The YouTube Campaign

Reihan Salam lays out your options:

Meanwhile, Metric's "Monster Hospital" is batting leadoff on my forthcoming Samantha Power mixtape:

Last this John McCain ad is bizarre on any number of levels:

I mean, if al-Qaeda wanted to come out into the streets and fight us, I'm confident we'd win easily. The whole crux of the matter is that they're not eager to engage us in direct battle. And, yes, we're not meant to take it literally. But there's the rub -- McCain's entire worldview is founded on delusions of grandeur and wildly inapt metaphors.

Comments

Where did this post come from? I swear this wasn't here earlier. Or maybe Daylight Savings Time is playing tricks on my mind again. I swear to Shiva there is nothing worse than Daylight Savings Time.

Posted by Brent | March 10, 2008 12:34 AM

Yes, Matthew's posts often seem to show up at odd times, nowhere near the stated posting time.

In any case, the McCain ad is great. The "we'll never surrender; they will" has a nice dual meaning. And the part about being proud to be an American also has a dual meaning as a slam on Obama (or his wife, at least). Certainly not for everyone, but it's got a lot packed into those two minutes.

Posted by Al | March 10, 2008 1:04 AM

The Churchill & TR nonsense I can understand -- McCain's got a lock on the History Channel faction. But what's with the graphics from Carl Sagan's "Cosmos"? Is McCain going to bring Democracy 'n' Corporate Capitalism to the Orion Nebula and then the whole fucking Milky Way galaxy?!?! He seems to be taking the whole "Dream Big" thing a little far.... But it probably wouldn't be hard persuading your baseline Republican that the Islamofascist menace from beyond the stars has to be dealt with NOW.

Posted by sglover | March 10, 2008 2:13 AM

Oh jeez..... Turns out Shithead Al put up evidence for my case before I even hit "Preview"!

Posted by sglover | March 10, 2008 2:16 AM

That McCain ad is pretty stirring, even though it doesn't make a lick of sense. Al Qaeda is an "overwhelming force?" WTF?

Posted by Adam Villani | March 10, 2008 4:20 AM

The moral jist of McCain's argument is Churchill--we have to fight them because they're coming ashore at any minute. We have no choice. In actual practice, it's a bit more like Teddy Roosevelt's plan to roam the world looking for butts to kick.

I thought the ad was pretty effective, but I agree the images of space make no sense. Maybe by failing to mention Islamists at all, really, he'll grab the votes of those who are expecting an extraterrestrial invasion any day now.

Posted by Colatina | March 10, 2008 5:20 AM

I really found the McCain ad to be very creepy and a little silly. The whole tone is just very odd, with the new age music in the background. Who is this supposed to appeal to? And a little girl in a sun dress running across a field? Gimmee a break. Do people still fall for crap like that? They'd never sell cars or bicycles or soft drinks like this. They'd never even sell sun dresses for little girls with cheeze ball imagery like that. What makes anyone think that this stuff is going to work to sell a president?

Posted by Rob Mac | March 10, 2008 12:48 PM