“Biggest Celebrity” Is Apparently McCain’s Strategy
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Bad Decisions, Barack, History, McCain, Media, VideoIt may work, but I have my doubts since it’s the same “elitist” strategy that Republicans wage year in and year out against Dems.
Here’s his latest ad…
Effective? Maybe. But I have to say that given McCain’s continued campaign throughout the years for “PoliCeleb” status, all of these ads will ultimately ring incredibly hollow. It’s as if he doesn’t think people will remember that he has been one of the biggest political celebrities in the past 20 years.
For instance, does anybody remember that he hosted Saturday Night Live? Sure, a lot of politicians show up for a brief cameo, but McCain hosted an entire show. And although I think he was quite funny, let’s not pretend that it was for any other reason than to up his political pop culture cred.
Not only that, does anybody remember his cameo in the extremely un-PC, R rated movie Wedding Crashers from a few years back? If not…here ya go.
And he’s comparing Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears? Hmm…
In any event, I wish McCain wasn’t waging this type of campaign. Because it’s not just sad, it’s also completely disingenuous.
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August 6th, 2008 at 11:01 am
It’s going to get worse–how much worse is hard to say, but now Paris Hilton is taking a shot at the “wrinkly white haired guy”
I have no idea if I can embed, so there’s a link below
See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/64ad536a6d?ocid=msne_parishiltonadvideo
August 6th, 2008 at 11:03 am
What’s the “wrinkly white haired guy” saying now?
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/64ad536a6d?ocid=msne_parishiltonadvideo
As annoying as I think she is, does McCain really want to mess with someone with her talent for endless self-promotion?
When you get mildly winged by Paris Hilton, that’s pretty sad
August 6th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
I don’t think the goal of this theme is really to convince indy’s or undecideds to move into the GOP camp or to pull Dem leaners to switch sides, as much as it is an attempt to fire up the dozing GOP base. It’s an attempt to paint Obama as “immoral by proxy†to fire up the Family Values crowd.
But you have to wonder if they haven’t thought through the consequences. If you were in the Obama camp and you wanted to reinforce their “old vs new politics†and “McCain has no new ideas†themes this is exactly the opportunity you’ve been waiting for: a lame “old style†attack that is unlikely to do any real damage but gives you the chance to take the high road. The easiest way to respond to this attack is for Obama to push policy discussion. And to do that he has to start talking specifics, not just Hope/Change. You can already see that happening in the past week with the energy policy discussions. The problem is that the more Obama has to talk specifics the more it highlights McCain’s lack of new ideas, while at the same time defusing McCain’s other central theme of Obama being “all talk, no actionâ€. And then for McCain to respond to the Energy plan discussion with yet another childish comeback, the tire gauge handout, only reinforces the point Obama has been trying to make for months.
August 6th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Damn, that’s a really good point, Justin. Has any Republican in the last 20 years gotten more cachet from milking the public celebrity cow? Sounds like time for Obama’s team to do an accounting of this…appearances on SNL, the Daily Show, etc, etc. “John McCain has lots of experience….as a celebrity.” Save that one for the first debate.
As far as Paris Hilton goes, I think she helps out McCain far more than Obama by extending the life of this ripple with her own flash. McCain’s camp got the easy joke that Hilton’s energy p[lan is more comprehensive than OBama’s.
August 6th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
I, for one, am pretty distressed that Paris’ ad had more policy detail than any of McCain’s
August 6th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
I think some are misjudging the McCain ads. They don’t necessarily center around “celebrity” (although that is party of it) — it is “adult” versus “young people” or “kids”. Obama has taken the occasional stab at McCains age, well, these ad take a shot on the core demographic of Obama supporters – 20 somethings pop-culture types. When I think McCain, I think “adult” and “experience”. When I think Obama, I think “cool”, “hip” and “communicator”. The question here is…does the US need a parent-president (McCain) or a friend president (Obama).
August 6th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Just because Obama appears ‘Cool’ and ‘hip’ doesn’t mean he is not the adult in the room. As example I give you McCain always trying to make a joke, many of which land him in trouble like the one about killing Iranians with cigarettes or his infamous gorilla rape joke from years ago. Deep down McCain wants to be the celebrity that Obama is. I don’t know about the rest of you but I am so tired of our president being a moron. I don’t want any more jokes (lame of otherwise) from our president.
August 6th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Wow. And when I think about McCain I think of someone completely out of touch with the 21st Century and stuck back in the days when he was first elected to Congress. McCain is the parent that tells us what he remembers about the travails he faced when young and doesn’t understand the very different but equally challenging environment of today that faces the people Hilton and Spears age who aren’t wealthy. Maybe they could e-mail him about it. Oh, that’s right…