Bad Touch

OK, I just watched the latest ad from the McCain-Palin campaign. It's beyond despicable.

The ad claims that Obama wants comprehensive sex education taught in kindergarten -- that's an outrageous distortion of what Obama actually voted for, but that's not the worst part of the ad. The worst part is that it looks like it was directed by D.W. Griffith. Not the cinematography, just the racial fearmongering. The ad's visual argument seems to be that Barack Obama is a pedophile.

Yeah, it's that classy.

Is that how you wanna play it, Sen. McCain? Really? This kind of race-baiting, lower-than-low, weak Karl Rove nonsense? I mean, really, sex with kindergartners? What the hell is wrong with you people?

Sigh.

But OK, then. If you want to take it there, that's your choice.

Except now that means you have to own this garbage. And do you even realize that in your attempt to associate your opponent with sex with kindergarteners you've taken sides on a policy matter? And do you even realize the consequences of that policy position?

Maybe you don't, or maybe you do and you just don't care. Either way, now you have to own it.

Comments

[which one?]

that's cold, but is it just a youtube campaign or is it actually on TV somewhere?

[spencer]

How very mavericky of him.

Seriously, how much more of this will it take before people - and the media - wake up and realize that the image of John McCain as a truth-telling, straight-shooting diff'rent kind of Republican is a complete and total fabrication?

[rm]

w.o., the Willie Horton ad was never played outside of the "discussions" of news shows about the Willie Horton ad, nor were the Swift Boat Liars ads played very extensively. It's the media hoopla -- and now internet viral shit -- which spreads this virus.

The one good part of that ad is "I'm John McCain and I approve this message." Barack, take that sentence and stick it between McCain's ribs, please.

Also, will the entire Democratic establishment please repeat 100 gazillion times on TV that John McCain has abandoned his honor? Make sure to use the word "honor" and to be righteously indignant. Thank you.

[Jeff]

Also, will the entire Democratic establishment please repeat 100 gazillion times on TV that John McCain has abandoned his honor?

Barack already has. I think he's going to keep going after the "honor" crap until McCain runs home (but to which one?) crying like a baby and swearing like a sailor.

[JayH]

How is this a shock? Seriously, how is this a surprise to anyone?

You mock it as "lower-than-low, weak Karl Rove nonsense." But that weak Karl Rove nonsense works.

The Republicans at this stage are all about keeping the White House. Had McCain been a more able speaker with fewer dichotomies in his own self-presentation, the GOP could be focusing on actually presenting their case to the American people, but they seem to have concluded, before their convention, that Obama could out-rhetoric them, so they've instead returned to their "rally the base" approach, which involves confirming every suspicion and affirming every misconception that Republican voters have about eevul libruls.

Why will it work? Because in order for those voters to be exposed to the facts, they'd have to actually hear what the Democrats have to say. That would involve listening to them at length, something that a good chunk of the more religious Republican voters simply won't do. They believe that malicious forces are prowling around, seeking whom they may devour with their slick tongues and clever words - a minority (I hope) of them even believe there are literally demons walking in human skin. (Maybe we can laugh aloud at Jack Chick and his tracts, but I remember what a page-turner Frank Peretti's This Present Darkness was - I read it my senior year in college.)

[rm]

Jeff, there is the normal level of slime, and then there are those special moments when they wear purple band-aids and mock a veteran's war injuries, or when they call their opponent a child rapist. It takes strong signal to jump out from the general noise of Republican nonsense and mockery, and this is one of those signals.

[JayH]

A further note, by the way, on the difference between winning honorably vs. winning at any cost: A few months ago, I was visiting my folks, staunch Republicans who had made up some John McCain bumper stickers that they were printing on their inkjet. I commented that, since I was undecided whom I was going to vote for come November (which, at that point, was definitely true - I wasn't ready to commit to a candidate at that time because they hadn't picked their Veeps yet and I wanted to make sure neither Clinton nor Huckabee got within spitting distance of the Oval O), that it might be fun to print up both McCain and Obama stickers and put them both on my own car. Or one sticker that promoted both. If nothing else, I said, it would start some intriguing conversations.

"Oo, that gives me an idea," said Mom. "We should print up an Obama bumper sticker, and a pro-Communist one, and put them both on the car!" Apparently she was thinking of the dustup over the Cuban flag with the image of Che Guevara in the Houston Obama office. I don't know whether she honestly believes Obama is a communist, or whether she knows better, but either way, it's dishonest. It's a violation of the commandment not to bear false witness against thy neighbor.

And she doesn't care. In her mind, the Bible and the Catechism (yes, she's Catholic) have been replaced by the words of Limbaugh and Coulter.

[Jeff]

Jeff, there is the normal level of slime, and then there are those special moments when they wear purple band-aids and mock a veteran's war injuries

I think you meant to refer to Jay...

I wish Kerry had been all over the "Purple Heart Band-Aids". Ad after ad of veterans who earned the Purple Heart telling the Republicans that you can't "support the troops" and mock them too. Get every person with a son, daughter, brother, sister, husband or wife in uniform to revile the Republicans for their sleeze and lack of shame.

[Mnemosyne]

You mock it as "lower-than-low, weak Karl Rove nonsense." But that weak Karl Rove nonsense works.

This is the kind of ad that works about 2 weeks out from Election Day when your opponent has no time to respond to it. So either someone pulled the trigger too soon, or they're getting panicky at the McCain campaign and shoving all of the silverware into the cannon.

[Hellsau]

Either way, now you have to own it.

The media have made neither Palin nor McCain own any of the words they say. Two days on describing how the "lipstick on a pig" thing was entirely made up? McCain can keep lying about policy issues while tossing out obvious bait, and cable news will swallow up the bait hook line and sinker.

[rm]

Sorry Jeff, I did mean Jay. I also wish Kerry had done something like that, and while Obama has been better so far, it's frustrating that it never seems to break through. It's not just that Democrats react too much, is that "R = actors, D = reactors" is a built-in element of media storytelling.

[damnedyankee]

Seriously, how much more of this will it take before people - and the media - wake up and realize that the image of John McCain as a truth-telling, straight-shooting diff'rent kind of Republican is a complete and total fabrication?

Using the Swift Boater debacle as a metric, my guess would be about four to six weeks after Election Day. The self-flagellation will go on for one, maybe two news cycles, and then we'll be back to our usual treating-politics-and-tmz.com-as-things-of-equal-importance blather.

[Tim]

What's the source proving the content of the education?

[Brandi]

Say, JayH... ever thought about speeding up your inheritance a bit?

[Steve M.]

I'm sure he doesn't give a crap. After all, five minutes after a winner was declared on Election Night 1988, the media decided that Poppy Bush didn't have to "own" the scummy campaign that defeated Dukakis, because Bush was a really nice guy and surely he didn't enjoy being so unpleasant.

[Nenya]

Tim, I haven't read the legislation, but "comprehensive sex ed for kindergarteners" means "age-appropriate sex ed for kindergarteners." I've never heard of a school teaching kids the gory details of sex at age four or six, but I have definitely seen information sent home to moms of the "what your kid learned in school today" telling about how today little Johnny and Jenny learned about what to do if somebody touches you in a Bad Way, and then giving the parents resources to contact the school to discuss what they're teaching, or how to find out more if you need to report pedophilia.

Calling it "comprehensive sex ed for little kids" is slimy smearing: it sounds like something it's not, and can make a very very good thing sound like a bad one. Shame on you, John McCain.

I just hope most parents of little kids KNOW what really goes on in schools. Sadly, probably many people will eat up this shit, if they've been taught to think that liberals are all for depravity in schools.

[Yeltar]

rm: ...nor were the Swift Boat Liars ads played very extensively.

Ohhhh, but yes they were! You must've been lucky enough not to live in a true battleground state. Those ads were played and played and played, just endlessly--and New Mexico was so close that the number of people it would've taken to push it the other way would have fit in the bed of a Ford F-250!

Okay, I exaggerate. But by damned little! It was incredibly close. Was in 2000, too. So you'd better believe we're being thoroughly bombarded. I have literally given up all commercial television for the duration (except two favorite series, which thankfully haven't even premiered yet--so I'll only have to bear it for a few weeks, for a couple of hours a week).

We've got an open Senate seat this year, first time in decades. The R-candidate is being supported by the same bunch who did the Swift Boat ads. I'm sure you can imagine how ugly it is getting; truly, one has to spell Ugly with two Ughs!

[Hawker Hurricane]

I don't live in a battleground state, but I remember seeing that ad on the news *every* night. Repeatedly. 4:30 news, 5:00 news, 6:00 news, 11:00 news, all showed it, every channel. All the same way: "How does John Kerry answer this?" (show ad) "This is pretty damaging. And now in sports, we go to Ted!"

Free advertising for a dishonest anti-Democratic party ad. Damn Liberal Media!

[J Crowley]

I made up a couple banner ads that people can use, if they want, to get the message out about what the Republican party is now apparently all about: Obfuscating the definition of sexual assault from the victims, and ensuring that said victims are charged money to obtain evidence necessary in convicting their assailants.

GO TEAM RAPE

[J. peaslee]

Yeah, I was completely furious when I found out. The worst part is that so many people are going to see the ad and take it at face value.