists in America before Barack was the nominee, and we knew there would those who would be troubled by his "foreign" background, so why are we pretending that it's the Republican party who's turning them into issues now with these campaign ads? Who are the voters who were almost willing to vote for Barack Obama but didn't because they realized he's black thanks to a John McCain ad?
I guess it's just a little disappointing to see McCain's campaign take the low-road, but of course it has to. Why would John McCain hire the same people that slimed him in 2000? Because they're good at making people look slimey.
The people running McCain's campaign are the same ones responsible for accusing him of having an illegitamite black child in the South Carolina primaries. These are the same people who cost him the nomination.
And you ask about those voters almost about to vote for Obama but they won't because of a McCain ad, or an email, well those folk exist. And there's no "pretending" that it's the republicans running those ads, because they are running those ads. They've played on race in the past, this season they've already released ads comparing Obama to gang members and shit, they're trying to blacken him up so that he's too black to vote for. "Crazy black pastor, plays basketball, got a free ride to Harvard probably because of affirmative action, always playing the victim accusing white folks of being racist, has terrorist friends, lives near Louis Farakahn and Jessie Jackson, listens to rap music, he's only going to look after his kind, his mama was a n*gger lover, why that man's just too much of a negro for me." That's the message the right wing of this country has been sending out for over a year now.
I was surprised to read that Obama didn't even mention his race when applying to Harvard. Touche!
Of course he didn't mention his race; he's been running for president his entire life! Ambitious son-of-a-bitch! COUNTRY FIRST!
But seriously, folks, no viral video is going to turn someone into a racist. And if there's an RNC ad that compares Barack Obama to a gangmember or goes after his mom, then I'd love to see it.
Barack Obama and John McCain are both human beings and both have flaws. They also both have virtues. John McCain would be a fool to not take every advantage available to him. If Barack Obama had such cheap shots available to him, you can bet he'd take them.
The problem is that there are no character attacks you can level against McCain that have the same sting. We will see McCain taking hits over being a flip-flopper, and I'm sure we'll see subtle indications that he's too old for the job, but it's not like you can call him inexperienced, which is the core of what these ads against Barack are saying.
McCain has to go for the juggular to remain relevent in the race. I think as November nears, if Barak starts losing in the polls, McCain will be thrown in the mud with the rest of the piggies.
http://gawker.com/5034317/this-is-all-meaningless-until-the-conventions
I would ad that (pun intended), not to be anti-AARP, but McCain’s crowd (the 70+ early bird special junkies, the older generation, the great generation that votes) tend to be a bit more easily persuaded when it comes to the “Barack is a scary, black nationalist who is going to pay back white America for almost 200 years of oppression” tactic. After all, they are a product of their own time.
So I do agree that most thinking individuals would not be persuaded, however there are far more visceral individuals than thinking individuals in this country so the commercials do seem to feed those who allow others to play to their own insecure fears.
I guess I just don't see that fear as being manufactured by a political party, more of a "if you've got it, you've got it and if you don't, you don't" thing. Like color-blindness only with a grudge against the colors you don't see.
It's clear that ALL the people making ANY campaign ads NEED to be drown in mud themselves.
There's shots to be taken at McCain, hey, maybe the Obama's are taking the high road, and when they win, they'll hopefully say, "see, we didn't need immature videos and marketing that play to the dumbest fucking people in our country to win in election. If you're dumb, you should remain confused and left seeking higher education, not manipulation."
Where's Ron Paul - that's real tangible change.
I am willing to admit that politics is about opportunity and winning, but isn't that what makes makes it so UNinteresting.
Post a Comment