That’s what this web ad needs to be reduced to. Just run the part where they are whispering.
Via Lonely Conservative (h/t Linda).
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As the guys at Trifecta observed…
What does it tell us that our President confides in a former KGB guy what he won’t tell the American people?
Then, there is this…
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/04/former-marine-striker-its-time-to-start-viewing-this-administration-as-an-existential-threat-to/
Start…!?!?!
What does it tell us that our President confides in a former KGB guy what he won’t tell the American people?
This
I don’t find it an effective ad. The whole ad should take a serious tone, which is how it starts out. But by the end the incident is treated as a joke with the James Bond music and turning Obama and Medvedev into cartoon-like characters.
IMO, not one of Rove’s best efforts.
See, I feel the opposite.
Political ads are generally the most boring, instantly tuned-out commercials you can find. The slightly lighthearted ones are the ones which stand a chance of keeping your attention, the themes often become memorable and the frightening statements are much more likely to sink in because you actually heard it.
The only thing I would have done differently is in the final seconds – he would have been “Double-Cross 7” in my version…
On the contrary, I think this is genius, getting the point across while engaging in fun satire. 🙂
I do agree with the professor that, for TV, it needs to be cut. But the full version is just glorious.
Speaking as a former Democrat, who is intimately familiar with the insular, self-important, we-are-the-serious-ones psychology of the left, it’s a brilliant ad. They cannot abide being mocked.
Mock them every chance you get.
But I’m not sure that’s what it’s doing. The mockery is getting lost in the stylisms of the parody.
“They cannot abide being mocked.”
As can been seen in this great Baseball site’s article on the ever so sad death of Al Gore:
http://www.fangraphs.com/not/index.php/r-i-p-al-gore/#comments
(and no, it wasn’t even an April Fools joke – it’s from 2 days ago and has a source and everything. Its great though, as apparently next to no one takes Mr. Gore seriously outside a couple Liberal posters who say such jokes shouldnt be made in the face of a strange gaffe. Well, unless they are the ones doing the mocking, of course…)
It’s funny to me because the very first thing that came to mind when I heard this hot mic moment was that the exchange sounded like cheesy dialogue from an old James Bond movie.
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I thought it was hilarious.
I’m pretty sure most, if not all, reasonable people understand this is a serious issue.
Humor is nature’s way of balancing angst and hand wringing, even in our darkest moments.
Some folks are just wound too tight….in my opinion.
I always thought this site lacked a bit in humor.
I appreciate all I can get.
Thanks, Professor.
Is the $3.99.9 per gallon I just paid for gas part of that transformation? If this is what it is before the election, what will it be after?
Where are my Post-Its when I need them? I’ll walk back to the station to post them. I will also wait until tomorrow to do some additional shopping. No sense making a trip just for food.
I like the ad pretty much as is.
However, Obama’s is meeting his goals quite well right now. Giving Obama a second term would be the death knell to this country as founded and would turn it into another version of Cuba or China and would allow him to carry out his complete program for the transition he desires.
This will not be last insight into “unrestrained” Obama before the election-
But it may be the last one MSM reports on…
Puerile ad. Insulting to any serious-minded patriot.
I didn’t know anything about American Crossroads. I looked them up.
This is their “leadership team”:
Former treasurer and general counsel of the Republican National Committee
Former co-chair of the Republican National Committee
Former general counsel of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Former deputy campaign manager – political director for Romney for President, and Communications Director and Issue Advocacy Director National Republican Congressional Committee
It figures.
I agree completely raven. This ad makes light of what is an incredibly serious and tragic situation. I’m all for mocking the Left, but this ad does no such thing. It mocks us.
Somebody needs to get you to a whoopie cushion, STAT…!!!
On Red Eye the other night, some were laughing it off, downplaying it. Like, “oh, he just meant he’d have more time”.
But knowing how he already gave up missile defense, and his talk of reducing our aging stock pile of nukes to 300, do we really have any doubt that he will give away even more if he is reelected?
Then we have our Secretary of Defense telling congress that POTUS will get approval from the UN before committing armed forces, then they will TELL congress what they (the UN and our President) have decided.
And regardless of how flexible Obama is, why would he need to inform the Russians? If Obama was going to do some deal that was good for US, why not do it before the election? Obviously what he has in mind would NOT help him win an election.
Tammy Bruce played this late in the week. She, like me, has a low opinion of Rove but this is pitch perfect in her and my opinions.
Thank you thank you thank you for the Post of the Day link, Prof Jacobson!
You are a gentleman.
Start the ad at 0:25 seconds, run to 0:51, end from 1:11 with the logo 11-6-12 America Can’t Afford the Risk. You could probably shave another second or two by tightening up transitions and not spelling out the date at the end.
This is brilliant. It’s target is the base and anyone who is old enough to know how evil the Evil Empire was/still is. Puerile? Я так не думаю
Here are the problems with the ad as I see it.
By producing a 1:30 ad with certain production values one is implicitly saying that the subject is serious, even singularly so (which it is). Yet the parody or “spy spoof” motif undermines this idea. Parody is a great technique, but here? As it is, incoherence or cognitive message disjunction is a first impression. (I’d suggest parody or some variation of comic mockery would be more suitable to a montage of all of Obama’s hot mic moments, which would include this without all the freight of Bond-spoof symbolism).
At the same time, the narrator says Obama’s goal is to “weaken US defenses and transform the world.” All right. But how are we supposed to take that in this context? As truth, as parody? Is it a parody of the truth? Is it a dissonant assertion that Obama is an evil traitor, or a parody of an hysterical narrative that Obama is an evil traitor?
As meta-critique, it should be pointed out that James Bond movies are in of themselves absurd, so a spoofing style of one is a parody of an absurdity. Where and how does a coherent message about the serious issue of putting US national security at risk shake out through all those layers of styles?
I think it was a spot made by RINOs – specifically those who can’t commit to a clear and brutal critique of Obama absent cuteness or trifling stylistic flourish — for other RINOs. The days for that are over, in my view. Give us the hard truth straight up, or make fun of Obama in any one of a million ways — except over something this serious and in this way.
Great analysis. This was an ad to appease the base, without actually having to take it to Obama. And it looks like it is working.
Great analysis. This was an ad to appease the base, without actually having to take it to Obama. And it looks like it is working.
I’m not in advertising, but the most effective you-tube ads to me are ones with statements like this from Obama, maybe paused with facts in writing over the video.
In this case, pause as he is leaning in, after he mentions flexibility, and put in writing (maybe with voice) the facts of what Obama already gave up.
Maybe roll Obama’s comments again, then play Panettas comment about deferring to the UN.
Roll it again with comments about sovereignty, and Obama’s campaigning in Berlin … or support from Soros … or siding with Castro and Chavez in the Honduras situation. Any number of items show Obama favoring the other side … make the same 30 second ad, rotate through any number of supporting facts. Obama wants US weaker. He will lie to get reelected … it’s not like he didn’t lie the first time.
The material is there, the will is not.
The ad is clever and amusing. In the “American Idol” age, you gotta grab their attention, first.
The substance of the ad, though, is extremely disturbing and should make everyone sleep less soundly every night.
but this is a real situation … being funny doesn’t convey the right attitude. It makes the argument against Obama look comedic and phony.
Maybe start with the real Obama statement … reinforce the seriousness of it with factual backing (freely giving up our missile defense in eastern Europe, reducing nukes unilaterally, submission to the UN) maybe build to the possibility that a totalitarian regime could actually take over our own government .. Van Jones? avowed communist … Obama admin’ people that state adoration for Mao, Rev. Bell, Rev. Wright … etc.
What do these radicals already openly profess they want? Bond and marching Russian armies just seems cartoonish to me … let’s get real. The reality is bad enough. But all efforts will be made to destroy anyone making the real argument … a LOT of vested interests can’t handle the truth.
Oh, you mean take a video segment which could be out of context for all the unsuspecting viewers know, and use it in a fashion which portrays a greater conspiracy with Communists, Mass-Murders and Hate-Mongers in an attempt to seriously convey the fact that clearly Obama is plant in a greater conspiracy to take down the US by the Communist Democrats?
You seriously don’t see that as playing right into the hands of John Stewart and MSNBC?
no, I mean don’t make light of the facts … and present some direct comments from Obama, and some real problems.
“for all the unsuspecting viewers know”
the “unsuspecting”
expect the “crazy right” to not understand, and to act like this is Bond and Russian armies are marching in the US. The ad plays directly into the left’s caricature of the right.
Instead, just present some hard facts about Obama, like his Sec of Defense saying the prez’ will consult with the UN, but not Congress. There are a lot of hard facts available … do we need to use Bond and make it a joke, to try to trick those “unsuspecting” into believing a Bond comedy?
the left narrative is that it is out of context … so use hard facts to show it is NOT out of context .. give the real context.
Why do they think an obviously detrimental to America statement is “out of context”? What “context” are they depending on?
From the ancient Greeks down, comedy has been used to convey effectively the most serious of subjects.
in 30 second commercials?
If you did a whole play on obama, the comedy could reveal absudity.
But in sound bites, we are in a different arena of lions and jackals.
Bond is its own comedy … so I don’t think it works .. but I get your point, i think.
Ask John Bolton if our defense secretary saying he will submit to the UN is a comedic situation. Before comedy can work, reality has to be recognized. Greek plays were long and thought provoking. A minute of bond humor does not ever get to that level of “comedic” thought, portraying gross contradiction of values.
I don’t think we can “play” in the same league with major media and Hollywood with such a brief comedic response. They own the “unsuspecting”. So some groundwork must be laid in our comedy … I don’t think that ad does that, it shows silly Russian troops and silly Bond clips that don’t convey reality at all.
Show Obama contradicting himself .. energy prices must skyrocket versus blocking leases and pipelines, with bird killer windmills and algae as his answer. Laugh at those realities .. but we don’t have troops marching in our cities and Bond is a comedic absurdity … which only makes the right’s argument seem silly.
as I see it
Excellent! With a slight majority of Americans submitting to promises of redistribution and retribution, the Russians’ hope for change in American leadership has been realized. WTF?
The ad’s too corny by half. Just get out the word that Barry is selling out Eastern Europe and the United States and that should be enough.
I don’t like the ad at all. The first purpose of advertising is to get out the information, not entertain those who already have the information. What is spoof and what’s not, and the point of it all is completely unclear.
Yep.
It’s clear.
Humor, especially 30 sec. humor is not for us conservatives.
2 hour documentaries or a PDF file–THAT’S entertainment!
Besides, just think:
If Jon Stewart gets wind of this, he’ll mock our comedy with mocking comedy on Comedy Central, making us look unserious, while getting his point across.
laughing….seriously.
Obama’s actions on Honduras could do with the same treatment.
Kirsten Powers comments, which are mild, are included at the 1.30 mark. Frank Gaffney’s comments are more detailed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw-oQqVlqh0&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DiCrQO994I
Not funny: