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

[AxelDC]

They are both "RATS". Anyone trying to be the successor to George Bush deserves nothing better than a resounding electoral defeat in November. The only question is which Republican deserves humiliation now versus later.

[Mormondude]

Romney has gotten, BY FAR, the most critical and negative treatment from the media of any candidate in either party during the last year. They endlessly parse the words he uses, subdissecting them to try to find anything that could possibly be portrayed as misleading.

Just look at how they take apart this ad, for example. Romney says McCain "even voted to allow illegals to collect Social Security", which is a very accurate portrayal of what the bill was actually about. The media criticized that because they would actually become US citizens first, but they neglect to mention that the bill would also allow them to collect SS for all their stated earnings from the years of being employed illegally.

They came here illegally, worked illegally, and get rewarded with citizenship, which is bad enough, but would then go further by handing out Social Security payments for all that illegal work. That's what McCain voted for. Gee, I wish I could just tell Uncle Sam how much work I did over the last 20 years and have them credit my Social Security benefits that amount. It's one more example of actual US citizens being made second class citizens to illegals.

I challenge any Democrat, political blogger, Romney hater, or McCain supporter to make a more accurate statement about McCain's vote in 9 words or less.

[VivaZapata]

McCain has supported Israeli foreign policy at every turn. Romney is just a vacillating phony, twisting every way the wind blows and using cheap tricks like this to boot.

[LORISNJ]

I have a subliminal message for them:

STUPID*STU­PID*STUPID­*REPUBLICA­NS*STUPID*­STUPID*STU­PID

[Purple Girl]

If you can't get then legitimately to support you - use methods to make them hate the ohter guy (whether they realize it or not)
Wasn't that type of advertising deemed Illegal a few decades back ( the under current of 'Buy' hiding behind store music?)
Of course since you can actually See it with your eyes disqualifies for Subliminial- so it's just blantantly stupid.If McCain has been a Rat to anyone it was those of Us (Dems) who actually had some admiration for him- No Straight Talk expresss anymore - just anwer Cheney puppet now. No doubt McCain gave more than any person should have to for his country in Vietnam, but he's sold US out to the Corporate profiteers regarding this 'WAR'. This would be a great time for John to retire- before the shit hits the fan for corruption.

[sparkandy]

i can't stand romney and it upsets me to have innocent animals associated with him. rats do not deserve that.

[Turnip]

Romney's real first name is Willard.


We know his parents were pro-rat.

[Blurp]

Since when did Huffington Post start running FOX News-esque headlines? WTF?

[strangelet]

I've got a suggestion for y'all.

Don't watch TV.

Damn few subliminal messages work if you never see them.

[rh654]

Where does Romney stand on "rats"?

If we can find out his stand on rats when he was Gov - we can just reverse the stand and we'll know what he believes now...

[williamg]

I hope McCain beats the shit out of him, literally.

[Shagnasty]

Subliminal advertising is a hoax. Go to snopes.com to smoke out urban myths.

[cognate]

Actually it says "RATI", so it must be aimed at the Italian vote.

[JCPal]

Romney is a wannabe and Americans have never elected a wannabe. All the subliminal jabs in the world against his opponents won't change that.

[ICantBeBothered]

So, is flip romney calling john mclame a rat?

Well, that's one thing I can agree with him on.