McCain: MLK and RFK Were Dumb Blondes

And the people who went to their rallies calling for an end to the war and for social justice were airhead-worshippers.

It took me long enough, but I think I've finally figured out what those McCain ads about Paris and Britney -- and, yes, the Summer of Love -- are saying. As always, with Republicans in general, the most reliable way to understand their thinking is from the perspective of the culture wars of the '60s, and in the case of McCain in particular, the perspective of his Vietnam experience.

McCain is saying that the people who believed in Bobby Kennedy, the Americans who made him a star, were just as ditzy to believe in his message about ending the war and reducing inequality as they were to worship Marilyn Monroe. The people who rallied on the Mall in amazing numbers to hear Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream, the people who wanted to follow him out of Vietnam, were naive starf***ers; by turning their backs on Nixon and Kissinger, by putting joy ahead of sacrifice, they were undermining America in the world and our troops in Southeast Asia.

Those McCain ads are as much about you as they are about Obama. If you believe in all that global warming and gay marriage stuff, you're as dumb as a Lindsay Lohan fan. If you cheer a guy who talks up negotiation as part of our national security arsenal, you probably went to San Francisco and put flowers in your hair instead of being tortured in Hanoi. If you think this economy hurts the middle and the bottom and favors the rich, you're as dumb as a plank, or as Paris, or as Britney.

To the movement conservatives in charge of McCain's campaign, and to the movement conservative that McCain himself has settled in to being, Obama is just the most recent leader of a series of children's crusades -- spoiled children's crusades. No wonder they want to paint him as elitist and effete; after all, a couple of generations ago, these were the Nixonians who depicted the anti-war mobilization not as a principled political groundsurge, but as a bunch of Ivy Leaguers indulgently parented by Dr. Spock.

Obama often said in the primaries that he feels as though today's Washington conflicts were actually reruns of campus skirmishes of the '60s, and that he wants to get beyond that. It's an admirable sentiment. But the paleo-conservatives running against him are determined to refight and win those culture wars, just as that movement's "intellectual" parents are forever rerunning the '30s battles of the City College of New York cafeteria in their heads.

Don't forget: the people behind McCain loathed Bobby and Martin at the time. Today, they'll do anything they can to make it feel embarrassing to imagine that those leaders might have an heir in Obama. The message of McCain's ads is that change is for chumps, belief is for boobs, fame is for charlatans, and that the calendar in America will be forever set on Groundhog Day 1968 until all the war protesters, uppity women, tree-huggers, faggots and dirty f*****g hippies finally go back to the places where they belong.

Follow Marty Kaplan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/martykaplan

Comments

[helpusa]

I'm wondering if Britney and Paris had to give the McCain campaign their approval for using their likeness. From what I know about Britney's politics, she would have approved, but I don't know about Paris.

[hankandted]

on TV last night I learned that her parents gave to McCain. The Hiltons.

[nicholasclaxton]

it's so good you just have to read it more than once!

peace, love, and accountability!

[laocoon]

You are absolutely right on this point. I lived through it and always thought that that was the essence of the conservative movement since the 60's. It is the repressive counter revolution to the civil rights movements of the 60s which included the antiwar movement, hippies and the minority civil rights movement. I remember Bush I at the moment of "victory" in Iraq war I blurting out "this puts to rest the ghost of vietnam" that was the real meaning and reason of the first Gulf War.

[FOXYLADY]

Anyone with any brains knows that with McCain we'd get "more of the same" as with Bush. Anyone with any brains 'must' realize, after listening to McCain these last few weeks, that he is incapable of being an effective president. He has made so many mistakes, been confused, and has stumbled over his words too many times. To this old woman he has proven that he IS NOT PRESIDENTIAL MATERIAL'.­...not that Obama is perfect but at least he can speak and get his facts straight.

[norkas]

Obama will not allow the Republicans to be swept under the couch, instead he will understand at times we agree on the same things. He reach across to understand other views. We will grow up alot by voting for Obama spritualy and as a Country. If you are a Republican reading these please reconsder and vote for Obama . We cannot afford anymore dangerous foreign policy or the little care for humanity the Republicans have demostrated. Other Republicans are voting for Obama and those whi think he is way to left i suggest you calm down it is not true.

[Sportswoman]

make that 250,000 and the word was inarticula­te--keyboa­rd working about as effectively as W...

[drolleen]

The only way to fight this very effective campaign by McCain is via boomerang: Make ads lampooning the claims.

Claim that Obama is just giving useless speeches - show in ads "We The People", the Gettisburg address,MLK, JFK as "useless speeches".
Claim Obama's rejection of off-shore drilling for oil prices: Show that the Republicans are in charge for 8 years and did not pass it when the oil companies did not ask for it.
Claim that Obama is playing the race card, ask: Does McCain expect Obama to become white so that the race card disappears?

Don't Democrats have money for ads? I gave some!

[Peachie49]

I like Drollen's ad suggestion. Write up in ad form and submit to the Obama campaign. It's time that they start to "fight back" McCain! Afterall McCain finished in the bottom 5 tier of his class, and with his present age, his brain power has diminished over the years. This is not a joke, but a simple biological fact!

[smoothdogie]

well done marty. thanks for your perspective. i am one of the generation who dared to believe in change. lest i sound naive...it­s almost a little scary allowing yourself to believe again. its been so long since we had a leader who challenged us like BHO. the clintons were not the real deal. I hope obama is.

[FOXYLADY]

Even if many thought the "Clintons were not the real deal...", all I know is that we did one heck of a lot better under their eight years than any years under Bush's presidency. This old person worked hard all of my life, never on the dole even during the depression of the '30's", saved for retirement and now living well compared to too many. All because of the good economy and surplus of the Clinton years. Now we have to tighten our belts, draq on our investments each month hoping that our money will last until we die and not be a burdon to our families. I know, a run on sentence, but needed in this instance folks.....­..........­.

[rucognizant]

I'm a little younger than you foxylady.I did BEST under Ford, Carter, & Reagan! I too worked hard,, ( raiseing 2 kids as a single Mother. no assistance from anyone including DAD.) but during the clinton years got booted out to minimum wage jobs from my small biz due to Friedman economics, steadily rising costs.the TAX CHANGE IN 1986, S&L, Keating 5! AND maybe people like you who were putting your money into a retirement fund instead of buying my product, during the clinton years? My biggest memory of that decade was the rapatious gains of the corporations, the trend toward one size fits all, and the bleakness of the lack of originality & creativity! I wasn't fond of the 50's, but the 90's had them beat by a MILE.

[smayhew]

I'm waiting to see ANY evidence that Obama is the 'real deal' (something Joe Biden called Gonzalez)

[RJKruger]

Removed from McCain website: reference to JMcCain being a "political CELEBRITY.­"

http://209.85.215.104/search?q=cache:Y9cUrjxnT4cJ:www.johnmccain.com/informing/News/NewsReleases/b1b85afb-cd0c-4a74-997d-dfee1a3f8098.htm+celebrity+mccain+-obama&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=17&gl=us&client=firefox-a

[AntiTerrorDonkey]

the ad with Paris

and Brittany is simply

to attract that kind of audience to a

negative O-bama ad

their not thinking deeply enough

to be offended

heh...

[lgwenmurphy]

The Spears/Hilton ad is just another sign of McCain's resentment of the accomplishments of Obama educationally, socially and spiritually. Why else does he brag about being 5th from the bottom of his Academy class. So he chooses to insult Obama's intelligence over and over again as well as the intelligence of those who admire him. When I first heard him speak of a fair and above board campaign I immediately liked him. But it didn't take long before he reared his ugly head. The contempt he shows for Obama is insulting. His "I am disappointed" so condescending. He's a joke.

[desertson]

Marty, please tell us how you really feel!

[BlueZoo]

What was wrong with the Summer of Love? We were young and idealistic and, yes, I remember Bobby! After his brother was murdered, many of us laid our hopes and dreams at Bobby's feet and he, reluctantly, agreed to carry them. He was a star in many ways but, sadly, star-crossed as well. Having ideals wasn't something to be ashamed of back then. When Bobby was killed, many of us felt our ideals had no voice anymore. Bobby spoke of change, hope, ending a war he didn't believe in - just the things Barack Obama has spoken of. I haven't felt this way about a presidential candidate since Bobby ran and I'm actually looking forward to voting this time! Sadly, I must pray that some nut doesn't dash my ideals this time around. I'm afraid I would be unable to ever get them back again!

[laocoon]

Jesus I think said to his disciples something like I send you out as lambs among wolves. The idealism of the 60's was never tempered with a realization that utopia would not just appear, that we were lambs and had to expect the wolves to take advantage. Many I knew abandoned the ideal as soon as they realized they would not be wealthy, that some negative consequences would result from leaving vietnam, that they would not get the cushy jobs if they didnt conform and drop back in to the corporate system and support the conventional. Like the seed that fell on shallow ground they developed no roots and turned into yuppies as soon as they saw that some sacrifices would have to be made and there would be some downside . They grew fangs and turned into the wolves. Jesus called on his followers to make the sacrifices that were needed to improve a corrupt world. He did not pretend those sacrifices would not be needed. Be as lambs among wolves. Hard to do but probably the only hope.

[hankandted]

Do yoy think that that is what Obama is concerned about? I tend to think so. Love your name

[rucognizant]

Profound laocoon...­..........­..........­.
I am a lamb among the wolves; never turned yuppie! Still trying to dispense seeds!

[NewsCorpse]

What a coincidence. I had these very same thoughts last Monday when I wrote:

John McCain’s Summer of Love American Style
http://www.newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p=991

I proposed that McCain's time incarcerated in Vietnam shaped the rest of life, not just by what he experienced, but by what he missed back home that the rest of us experienced. For example: The peace and civil rights movements; the assassinations of Martin Luther King and two Kennedys; Watergate; Roe v. Wade; etc.

I concluded that "...it may not be so surprising that McCain is trapped in a time warp, unable to relate to a country and world that shared these tumultuous experiences, but from which he was excluded. It may explain his hostility to a generation that was arguably more engaged in public service and community activism than any generation before or since. It puts into perspective the persistent pessimism expressed in the [Summer of Love ad] that ends by saying to voters 'Don’t hope for a better life.'”

[LemonFreshScent]

I am so shocked I hadn't thought about this!!! GREAT great point! Thank you!

[laocoon]

I used to feel the resentment back then. It was palpable. Easy Rider's theme of violence directed at hippies was not made up. Kent State shootings were applauded by a sizable percent of the people.

[hankandted]

So where does Obama fit into this? How can he negotiate these currents from way back when? How do young people, like our children understand them?

[rucognizant]

yes.......­....the ones who did go back to the land resisting commercialism, are to this day called "granolas" by the Bush voting locals!
Wonder what tune they'll soing when they realize that the granolas have the knowledge, to
be self sufficient?

[nicholasclaxton]

Well Said, Well Said, Well Said...

"All we are saying is give peace a chance" - j.lennon

"Perhaps the greatest part of humanity comes down to the human" - me

[LemonFreshScent]

All of this will only help Oba.ma

[popecorvo]

And just today some writer for some paper ( I forget which and no, I will not look it up ) claimed that Obama is "too thin."

No jive.

So now we got too educated, too smart, too confident, too articulate, and too popular...­and too healthy!

No way you can elect someone like that, my friend!

[nobillary1]

It was a woman named Amy at the WSJ. It was a shot at lite humor that must have missed the mark a bit since several people thought she was serious. That's a sad commentary on this election's atmosphere. The McCain Camp wants us to succumb to the Gloom & Doom Party they belong to, but I refuse.

P.S.
I was a flower child and was (briefly) a blond, so I know of what you speak - GREAT JOB, Marty!!