Does Romney's Ad Against McCain Contain A Subliminal Message?

Is there a subliminal message in Mitt Romney's recent attack (err... contrast) ad against Sen. John McCain?

About seven seconds into a spot criticizing the Arizona Republican for his stance on immigration reform, the screen quickly flashes the word "rat" in a lone white box against a predominantly blue background. The rodent reference, which appears just under and to the right of McCain's name, is a highlighted portion of the word "immigration" and disappears almost immediately.

The inclusion of the word, Romney's campaign asserted, was completely unintentional. Any interpretation otherwise was "positively ridiculous."

"I saw that mentioned on some blog post and just chalked it up for exactly what it was: an over-imaginative scrutiny of a screenshot," Romney's spokesperson Kevin Madden told the Huffington Post when asked about the "rat" shot. "It's the same sort of reasoning that would argue that the 'gal' in the word 'illegal' is a subliminal appeal to female voters."

But some in the blogosphere have latched onto the word's appearance in the campaign spot because of the blatant historical parallels. In the 2000 presidential election, the Republican National Committee ran an advertisement against Al Gore's prescription drug plan that similarly included a brief screen shot of the word "RATS." In that instance the word was part of the phrase "BUREAUCRATS DECIDE."

The creator of the 2000 advertisement, Alex Castellanos, initially said there was nothing subliminal about the spot before later acknowledging that the word was included as "a visual drumbeat designed to make you look at the word bureaucrats." Castellanos currently serves as a high ranking media consultant for Romney's presidential campaign.

"I don't believe he did [the current ad]," Madden said.

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Beyond the questionable inclusion of the word "rat," Romney's advertisement underscores an intensifying negativity between his and McCain's campaigns. In a television spot before Iowa, the former Massachusetts governor criticized McCain over his stance on tax policies as well as illegal immigration.

McCain - who supported legislation that would allow illegal immigrants who come forward, pay fines, and wait for citizenship before collecting Social Security - has overtaken Romney in several New Hampshire polls. According to the Real Clear Politics average, the Arizona Republican finds himself at 31.3 percent support to Romney's 29.8

The McCain campaign did not return a request for comment.

Watch both ads:

Comments

[think4urself]

Next major headline:

"Romney announces: 'I'm black. I've always been black.'"

[Subj2Chng]

One thing's for sure, Barack Obama doesn't need any subliminal messages. It's all there in black and white.

[studlyguy]

looks like Rottey is up to his old tricks again ,how's that quote you stated your grown chidren are fighting that Iraq war that you support BIG TIME for the corporate GREED war machine that you are a big part of, meanwhile back America your grown war age kids are in their comfy ,cozy house working to get their daddy elected how's that going for you Rottey,not to good looks like

[osage]

IS IT IMPEACHMENT TIME YET?

Bush Thursday ordered White House lawyers to use claims of executive privilege to prevent senior White House aides from cooperating with the Justice Department's criminal investigation into destruction of videotapes that showed CIA interrogators torturing terrorism suspects.

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cont/node/4146

The Republican well has been poisoned by a presidency/vice presidency that has committed the most heinously treasonous abuses of power our democracy has ever experienced. And from now to Election Day, voters will be witnessing Bush's and Cheney's shamelessly dishonest, corrupt and criminal efforts to hide and cover-up what they've done. At this point in our history, why would any American choose to drink from a well that with each passing day is becoming more and more visibly contaminated?

[thegreatgiginthesky]

I think Mitt has killed one too many rats with his BB gun.

[Beelzebul]

Mitt will be lucky if he places second in NH. After he loses in there, he can encourage his sons to enlist and then go on a long vacation with his wife and dog. Dog inside this time.

If Huckabee places at least second, then he's going to be the Repubs nominee. McCain stated he's going to "follow bin Laden to the gates of hell", so he might not have time to campaign. Rudy is too busy making 9-11 horror videos, so he won't be out there campaigning much, either.

Huckabee / Dobson '08

[VogonsCryptolect]

Somebody must be really bored to have come up with this one.
If you were doing a subliminal ad against McCain wouldn't it be more effective to have 'Democrat' hidden in the background since his siding with Dems on so many issues has consistently pissed off conservatives.
It wasn't all that long ago that there was buzz about him switching parties..

This is a ridiculous, no one is sneaking the word 'rat' into the viewer's subconscious.

The NYT story on the Hillary campaign should be on top since it shows just how pathetic all these candidates and their campaigns have become.

'shall we go with CHANGE or EXPERIENCE as our empty buzz word?'

'I'm not sure, let's do a poll just to be safe'....

[HumeSkeptic]

Romney is just as much a veteran as McCain, figuratively.

[BushJustdrivesdemscrazy]

One thing from the talking heads coverage of the Iowa primary: Someone pointed out that regardless of which Dem was speaking, the biggest applause line, the one that always brought any crowd of liberals to its feet, was when the candidate talked about how fast they would cut and run in Iraq.

With ten more months of Iraq progress coming before the general election, you guys may want to retool your strategy for winning. Maybe you can go with "It's the economy, stupid" again, because I don't think Americans are going to want to leave a fight we're winning.

[M1nkyb0y]

I believe it's "subliminable," at least thats what our current president calls it.
For all you folks that think it's just a coincidence, there are no coincidences in these highly formulated ads. Every single frame is scrutinized during production, in an attempt to eek every possible advantage out of the spot.
Nice, nice, very nice.

Karma in '08

[HumeSkeptic]

Why is Romney against Catholics, just because they are from Mexico?

[hydenorhare]

Hmmm. Could be. But at least they paid for it. And they're not expected to be objective.

Unlike, say, CNN with it's "X" over Cheney or USA Today with their doctored photo of Condoleezza Rice. And don't get me started on Dan Rather's fake memo. And ... the list can go on and on.

[BushJustdrivesdemscrazy]

"If the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s 100 Club dinner is any bell weather – Barack Obama will handily win here. When Obama, the dinner’s last speaker, took the stage the crowd surged forward chanting “O-bam-a” and “Fired Up, Ready to Go!” So many people pressed toward the stage that an announcer asked people to “please take their seats for safety concerns.”

By comparison Hillary was twice booed. The first time was when she said she has always and will continue to work for "change for you. The audience, particularly from Obama supporters (they were waving Obama signs) let out a noise that sounded like a thousand people collectively groaning. The second time came a few minutes later when Clinton said: "The there are two big questions for voters in New Hampshire. One is: who will be ready to lead from day one? The second," and here Clinton was forced to pause as boos from the crowd mixed with cheers from her own supporters. "Is who can we nominate who will go the distance against the Republicans?”



Damn, don't these people know that it takes a Clinton to clean up after a Bush?

By the way, did you catch the litany of Hillary slogans used and discarded in Iowa? Something like ten with "change" figuring prominently in four or five of them.

Next up: "Change, for change's sake" followed by "Brother, can you spare some change?".

[Zhonni]

I don't know what the hoopla is all about.

People don't respond to subliminal messages. Who cares if he called him a rat outright. It would only backfire on Romney.

[UnionJok]

If an ad like this is from a guy named Willard, it's not subliminal -- it's projection!