A perfect example of why Kerry will never win
If you haven't yet seen the latest Bush ad, poking fun at Kerry's flip-flopping using footage of him windsurfing as the visual device, click here.
This is, quite simply, a hilarious spot because its premise - that Lurch is a political windsock - is absolutely, self-evidently, and almost painfully true. It's also a hoot because the windsurfing theme is also so typically Kerry - a rich man's pasttime that most "ordinary" Americans haven't the time or money to pursue.
But what makes it slam-dunkingly effective is that it takes relentless aim at one of the Boston Balker's biggest achilles heels: his towering hauteur. This is a man who takes himself so agonizingly seriously, thinks so highly of himself, his intellect, his overarchingly supreme judgment, and the sense of absolute entitlement with which it all marinates his psyche, that he has apparently never learned the need for even the surface artifice of self-deprecation, or the basic, minimum grace and poise to take needling in stride. He's like the whiney kid on the playground that gets teased by everybody else precisely because they all know they can always get a rise out of him.
Want proof? Here it is.
"The Kerry campaign reacted angrily to the ad, charging that its 'lighthearted' approach was inappropriate in the middle of a war.
"'This is a shameful advertisement that shows a disturbing disregard for those fighting and sacrificing in Iraq,' said Kerry spokesman Mike McCurry, who demanded that the President repudiate it."
But the ad had nothing at all to do with "those fighting and sacrificing in Iraq." It had everything to do with Kerry's inability to make up his mind about it, or anything else.
"Edwards offered a similar critique during an appearance in Miami, Florida.
"'Today George Bush is laughing again. Over 1,000 Americans have lost their lives. Americans are being beheaded. Iraq is a mess, and they think this is a joke,'"
No, they don't think any of that is a joke. They think John Kerry is a joke, particularly on national security, and more and more Americans are reaching the same conclusion.
"Edwards said. 'It is clear they have no idea how to protect our troops, but they will do anything to protect their jobs."
It's not the job of a president to "protect our troops." It's the job of our troops to protect us. This is what Kerry doesn't understand, and why he's becoming a national laughingstock.
The Bushies' bland, understated, dignified, matter-of-fact riposte to all this huffing & puffing was just classic:
"Bush campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel defended the ad, saying that 'what's disturbing is John Kerry's various shifting positions on the war on Iraq. What the ad spells out is that it's important to have a leader whose word we can believe not only on the day they say it but the next day as well. There is no weather vane on top of the White House. This country needs leaders who stand for something when the times are good and when the times are bad."
If it had been me, I would have let the ad speak for itself. This is like having to explain the punchline of an obvious witticism to the one dunderhead in the room who's too dense to "get it."
But, as usual, Kerry just couldn't leave it well enough alone. Not by barreling to the nearest microphone to whine about it, but by quickly whipping out a whiney counter-ad instead:
"The Kerry campaign released a new spot, denouncing the windsurfing commercial as 'a juvenile and tasteless attack ad.'"
I've lost count of the number of times in this campaign that I thought these people couldn't get any more incompetent, and then have proven me wrong. This is literally unbelievable. With their resources limited by the acceptance of public funding, and the number of battleground states for them shrinking, and their candidate sinking in the polls, the Kerryites actually bought air time to bitch about the tone of an opposition advertisement.
Leave aside the flip-flopping and the public relations stupidity of inviting TV crews to film Brah-man doing what only missed the narration of Robin Leach - can this guy really be this easy to manipulate?
But of course - look at how easily the Islamist "insurgents" are manipulating him.
And that's the point of the ad.
Proving that sometimes, humor is the best way of illustrating the deadly serious.
This is, quite simply, a hilarious spot because its premise - that Lurch is a political windsock - is absolutely, self-evidently, and almost painfully true. It's also a hoot because the windsurfing theme is also so typically Kerry - a rich man's pasttime that most "ordinary" Americans haven't the time or money to pursue.
But what makes it slam-dunkingly effective is that it takes relentless aim at one of the Boston Balker's biggest achilles heels: his towering hauteur. This is a man who takes himself so agonizingly seriously, thinks so highly of himself, his intellect, his overarchingly supreme judgment, and the sense of absolute entitlement with which it all marinates his psyche, that he has apparently never learned the need for even the surface artifice of self-deprecation, or the basic, minimum grace and poise to take needling in stride. He's like the whiney kid on the playground that gets teased by everybody else precisely because they all know they can always get a rise out of him.
Want proof? Here it is.
"The Kerry campaign reacted angrily to the ad, charging that its 'lighthearted' approach was inappropriate in the middle of a war.
"'This is a shameful advertisement that shows a disturbing disregard for those fighting and sacrificing in Iraq,' said Kerry spokesman Mike McCurry, who demanded that the President repudiate it."
But the ad had nothing at all to do with "those fighting and sacrificing in Iraq." It had everything to do with Kerry's inability to make up his mind about it, or anything else.
"Edwards offered a similar critique during an appearance in Miami, Florida.
"'Today George Bush is laughing again. Over 1,000 Americans have lost their lives. Americans are being beheaded. Iraq is a mess, and they think this is a joke,'"
No, they don't think any of that is a joke. They think John Kerry is a joke, particularly on national security, and more and more Americans are reaching the same conclusion.
"Edwards said. 'It is clear they have no idea how to protect our troops, but they will do anything to protect their jobs."
It's not the job of a president to "protect our troops." It's the job of our troops to protect us. This is what Kerry doesn't understand, and why he's becoming a national laughingstock.
The Bushies' bland, understated, dignified, matter-of-fact riposte to all this huffing & puffing was just classic:
"Bush campaign spokesman Scott Stanzel defended the ad, saying that 'what's disturbing is John Kerry's various shifting positions on the war on Iraq. What the ad spells out is that it's important to have a leader whose word we can believe not only on the day they say it but the next day as well. There is no weather vane on top of the White House. This country needs leaders who stand for something when the times are good and when the times are bad."
If it had been me, I would have let the ad speak for itself. This is like having to explain the punchline of an obvious witticism to the one dunderhead in the room who's too dense to "get it."
But, as usual, Kerry just couldn't leave it well enough alone. Not by barreling to the nearest microphone to whine about it, but by quickly whipping out a whiney counter-ad instead:
"The Kerry campaign released a new spot, denouncing the windsurfing commercial as 'a juvenile and tasteless attack ad.'"
I've lost count of the number of times in this campaign that I thought these people couldn't get any more incompetent, and then have proven me wrong. This is literally unbelievable. With their resources limited by the acceptance of public funding, and the number of battleground states for them shrinking, and their candidate sinking in the polls, the Kerryites actually bought air time to bitch about the tone of an opposition advertisement.
Leave aside the flip-flopping and the public relations stupidity of inviting TV crews to film Brah-man doing what only missed the narration of Robin Leach - can this guy really be this easy to manipulate?
But of course - look at how easily the Islamist "insurgents" are manipulating him.
And that's the point of the ad.
Proving that sometimes, humor is the best way of illustrating the deadly serious.
posted by JASmius at 8:42 PM
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