Is McCain Making it Hard for Conservatives to Even be Taken Seriously Anymore?
Posted by Trent on July 31, 2008
When I saw John McCain’s latest television attack ad today I had thought CNN was playing an April Fools joke or the more frightening (and true!) justification: the McCain campaign has lost all semblance of sanity. After having to apologize and retract the ad accusing Obama of “going to a gym” instead of visiting troops (the gym in question was a military exercise facility,) John McCain has now compared presumptive Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, of being too much like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. You really can’t make this stuff up!
I’m not sure which side wins with this ad. Obama looks like an exciting candidate, they concede he is an amazing celebrity, hundreds of thousands of people are cheering his name, and they actually found attractive pictures of Britney and Paris. A few questions come to mind: what’s wrong with a present who is a celebrity as well? Who talks about Britney and Paris anymore? Wasn’t that 2005? Can the campaign even be taken seriously any more? This was the “maverick” that demanded they candidates run a clean campaign and has actually received little to no personal attacks from Obama. Is he already starting to run on fumes? Will he even make it to the November election without conservatives pulling him out of the race?
Also today, Fox news committed their second “editing mistake” on air regarding the swap of Barack Obama’s and Osama Bin Laden’s names. While showing a recorded Bin Laden tape on air, the Fox News caption read ‘Obama’ instead of ‘Osama.’ This is the second time the “news organization” mistakenly (subliminally?) switched the two names. Are cable news companies held to any standards? Do the have to be accredited?
I’m sure most conservatives have good points and ideas worth at least listening to. But if they’re represented by nothing more than McCain’s way of playing “politics” and Fox News’s “journalism” they will be laughed out of the room before someone has the opportunity to speak…
JMcPhizer said
The McCain campaign is trying to be smart. They realize that they can never win on the ‘new’ McCain that has embraced Bush politics whole-heartedly. I heard one pundent put it perfectly earlier this year when he said “This race is Obama’s to win or lose.” The McCain camp is thus trying to make this about Obama’s inexperience and inability to lead.
I personally think this is a great tactic. They are using the celebrity card to show the truth: Obama is too popular. What would happen if we elected a president that made not only America excited about our future, but the world excited about America’s presence. By portraying images of Obama with thousands of people listening to his speeches, the Republicans are highlighting how Obama’s celebrity has made is out of touch with the public. If we were to put Obama in the White House, the only 3 a.m. phone calls being made would be noise complaints about the block parties on Pennsylvania Avenue.
On a side note, the McCain campaign defended the commercial, claiming that Obama is the biggest celebrity in the world, while Brittney and Paris are second and third, respectively. I would argue that they made a grave error, though, in forgeting the Brad Pitt and Anjolina Jolie’s twins. If the price of your picture wins elections, then we will have the youngest winning ticket in American history.