A series of recent television ads first sought to portray Obama as an overblow
n boy bimbo, comparing his leadership ability to that of Brittany Spears and Paris Hilton, "celebrities" whose main claim to fame is being famous and behaving badly. The ad closes with McCain striking a beatific pose.That shallow slap was so ridiculous that people were more likely to laugh and shake their head at its stupidity than to take it seriously.
Other ads, however, are very serious, and very wrong-headed, designed to play to the fanatical fringe of evangelicals. Building on e-mail rumors arising from really bad Bible study, at least one ad portrays Obama as a self-anointed religious figure who could easily be interpreted as the Antichrist. Such claims reveal high levels of both biblical ignorance and intellectual gullibility.
Perhaps the worst piece of this is that McCain has not disowned the ads. Apparently he hasn't distanced himself that far from John Hagee and the wild-eyed apocalyptics after all. Is he ready to lead?
6 comments:
Does the fanatical right fringe of evangelicalism *need* any encouragement in finding "anti-Christs" under every rock and bush?
And did you see Paris Hilton's response video (apparently written by a Libertarian)? Too funny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HeealouOeQ
Whatever happened to the good old days when a 527 group would make the commercials and the candidates could just stand aside and disavow any involvement? Speaking of, McCain was largely responsible for the popularity of 527's (after the bogus piece of legislation named after him). Why aren't he or his supporters using that to their advantage? The Republican propaganda machine is certainly not the same without Cousin Karl Rove at the helm.
The question for those who vote should be which candidate plays to the basest instincts in the American electorate. I just cannot believe that McCain has resorted to the very tactics that were used against him by Bush in 2000. The subtext of these adds fuels all the poisons (racism, fear of foreigners, nativism, hatred of the poor, anti-intellectualism, intolerance, and any number of fears) located in our society that the next leader, be it McCain or Obama, need address and weed out. Why not take on the issues? Why not point out how one approach is superior to another? Bottom line, these adds are a confession on the part of the McCain camp that the American electorate is not sophisticated enough to allow ideas and approaches to issues to triumph over the basest of human instincts. This is why negative campaigning works.
A recent ethicsdaily.com easily googled up article on ectopic abortions revealed the nexus of 527 swiftboaters with this:
"Along with Phillips, speakers for this year's school, held May 27-31 in Fredericksburg, Va., included his father, former Constitution Party presidential candidate and Nixon White House staffer Howard Phillips; former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore; and Jerry Corsi, co-author of the 2004 No. 1 New York Times bestseller Unfit for Command--Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry and staff reporter for WorldNetDaily.com."
The real test of noble standards like Cartledge has put forth here would be something as simple as taking the discussion to nearby (leastways nearby to Campbell Div) congregations like Snyder Memorial and engage the active and retired military community there in matters such as Richard Land's history with Karl Rove, and what role 527's end up playing in this election.
That town hall meeting would be interesting indeed, especially in a place where Bobby Welch--former SBC president who allegedly said at Pastor's conference of an annual SBC, 1984 I think it was, We've got liberals, what are we gonna do about it--Welch's good friend Boykin has held forth.
Let's have town hall meetings like that in congregations that pass as Progressive Baptist lighthouses across the spectrum and see how it plays out.
First Baptist Greenville, South Carolina would be another interesting locale; BCOC in Birmingham; or for that matter any of the congregations listed on the back of monthly issues of Baptists Today will do.
By no means is it a given that a progressive Baptist with a conscience is mandated to vote for Barack Obama.
But by all means lets explore the political calculus of progressive free and faithful Baptists this season before the election.
What does SBC Peace Committee's Charles Pickering, or Dan Yeary or Bob Stephenson; where is their thinking in conversation with Bill Leonard, Brent McDougal, Passport Camps and or Melissa Rogers.
Would be an interesting way indeed to see what we are really made of.
PS: For any of you haven't seen it yet the Thursday Front Page of Wall Street Journal on two Baptist deacons at FBC Montgomery, Alabama vying for the Bama 2nd US congressional Seat is interesting reading indeed.
I have the link, if you have troubles, at my blog.
It's odd, I took the commercials completely different. I saw them as an attempt by the McCain camp to be humorous. Some of the articles detailing his handling of his media mention several things that he's done in an effort to make light of situations. He's losing out on some of the younger votes because the Obama machine is great at pulling in that demographic. Therefore, he's trying to win some of those back with "Saturday Night Live" style humor.
Granted, they weren't very funny to me, but I really didn't think that he was trying to use scare tactics.
Then again...maybe I'm just too indifferent to politics to take any of them seriously.
Apparently I've missed something. I followed the link Dr. Cartledge gave for the McCain ads and find that the one titled "The One" is really the only totally outrageous one on there. (I stopped watching the ones that dated back to before June.) The ad "The One" is, in my opinion, just plain goofy and is clearly pandering to the right and their infatuation with "end times" BS that passes for good scholarship and doctrine...but that's another blog for another day.
As for the "racism, fear of foreigners [xenophobia], nativism, hatred of the poor, anti-intellectualism, intolerance, and any number of fears," while I don't doubt the existence and influence of those issues, I don't see them in McCain's ads (with the exception of "The One," which, as I said, I think is beyond ridiculous.) I think the only way to really see racism, especially, in those most recent ads is if you're already predisposed to see it there, which is why Obama race-baited first with "scare you" speech.
Obama is scary, but it has nothing to do with the color of his skin and everything to do with the direction he will take this country and, as a result, the world.
http://subulldog.blogspot.com/2008/08/in-need-of-anti-depressantor-will-be.html
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/political_commentary/commentary_by_dick_morris/fear_factor_mccain_s_best_bet
As for McCain's ads, as an avowed opponent of Obama, they don't really say much to me. I'm not going to vote for Obama, but McCain's not giving me any real viable reason to vote for him. So in effect, his ads are pretty ineffectual to me, but maybe they have a stronger effect in the states where they aired or are airing.
A woman from one of my colleague's church returned from a trip to Israel with one of the evangelists linked with McCain and reported that this election was very important because Obama was probably the Antichrist. Apparently, he's taking large groups out of the country and then feeding them this apocalyptic line, then letting them come back, scare the fool out of their friends, and push them to vote Republican.
McCain's people say the ads are making fun of Obama's public personality... maybe so, but they tend to appeal to that apocalyptic fringe group as well...
Post a Comment