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
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
What's even more appalling about this ad is that the media picked up on its central Republican talking point that if Obama is widely popular and thousands upon thousands worldwide are anxious to hear what he has to say, it can only mean one thing: he's arrogant - code for "doesn't know his place." It's an attempt to tell voters that what we really want is another president who will be despised by our allies, and to insult all Obama supporters by implying we only like his charm.. What's ironic is, those who religiously follow Britney are Paris are boilerplate voters for Republicans and thus McCain.
John McCain is an opportunist, this started becoming apparent when he left his faithful wife for a young, rich woman. John McCain will always be looking for the next ladder to climb, it's in his nature.
John McCain likes to pretend that he would rather win the war than become president, which is pure political rhetoric designed to make people believe that becoming the president of the most powerful nation in the world is not very important to him, whatever. So, let's stop the humble hero act.
John McCain claims that Barack Obama is the one playing the race card. As if Barack Obama has no right to acknowledge and try to diffuse the smears against him, such as the lies that Obama is a Muslim or black militant.
I guess McCain and Co. think that Obama should just take whatever garbage they hurl at him and smile. Most of us are not as mentally challenged as McCain would like us to be and know the smears and Muslim fears are coming from the conservatives, many of which are close to his campaign in the same way fleas are close to an old dog.
Now this, an ad designed to make Barack Obama look like an empty headed celebrity and the American people look like a bunch of celebrity worshipers who are incompetent of making our own decisions. It's unfortunate he McCain camp thinks so little of the intelligence of the American people and our ability to think for ourselves.
huffpost pick of the YEAR!!!
Said well. Loved the fleas.
Looks like Marty Kaplan hit the nail on the head with his biting commentary on McCain's "Obama is a celebrity' ad. I can buy the racist angle as an after-thought, but if I were going for a 'he's going to despoil your daughters' gut reaction, Britney and Paris would be the last celebrities I'd choose for that. The McCain ad equates Obama with the two spoiled-brat celebs that are universally recognized as being both dumb and self-serving, not to mention rude, unsavory and totally without class.The ad invokes the birds-of-a-feather principle by putting Obama in the same class.
At the same time, it completely deflects attention from the fact that the political content of the ad is tumbled through the spin-cycle so that Obama's opposition to offshore drilling is painted as a desire to keep the US dependent on foreign oil. Because we all know that the moment we agree to offshore drilling, gas prices will come tumbling down because we'll have billions of barrels of domestic oil and we won't have to give up our gas-guzzling SVUs in favor of actually developing alternative energy sources.
I, for one, would love to see the media (and the rest of us) stop focusing on the CAMPAIGN and start paying attention to the ISSUES.
Brilliant, as usual. And spot-on, too. McBush speaks and all I receive are images of Rove, Ken Starr,Nixon, Kissinger, and every corporate stuffed suit I've had the misfortune to work for, including Shelly A.. Eff-em all. Go O.
Your guy's perceptions of republicans as greedy CEO's in nice suits are the equivalent of right wingers viewing liberals as tree hugging hippes. Can we get past the dumb nomenclatures for the love of God, on both sides?
If Republicans aren't people who think the pursuit of money should be unfettered, then what are they? Republicans have not given anyone reason to believe otherwise.
That's not what saxmaniac is saying. He's saying McCain reminds him of that segment of the Republican population. Of course there are other variations out there. But what he's saying has more than a small bit of truth to it. I'd be willing to bet all of my worldly possessions that if you polled all of the CEOs of the Fortune 500 companies, you'd find an overwhelming majority of Republicans...
Later. Gotta go hug a tree.
"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."
You went on to show that you were kidding yourself when you wrote that. If you want to know what they're saying, listen and learn.
I think you missed the target on this one, Marty, although the sentiments expressed certainly hit the mark.
The McCain advert was saying, "America was once in love with Brittany and Paris but now they are out of favor. Do not find yourself also disenchanted with Obama after he is elected and it is too late."
And let's not - for forget the other thing they were saying in the (wink-wink, clumsy attempt at subtlety) Paris Spears ad - launched in synch with the claim that Obama's getting racial. They were saying, "lookie lookie here, Good ol' Southern boys - smilin' black guys and blonde white women!" Straight outta Harold Ford's derailed Senate bid from 2006. It's a well-worn, dogeared page out of the book of politcal malignancy made famous by the late Lee Atwater and his soul-less apprentice Rove - accuse the opponent of the very same thing you're doing right at that moment - take advantage of those who will be easily distracted, and slide your insidious message into the mainstream.
Right on, Marty! They made fun of our granola-eating, Joplin-listening, peace-sign-decorated lifestyles, and the Rove acolytes are still stuck in their Lawrence Welk nostalgic, polyester embracing, baloney on white bread world.
Why is peace such a bad thing to these people???
because they are war profiteers and would go broke if peace broke out
and we got our ass handed to us in 68 and 72.
and if RFK hadn't been murdered, he would been elected. Both times.
Dr. King led one of the greatest civil rights campaigns in the history of the United States. Bobby Kennedy worked under his brothers administration as Attorney General and effectively cracked down on organized crime. What the hell has Obama done? When has he ever shown political courage and leadership. The man is all fluff and it is completely legitimate to call him out on it. The substance will come later in the fall. The McCain campaign is simply trying to knock Obama off his high hoarse and expose him for what he is: an inexperienced calculating politician who is an amazing speaker, but lacks substance. Thats it, get over it!
Because of his skin color, newness, larger-than-life persona, youth, etc, Obama is a polarizing figure. I'm not crying racism - I'm saying that's he's very different and that makes him more visible.
What I dislike is that his critics want to call him inexperienced but when he "looks presidential" and gives great motivational speeches, or gets great advisors, then he is arrogant, self-serving, elitist, you name it. The man can't win. I agree with you - he is calculating, he is driven, he wants the presidency, and unfortunately he can't relate well to people who aren't as driven as him (see my blog called Obama's Faith on "Obama's Flaws"). But that doesn't mean that we have to "hate" on him as the young people say. As long as as he's playing the game fairly, I think the appropriate response would be to admire him, even when you disagree. McCain is not playing the game fairly, though I clearly states his admiration of Obama.
Listen, Obama talks the talk. There is no doubt about it. He does look like a president when he gives those speeches. I just think it is grossly unfair to write off McCain simply because of his party. He doesn't like this kind of campaign, but the only other option would be to accept defeat in November. McCain has actually been a change agent in Washington. He pissed a lot of politicians off with McCain-Feingold. He pissed his own party off when he reached across the isle to Senator Kennedy and Liberman. And he put his political future on the line when he supported a troop surge when in was grossly unpopular. I'm not "hating" on Obama, I think he would be a fine candidate(minus his policies, but thats my partisanship talking) if he had just waited until 2012 and had gotten a term under his belt. We don't know what kind of president he is going to be. Will he be a pragmatic centrist or a far left idealistic socialist? To be honest if you guys would of elected a boring candidate with good centrist credentials this race would already be over.
The "Experience" gambit would have been countered by my Dad, a shrewd political observer (R.I.P) as follows: "The question is not whether the man has twenty five years experience; it is whether he has one year's experience twenty five times."
BIGOT.......SO WHAT HAS MCSAME DONE......VOTE WITH BUSH 95%
And this is different from JFK how? You remember him...the guy that hired his kid brother and gave him a job with the ability to MAKE changes.
JFK was a war hero who served in the senate for thirteen years before he ran.
Mc Cain has so far shown himself to be an empty vessel. I'm looking forward to seeing that "substance" you mention.
Whining amongst ourselves about the despicable G-O-P tactics may feel good but the problem is that the Repugnantans are successfully defining O-bama just as they did G-ore, K-erry and Du-kakis, The high road is great but if the the Dems don't take the gloves off, the results will be the same this time.
It is not a question of taking off gloves. It is about not having the weapons that the other side has. I have heard two network anchors insisting and arguing with Obama recently that he must be a liar or in denial unless he admits the the surge is undeniably a great success. What do they do with McCain? Hear any one insisting he admit the war --even if we won (whatever that is) tomorrow--- was a failure in terms of its cost alone, was a fraud in terms of what we were told about it... Any event that might be mis- portrayed against a liberal is mis-portrayed in the media. the negative stories about McCain evaporate in a day, anything useful against Obama echoes on and on.
Obama would be a great guy to shoot some hoops with and then hang out with and have a beer.
He's a cool guy.
Frankly, McCain might have a beer with you, but I'd be afraid to get on his wrong side in a conversation. He clearly has a volatile temper and a mean spirit and, combined with some beer, I bet he wouldn't be all that fun to hang around.
I agree -- and furthermore, in a game of one-on-one, McCain would hit you with the beer bottle as you drove past him to the basket.
Very enlightening. This is a great article. Thank you for helping me understand the thinking behind MCBush and the old school kind of politics they are playing. They have certainly shown themselves to be unprincipled, gutter and willing to lie, cheat and smear to win.
One last point.
McCain's weakest character point is that although he was tortured in Vietnam and stood up against Bush on the issue of torture when it came before Congress, ultimately, McCain folded and gave into Bush on the issue. McCain voted to allow Bush and the CIA to torture, in violation of the Geneva Accords, which McCain himself viewed as sacrosanct.
This issue should be highlighted to prove to America just how much McCain has changed since his time in Vietnam.
During the 2000 election, McCain lied about his true feelings regarding the South Carolina state flag in order to win. To his credit, he later apologized for that. One would have thought it would have taught him something. Instead, he has since turned his back on all his values and prior positions, from tax cuts for the wealthy to oil drilling in environmentally dangerous areas, in order to win this election.
McCain is Romney and then some. When he picks Romney for his VP, it will only deepen this amazing change in his character.
The only way for Americans to learn about and understand this though is if the campaign makes it an issue and people start talking about it. It is time for that effort to begin!
What'll you bet he picks Bloomberg? One Zillionaire deserves another
We can talk all we want about how McCain doesn't have the right stuff to be president; the race is still incredibly close. There are still an amazing number of people out there who will vote for him simply because he seems like the kind of chap you would enjoy having a beer with, while Obama simply doesn't. After the last 8 years of horror, you'd assume that wouldn't be the case, but you'd be sadly wrong.
After the stupifying re-election of Bush in 2004 who can be surprised by a McCain victory? Yes, Virginia, the American electorate isn't quite as well informed or unselfish as Thomas Jefferson would have liked.
Right, flat. They are universally lazy and dumb. You can never go wrong by UNDERestimating the intelligence of the average american.
Of course, you and I are above average. lol
The race is close because there are still many Americans who can not see past the color of ones skin.
The race is close because there are still many Americans who believe the talking heads of the MSM.
And the race is close because there are still many Americans who are scared to take a chance on someone new(regardless of skin color).
Wake up America, your white elitists have succeeded in bringing America to it's knees, it is time to stand up and stop this before it is tooooo late.
This race only LOOKS close. If we were to look at the State polls and the amazing groundswell of support that O'bama has, then we would know that the race is much more weighted in O'bama's favor than the pollsters claim. They are polling older voters who are willing to take calls and do not use cell phones. Those polled are not necessarily reflective of the true standing of the race for President. November will tell. I know that O'bama has my full support and vote. He is the best man for the job. He has real plans to make real changes in our Nation. He has the intelligence, patience and ability to see the big picture and make decisions based on the good of the entire Nation. The way that O'bama has run his campaign in the primary and now in the general is a direct reflection of his ability to manage funds and message. Obama '08 Yes WE Can!!!
If he race is close it is because everyone I hear on TV insists that it is indisputable that the surge is the second coming. The tv personalities, the anchors and pundits, the interviewers and guests dont just say the surge is a success they say it is indisputable that the surge is a success. Cant the public see through this? They never even mention the bribes and the question of using weapons as bribes to keep the violence down. Why dont we just give Iran a NUKE for each year they dont develope any nukes,. Makes as much sense.
Actually, Seablood, I don't think the folks who are voting for McCain are really that much INTO him as they are AGAINST Obama. And THAT is where the McCain campaign wants to take this. If this election is about real ISSUES, he loses in a landslide. If it is about Obama and nothing else, it is his ONLY shot.
I think it would have come to this eventually, but I am very shocked to see that it has come to this this EARLY in the campaign season. He's already ran through the talking points that Hillary brought up in the primaries. They didn't work then, and they aren't really working now. But he may have an angle with this whole 'celebrity' nonsense. Already the GOP folks are saying it as if it is not even debatable.
We have to find SOMEWAY to force the MSM to cover the ISSUES, or else, not only will this race remain "close", but McCain may find an ad that works sufficiently enough to damage Obama's brand enough to get folks to vote AGAINST him...for evidence, look at all of his recent ads. NONE are really about what McCain would do to help improve the lives of americans, they are all about how dangerous it would be to vote for Obama.
Now Wait a minute.......just how much $$$ does Cindy make when you have a BUD with John??
He has another ad running that compares his time as a captive in Vietnam to the kids at Woodstock, as if that is the only thing kids were doing at the time.
You are very perceptive to pick up on this and get that the ad isn't just about race and playing into the fear of white girls being too close to Barack (a softer version of the Harold Ford ad.) At its root, it is about the distrust Americans have for the same celebrities they worship; the desire to link Obama to empty-headed attractive Hollywood celebrities; and the link back to that same counterpoint between a man who lives to serve his nation and a man who is all about serving himself.
McCain is also arguing, inconjunction with these ads, that Obama has taken his position on the war based upon political expediency unlike his own position, which is based upon what's best for the nation no matter how it affects his personal success. He has essentially called him a traitor who wants America to lose in Iraq.
This attack on personal motivation is derided by the press when the Democrats claim conservatives are acting on racism or personal financial benefit, like oil contracts for oil companies. Yet, when McCain attacks Obama on his personal motivation, it is ignored by the press.
I find that line very offensive. I had physical problems that would have kept me out of Vietnam. A safe course of action back then would have been to support the war. I could have probably enjoyed many benefits if I had. Instead I protested the war largely because I didnt want others wasting their lives. I was threatened by right wingers often and it was a real danger. I was in more danger being against the war than I ever would been have supporting it. Most of the war protesters I knew did so because they supported the people who were troops. I remember one girl who was antiwar because her brother had been killed there. She was antiwar because she didnt want anyone else to die like her brother.
I don't think this campaign tactic is the brainchild of McCain ; it is the work of the usual band of Republican excreants. But the fact that McCain is desperately, and brainlessly, going along with it is one more indictment to his presidential qualifications. He just doesn't have the right stuff to be president.
But we can talk all we want about how his run is finished; the race is still amazingly close. It's surprising how many people are ready to vote for the man because he seems like a guy they'd like to have a beer with. while Obama does not. Don't forget to vote!!
He has to say, "I'm John McCain and I approved this message." for it to go out. And he voluntarily stated that he is "proud" of it and stands behind it. He may not have thought it up, but he is responsible for it.. That's how leadership works, or doesn't.
Of course that's how leadership works - taking credit for your subordinates hard work...(although I'm sure these ads didn't take much labor)
"excreants"
Did you mean to type excrements?
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
