April 9, 2012

"Ludicrous, hysterical, brilliant – the top Republican campaign adverts."

Ana Marie Cox assembles and critiques some fabulous material. I don't have time to watch them all just yet, but I did watch Rick Santorum's "Obamaville," and all I can say is I laughed, I cried...



Cox says, about that one: "Hey, people really liked The Ring! Also, the claims are so over-the-top that Obama partisans will be amused as conservatives take slash-fiction pleasure in the visualisation of their most fevered dreams.... The great thing about speculation is that it cannot be fact-checked."

Wow. Ads are getting so good, it's kind of evil. Hold onto your brains, people. It's going to be a crazy year.

30 comments:

damikesc said...

I don't mind snark. But Cox cant even do snark well. A pointless article...but fitting given her prior work.

Unknown said...

Engage the Alinsky warped drive....

edutcher said...

Most people don't know Obamaville, often invoked by Insta, harkens back to the hobo jungles of displaced men, known as Hoovervilles, which the Democrats used so devastatingly.

PS Nice Rod Serling "Twilight Zone" vibe at the end.

You can just hear him say, "And you'll find it all in your home town for the rest of your life if you don't vote Republican, in the Obama Zone".

Christopher in MA said...

Ana Marie Cox? The anal-obsessed Wonkette? I'd rather sleep with Spirochetes Fluke than listen to that no-talent hack. She makes Meghan McCain seem like the second coming of Claire Boothe Luce.

Since it is Wonkette, perhaps you should add a link to the Red Peters album I Laughed, I Cried, I Fudged My Undies.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Fight fire with fire..

Finally some sort of an answer to republicans want to kill women, starve old people, kill gays, starve children, deport the foreigners, convert Muslims.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

You name it.. if its bad for you, the republicans are for it bs.

MadisonMan said...

That ad needs Dementors.

MadisonMan said...

I did like how the Iranian President's visage flickered to Obama for a split second before reverting.

And the narrator tries to invoke Rod Serling, but doesn't quite get it.

Fen said...

I did like how the Iranian President's visage flickered to Obama for a split second before reverting

Yes, thats a common complaint from Dems about the ad, despite the Anal Slut's dismissive snark.

Fen said...

I wonder if she pays for her own birth control.

Scott M said...

Yes, thats a common complaint from Dems about the ad, despite the Anal Slut's dismissive snark.

To which I would reply with a hardy raspberry and other unpleasant bodily noises. I saw enough morphs of Bush into Hitler (one at an Alice In Chains show of all fucking things) to last me a lifetime and none of the pearl-clutchers seemed to care much about that.

Pragmatist said...

Agit_prop is always an effective tool to twist peoples minds. Still not sure what kind of mental gymnastics are required to blame Obama for the economic meltdown that happened when Bush was in office. Or to forget that we are actually better off now than we were in 2008 or how starting another war in the middle east is supposed to lower gas prices or how cutting SS and Medicare, like the Republicans would love to do, is going to help seniors. Didn't we have a chance to fund SS and Medicare in 2001 with the Clinton surplus and did not Mr Bush use it to cut taxes for his donors? Are those tax cuts not still in place? And yet we are to beleive that we are so over taxed? Lies are fine so long as they serve a political end and massage the hysterical fantasies of the Right.

damikesc said...

Or to forget that we are actually better off now than we were in 2008

Yes. So much better off. With an unemployment number that is "low" because the working population is considerably smaller now than it was in 2008.

If the working population was identical to what it was in 2008 (not even mentioning that it should actually be larger), we'd be well above double digits. Still.

how starting another war in the middle east is supposed to lower gas prices or how cutting SS and Medicare, like the Republicans would love to do, is going to help seniors.

Can you name who actually cut Medicare spending?

Hint: Obama. Part of Obamacare cut half a trillion out of it.

Didn't we have a chance to fund SS and Medicare in 2001 with the Clinton surplus and did not Mr Bush use it to cut taxes for his donors?

Didn't we have a chance for two of Clinton's years where the budget was also "balanced"?

Also, how can a surplus lead to increased debts? Because the debt went up every year under Clinton.

But, hey, let's try and whine about events from 12 years ago.

And yet we are to beleive that we are so over taxed? Lies are fine so long as they serve a political end and massage the hysterical fantasies of the Right.

You need to expand the tax rolls so 50% of the population isn't exempt from them.

edutcher said...

Pragmatist said...

Agit_prop is always an effective tool to twist peoples minds. Still not sure what kind of mental gymnastics are required to blame Obama for the economic meltdown that happened when Bush was in office.

Zero was Christopher Dodd's bitch on the Senate Banking Committee and the highest recipient of bank money after Dodd and the Hildabeast, IIRC.

A lot of the machinations to keep subprime mortgages going can be laid in his lap.

roesch/voltaire said...

Ads like this seem to confirm a recent study that finds:
"Keeping people from thinking too much...or just asking them to deliberate or consider information in a cursory manner can impact people's political attitudes, and in a way that consistently promotes political conservatism," Dr. Eidelman said in the email

Christy said...

I particularly liked the tree that was made to look like the devil with burning evil eyes.

Scott M said...

RV, most of the OWS people I talked to here in STL were deliberately cursory in their manners and surprisingly uninformed in general. I suppose that makes them conservatives.

By the way, my anecdote trumps your appeal to authority.

roesch/voltaire said...

Scott--Why yes the OWA folks wanted to conserve and return to certain values of fairness expressed durning the Eisenhower era.

Scott M said...

That's an interesting pretzel, RV. Make sure you have plenty of cheddar.

Joe said...

I don't like Obama, but I thought the ad was stupid as hell.

Thorley Winston said...

I kind of liked the ad and thought that it had a “Hunger Games” vibe. The quality of the film, choice of color and the dress of the people and condition of the buildings reminded me of the movie I watched last Monday. I have to give Santorum credit (even though I’m a Romney supporter) if they structured it to capitalize on the popularity of recent blockbuster.
Then again as I am staunchly opposed to most of Obama’s policies and am predisposed to wanting to see him defeated, I may not be the best barometer for how effective it was.

Nora said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nora said...

"Hold onto your brains, people. ..."

Now, this is hysterical, coming from somebody who still tries to rationalise voting for empty suit, that could not even vote other than 'present'

Abdul Abulbul Amir said...

.

It needs a few zombies.

.

Carnifex said...

It was a very well done ad if you fall for scare tactics, scary colors, and are startled by the cat jumping out of the shadows in every freakin' slasher movie ever made.

In other words, it was perfect for the dimwits in the middle.

It's not effective for liberals, 'cause they already follow the devil incarnate.

And it's not effective for most conservatives because they're used to thinking about problems, instead of emoting about them.

Unknown said...

I want to scream "Don't go in the house!" but they always do...

Kirby Olson said...

The voiceover was an attempt at The Twilight Zone, by Rod Serling. Nice job.

J said...

If Obama goes after Romney about being wealthy, expect to see ads on this:

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/04/09/president-obamas-1-million-pizza-party-in-detroit/

Obama is soooo down-to-earth that he has $1 million pizza parties with pies served on sterling silver platters.

Craig said...

Obama should ignore Romney and run against Turd Blossom in the next episode of the Toilet Zone.

Christopher in MA said...

Or to forget that we are actually better off now than we were in 2008.

Premium gasoline here in Massachusetts is $4.05 / gallon as of this morning.

. . .the OWA folks wanted to conserve and return to certain values of fairness expressed during the Eisenhower era.

Are you sure you don't teach at clown college, RV? I would bet a week's wages that the "fairness" you're bleating about means you want Eisenhower-era tax rates for those evil rich bastards. Give me Eisenhower-era government and budget and you can have the tax rates. Or get the 50% of parasites who don't pay income taxes to start chipping in. Otherwise, blow it out your ass.

And when, pray tell, did Ike's presidency become such a paradise for the left? For years, Democrats caterwauled that the 1950s were a horrible era of stifling conformity and racism, but apparently they were all lying and knew that it was a golden age all along.