Reading The Pictures: McCain Ad Ties Sex With Race

In today's trip to the swamp, the McCain campaign's latest attack video ostensibly targets the Obama's education plan.

... Except, the issue serves as nothing more than a foil to intimate that Obama -- shown in the screen shot with a smarmy grin and his coat looking frumpy -- desires to sexualize the lives of young children. More odious, however, it's also an example of the McCain campaign playing the race card, activating stereotypes of the black man -- seeming to gaze dreamily at something below (or shorter than) him -- as driven by sexual appetite.

For more of the visual -- including the latest bomb from McCain, which blatantly ups the racial ante -- visit BAGnewsNotes.com.

(screen shot: McCain for President)

Follow Michael Shaw on Twitter: www.twitter.com/bagnewsnotes

Comments

[ASF]

McCains honor
There was a great interview on NPR this morning local station KAZZ Phoenix with ex Senator Dennis De Concinni who has known and worked with McCain since the late 70's
McCain is for something then against it ,or against then for it , the temper and lack of integrity made for interesting listening.
For instance ,the McCain-Feingold reform Bill ,he voted against it when it first came out as it was 2 DEMS THEN WHEN REALIZED THE PUBLIC WERE FOR IT ,put his name and voted for it .

[Rnla]

I agree with RBN. It seems to me that the Mc Cain people are not concerned with protecting children from predators. They want him elected at any cost and don't care who are the pawns. This is the same way they would run the government, which is the way the Bush administration has run the government. Maybe not everyone wants a change from the Bush policies? How can that even possibly be the case?

[NoWayNoHow]

(continued from earlier post)
People who do not speak like them are "different". They are "elitists". They are "uppity". Some even call them "unpatriotic". If Obama wants to resonate with the voters he needs to reach, the campaign needs to change the race into a politcal "rank out" contest. This is what the people want, and this is what they identify with, as they pass up purchasing The New York Times for The New York Post (or Newsweek for US Weekly).
I say unleash the cheap political attack ads, unleash the 527's, and lets get down in the mud with these whack jobs. Maybe people will resonate with an Obama reality television show on the E! Network. Who knows? It's worth a shot.
All I know is that if Obama stays the course, and continues talking about real issues, and actin' all smart and everything, then we'll all have to get used to McCain/Palin for 4 years and possibly Palin for President after 4 years when McCain decides not to run again. Call me cynical, but I lost all hope after Bozo The Clown was reelected 4 years ago.
I will now put my straightjacket back on. God Speed everyone!

[deminmo]

Obama needs to conduct part chess match part political surge,
but if he goes overboard, Obama risks becoming McCain.

[NoWayNoHow]

(continued from earlier post)
So they dumb the whole process down, skirt the issues, make it a personality/popularity/patriotism contest, and convince the middle class to run out to the polls and vote against their very own interests. It has worked in the past, it is working now, and it will continue to work in the future.
That is why I am begging the Obama campaign to literally start dumbing themselves down. People DO NOT respond to facts. They respond to soundbytes. You can say anything you want, it doesnt even have to be true. Start bringing up McCains past infidelities...start mentioning a supposed affair involving Sarah Palin...start running really stupid advertisements with cute little punchlines...but please please please...stay away from anything even resembling a real issue... because the minute Obama starts waxing lyrical about healthcare, Iraq, or the economy, it goes over most peoples heads. Next thing you know, they're making fun of him for his exceptional prose and nuanced tendencies. This sort of political caricature does not play well with post 9/11 voters.
(continued on next post)

[boo127tx]

It would be a shame to have to stoop as low as they do and I don't think Obama can lower himself to that,isn't that the reason we want him to be elected in the first place,to stop this sort of evil?
There are many with power that back McCain and not because they think he would be good for the country,HA,that's laughable,but because it is profitable to them.MONEY and POWER is what drives this world and with money(riches)comes power.That is the way it has been since mankind began.Read your Bible about the Kings and all there glory.Perfect example.Having Obama in there takes away some of those riches.Have you ever notice that with the rich,"There is never enough".Believe it or not,the rest of us are nothing but mere slaves,although we get paid, notice how the republicans are always against raising a meiger minimum wage.If they could get away with getting us for free,they would.Like the wealthy slave owners of the south.They got the minions from the southern states to fight their war so they could keep their slaves and make more$.And look how many lost there lives for them because these rich had them convinced they were fighting this holly war to protect their homes but in reality were fighting to protect what the rich wanted to keep.
Vietnam was also a prime example, check and see the wealth that was made by the few
God help us all.

[NoWayNoHow]

I'm sorry, but I'm going to sound off like the "educated", wine-drinking, brie-eating, east coast elitist that I am (or at least claim to be...still not sure about the "elite" part).
Have we not learned anything from the past TWO elections??? McCain's campaign manager said it himself...and as much I hate to agree with him, he knows the electorate and sadly he is right...that being, this campaign IS NOT about ISSUES but about personalities.
Are you kidding me??? Personalities???!!! This is where the GOP is absolutely brilliant and their understanding of the electorate as opposed to The Dem's understanding of the electorate puts them at an absolute advantage.
You may be asking yourself "what exactly is this so-called understanding he speaks of?"... The answer to this question is pretty obvious if you ask me. The "electorate' out there is downright IGNORANT....STUPID, if you will. Yeaaaahh yeah, I know, I sound like the exact type of elitist that "America's Mayor" Rudy Guiliani was complaining about. BUT ITS TRUE!
The GOP knows this election, or any national election, CANNOT and WILL NOT be about real issues because your average "Hockey Mom" or "Walmart Dad" (or whatever the heck they classify them as) does not have a firm grasp on the issues at hand.
(continued on next post)

[LAB10]

This ad ties a 72 year old man to sex and 5 year olds and it's a sick picture. Bad old man!

[srebys]

Isn't there a law against having sexual intercourse with a minor? Is it legal in Alaska?

[Oakknollfarm]

I looked at the ad and cannot figure out how it ties race to sex. Maybe I'm just stupid; but, your contention is really a stretch. Oh .... now I see it; McCain is saying that because Obama is half African American he wants to have sex with preschoolers. And, now many things are clear - the reason that Palin told the lipstick joke at the convention was to actually refer to herself as a pig ---- then, we all know what happens to male pigs - they get castrated; so, what Palin was doing was subliminally appealing to feminists because they want to castrate men. I can see clearer now, the myth is folding - dose kwafty devils.

[davidword]

probably just my evil mind, but i can't help wondering if the photo was tweaked a bit in photoshop... sharpen up the chin, a few other slight changes. has anybody seen the original photo?

[TrooAmerican]

Yes, Its a fact, Mrs. Palin refused to allow her children access to family planning and sex education and thus her child got pregnant illegitimately by her redneck baby daddy, that says he doesnt want kids and is proud of ignorance.
that whole scenario is sad, but whats worse is that her supporters give her and her family a pass for espousing evengelical moralities yet refusing to practice them in their own lives, while attempting to pass laws to help them with their own sinful lives.
The Eveng Movement is really all about how weak they are as a group and that the proof is obvious, that they cannot live up to their own standards and so they attempt to pass laws to keep everyone in the country living to their standards so they have more incentive.
Living for God and Christ apparently isnt incentive enough for them, they need the threat of jail time to help.
nice.

[corsair1917]

I offer up this article by ANDREW SULLIVAN on McCain's Integrity.... This speaks volumes and Andrew is a conservative

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/09/mccains-integri.html

[nhplanner]

Where is the outrage? Obama needs to hold a press conference and tell the nation how despicable he thinks this is. If he doesn't get angry about this, then I think I might as well throw my vote away to a third party. McCain has twisted what Obama has done to protect children and has essentially called him a pedophile. This isn't the time to play it cool, it's time to get angry and show your disgust.

[Cactusflower]

I agree. This calls for a press conference. A simple rebuke in a townhall meeting won't cut it.

This ad is the reason our country is where it is right now. People are believing lies, and the filthier it is the more believable to them. No wonder we got conned into the Iraq war. Obama needs to explain to the people what is right and honorable and what is not. McCain certainly does not qualify for those adjectives; certainly not after THIS!

[findingthetruth]

If this is indeed the intentions by the McCain Campaign, how disgusting or low can a group of people go? And the supporters of these people are proud of this obnoxious garbage.

The GOP won't give the citizens their platform on meaningful issues of concern, but they have the time to smear in this fashion.

COMFORT allows this vile message. Comfort for the GOP ----- while millions of Americans are UNcomfortable with their welfare.

[mheister]

That is one damn shameful ad. It feels more like an SNL parody of a political attack than something that would actually emanate from a legitimate political campaign.

Or maybe what I'm really saying is, John McCain has no shame anymore, and his is no longer even a legitimate political campaign.

[FTracy3]

If they keep this crap up they'll lose a borderline supporter (me). I was pissed that they reacted to the lipstick comment. It was an obvious unintentional gaffe and Obama's only mistake was not reacting to the wildly enthusiastic response of the crows (who obviously took it the wrong way) with an immediate correction..."no, no, no..that's not what I mean..I mean that can't dress up the same tired old policies and expect you to buy them.".

[BookDesigner]

Like any good writer, O. can put words together to give several levels of meaning. I assume, with no disparagement to O. intended, that he fully intended the double entendre. If so, I commend him. If not, it was a fortuitous gaffe. I think he was fully aware, and it was the right thing to say. It's not a comment on the veep nominee's attractiveness, but a comment on the despicable policies she endorses.