The Snitchin' Candidate

Everything about this John McCain ad is bizarre, from the headless, anonymous rock star to the wisps of smoke to the fact that it goes out of its way to mention that McCain's middle name is "Sidney" to the fact that the core of the ad is an anecdote about how McCain learned the importance of ratting out your friends at a tony boarding school.

But let's just focus on McCain's impressive consistency. His example of baseball greatness is Ted Williams. A great player, to be sure. But also the only major star named after Teddy Roosevelt, and a guy with a much more impressive military record than your other major athletes. Basically, all McCain cares about is martial glory, even when he's ostensibly talking about baseball.

Anyways, don't candidates who attended fancy prep schools normally try to downplay that sort of thing? Everyone in America, after all, went to school and almost all of them are going to remember that they didn't go to a school with an "honor code."

Comments

Interestingly, at the elite high school I attended, they eliminated the clause in the honor code obligating students to report violations they knew of while I was there.

Posted by Tyro | April 4, 2008 10:15 AM

Ted Williams was also, by all accounts, a world-class asshole.

Posted by Hulka | April 4, 2008 10:17 AM

Not to mention that the childhood photos that float across the screen are so old that they appear to be daguerreotypes.

They should get their story straight on how the guy's name is spelled -- Ravenel or Ravenal?

The smoke really weirded me out. In the military service clip I thought it might have been meant to evoke the U.S.S. Forestall fire, but here that makes no sense. And the whole thing is weird -- we're supposed to care about his school and his teacher, why?

Posted by Matt Weiner | April 4, 2008 10:23 AM

I actually saw Ted Williams play (Boston used to play an exhibition game against their San Francisco farm team and Ted made a token appearance). Only other guy who made the same impression of grace and beauty among all the ballplayers I saw was Willie Mays. So I think the choice is understandable.

Posted by Gene O'Grady | April 4, 2008 10:24 AM

Um, so John McCain is running for teacher? Do I have that right?

That has to be one of the worst political ads I've ever seen.

Posted by calling all toasters | April 4, 2008 10:28 AM

I gathered from the ad that McCain's classmate turned himself in and that McCain said he should be forgiven. That's a lot different than saying he ratted him out, no?

The headless/nameless rockstar is a classy touch. Where's the "straight talk"? Can't he just come clean and admit who his favorite rock star is?

Posted by brek | April 4, 2008 10:28 AM

They mentioned the middle name so they can point to it when they say "Barack Hussein Obama" in a later commercial, so as to argue that they always mention middle names. Or even to give independent groups cover to say Hussein.

Posted by dude | April 4, 2008 10:28 AM

Yeah, what is up with that smoke? Made me think "what are they smoking?"

Posted by live | April 4, 2008 10:29 AM

What is it with Republicans honoring finks? McCain is proud of his finking as Fred Thompson was of his.

I know it's hard to get unanimous assent, but, jeez, finking is stuff that Satan does. Wottabuncha creeps.

Posted by Jeffrey Davis | April 4, 2008 10:29 AM

Invoking McCain's middle name provides cover for invocations of Obama's middle name. The emphasis on "snitching" is about how Obama as a black man and therefore part of black culture can't be trusted. Emphasizing the importance of "reporting the student who does" as an aspect of good character is cover for reporting any dirt however trivial that the McCain campaign can dig up on Obama. Also note that while the visual of the Honor Code says "will not" the voiceover says "shall not," which makes it much more biblical sounding. Emphasizing forgiveness serves two functions--it tells the conservative base to forgive McCain for his betrayals, and it establishes that it's okay for McCain to dig up dirt on Obama because he can release the information and "forgive" Obama in the same breath.

The McCain campaign is positioning itself to capitalize on the idea that Obama is frighteningly black and possiby Muslim and can't be trusted. This is because McCain is the jackass candidate for president that jackasses have been waiting for.

Posted by Galen | April 4, 2008 10:31 AM

...and the rock star thing is for this reason: most rock stars are controversial for some reason, like they do some drugs or use profanity, etc., all things that are offensive to people to whom McCain is trying to relate. So he is trying to take credit for music without having to associate himself with the controversial stuff, or with any one guy, who probably would not share the biography of boarding school military guy that McCain is looking for in his examples. People may like music, but it is hardly an "honorable" career the way McCain defines it.

Posted by dude | April 4, 2008 10:33 AM

"don't candidates who attended fancy prep schools normally try to downplay that sort of thing?"

I know you're not a candidate, but that's a pretty ironic statement from a guy who has referred to his Dalton dayz in more than one post.

Posted by MY Strikes Again | April 4, 2008 10:35 AM

"dude" is right about the rockstar thing. I considered mentioning it but couldn't figure out how to articulate it clearly, and he's got it exactly right.

Posted by Galen | April 4, 2008 10:37 AM

His example of baseball greatness is Ted Williams. A great player, to be sure.

Also a player who retired in 1960; coincidentally, just about half the current U.S. population had not yet been born in 1960. Way to appeal to the geriatric generation, John.

Posted by RSA | April 4, 2008 10:40 AM

Maybe the "rock star" is really an image of Mike Huckabee, and we'll get the exciting reveal in a later ad after the veep choice is announced. I can't wait!

Posted by Mercutio42 | April 4, 2008 10:40 AM

I actually thought this was a spoof ad when I first viewed it.

I think the idea of his biography is good; but the "tour" and the ads are way too much. I mean, really, idealizing his high school years this way is so unbelievable. Why not be more antecdotal instead of scripting something that makes him look like he's being "designed-to-sell"?

Blehck!

Posted by AKBY | April 4, 2008 10:42 AM

The honor code at his prep school is the exact same honor code as the honor code at the US Naval Academy (and West Point and the Air Force Academy). Granted, I think we all know that John McCain went to the Naval Academy, but it is surprising that he did not mention this in the ad.

Posted by adlsad | April 4, 2008 10:48 AM

Also note that while the visual of the Honor Code says "will not" the voiceover says "shall not," which makes it much more biblical sounding.

Yeah I noticed that too. This fits in, I think, to the whole "great people define history" idea that this commercial is about. The whole idea of the campaign is that what we need right now is a great leader to not-surrender and restore our honor and etc. And great leaders, unlike the black Muslim Obama, are those with patrio-religious backgrounds like McCain. What I mean by patrio-religious is that the patriotism stuff takes on an air of religion when coming outta the McCain camp (and people like Hagee). So "Shall" just goes along with that, just tries to make John McCain into America-Jesus.

Posted by dude | April 4, 2008 10:49 AM

Looking at it again, it definitely seems like it is designed to appeal to old people. Plus Galen's points about how it's setting up attacks on Obama seem right.

Posted by live | April 4, 2008 10:51 AM

Maybe the Ted Williams thing is meant to appeal to nostalgia over the old days of great, white players. Given McCain's options for winning in November, super subtly implying that your opponent is a cheater and a jerk like Barry Bonds . . . ok, but I think we can all agree that McCain's bound to try some pretty crazy lines of attack.

Posted by aleks | April 4, 2008 10:55 AM

This makes me feel much better about the general. Any one else find it weird that the voice over's recitation of the honor code doesn't match the sign or the later graphic?

Posted by lh | April 4, 2008 10:57 AM

mccain has to pick a rock star that:

1. is willing to have his/her image used -- how many mccainiac rock stars can there be
2. (as dude pointed out) isn't automatically associated with bad behaviour -- you know, sex drugs and rock n' roll kinda stuff
3. isn't so lame as to make mccain seem too old or too much of a loser (pat boone)

hence the headless rock star. the headlessness is fine in the original collage, because it looks like a snapshot of a collage, but later on, when he stays headless -- that's weird.

Posted by ima rockstar | April 4, 2008 11:00 AM

I wonder if Ted Nugent is supporting McCain.

Posted by live | April 4, 2008 11:05 AM

When pondering McCain's admiration of Ted Williams, keep in mind that Williams was more than a great baseball player; he was also a Naval Aviator in both WWII and Korea. Ted Williams' story fits very, very well with the McCain warrior image.

Unfortunately, only a tiny proportion of the general electorate remembers Ted Williams' playing days, and most young voters, if they recognize the name at all, know him as the old ball player whose head was cryogenically frozen, like something from a bad Futurama episode.

Ted Williams genuinely does deserve a better legacy than that.

Posted by Andy | April 4, 2008 11:06 AM

I thought he was calling for beheading rock stars, there, for a minute . . .

Posted by rea | April 4, 2008 11:07 AM

Maybe the "rock star" is really an image of Mike Huckabee, and we'll get the exciting reveal in a later ad after the veep choice is announced. I can't wait!

Posted by Mercutio42 | April 4, 2008 10:40 AM
***************

I'm calling this thread for Mercutio42. Thanks for playing everyone.

Posted by aleks | April 4, 2008 11:09 AM

As for snitching, wouldn't we all prefer it if Bush didn't place loyalty to his cronies over obedience to the law?

Posted by aleks | April 4, 2008 11:11 AM

On watching the first half with the sound off again -- wow, the smoke is weird. What were they thinking?

And the closeup of the honor code definitely emphasizes "I will report the student who does," both because it's the longest sentence in the code and because at the beginning the moving lights blur out the top sentences.

And that can't sell well. People don't respond emotionally well to snitching -- Joe Darby is one of the great American heroes, but last I checked he was living in an undisclosed location. And prep-school snitches, no. Anyone else read this story? It left me with an emotional hatred of honor codes, and that guy was guilty as hell.

Posted by Matt Weiner | April 4, 2008 11:17 AM

learned the importance of ratting out your friends at a tony boarding school.

McCain starred in the alternate ending of Scent of a Woman -- the one where Charlie rats out his friends and goes on to Harvard and a Vietnamese POW camp. Hoooo-ahhhh!

Posted by jim | April 4, 2008 11:17 AM

For sure the middle name thing is to set up "Hussein". But the snitching as honorable thing is also purposefully aimed at Obama. "He sat there for 20 years listening to sermons and didn't snitch/denounce/renounce/inform ... yadda yadda."

This looks like a goofy ad, but it is setting out the Republican playbook in more ways than one.

Posted by Estrien | April 4, 2008 11:18 AM

So the Firesign Theater is also producing campaign ads these days?

Posted by rickhavoc | April 4, 2008 11:26 AM

Maybe they're going to put Ted William's frozen head on the headless rock star.

Posted by Gene | April 4, 2008 11:28 AM

The ad is truly bad. Especially the smoke, which I thought would lead to a pan over to the villain's lit cigarette. But the little Tom Tomorrow figures floating about aren't great either. (Anyone else getting "It's Raining McCain" flashbacks?)

BUT they have time. They can try 20 different ads, of which one or two will be not-ridiculous, and then run those when people are paying attention. It's like focus-grouping the nation.

Posted by Deborah | April 4, 2008 11:29 AM

Finally a Scent of a Woman reference. I was really upset to get more than 30 comments into the post without seeing one. (Dead Poets Society would also have been acceptable, if slighly less perfect.)

Can we get Al Pacino to reenact that scene in a sort of mock McCain viral video?

"And I say, this boy's soul is intact. It's been negotiated and found strong. You know how I know? Because someone here--I'm not gonna say who--offered to buy it. And John sold it willingly, but only at a fair price."
...
"I don't know if Johnathan's open accusation of his friends here today is right or wrong; I'm not a judge or jury. But I can tell you this: he will never hesitate to sell anybody out to buy his future!"

Posted by jhupp | April 4, 2008 11:30 AM

Also weird that they would be emphasizing school and the honor code considering McCain's dismal performance at the Naval Academy -- finishing 894 out of 899 and nearly getting kicked out for demerits.

Posted by Bragan | April 4, 2008 11:31 AM

I think aleks call at 11:09 may have been premature. Jim at 11:17 is still in this one. Well played.

Posted by drjimcooper | April 4, 2008 11:31 AM

Okay, put aside the slight weirdness of the ad for a moment...

Matt, would you apply the same anti-snitching criticism to, I don't know, whistleblowing? Is that something to be looked down upon, as well? If you want to make the argument that McCain's a liar, a cheat, and a thief...then fine. But after 8 years of rank cronyism, unabashed lying (more than 8 years), and theft of American's hard earned wealth (much longer than 8 years), shouldn't you be applauding a return to those kind of values?

I realize it's difficult to make a Case for Partisanship by engaging in such a discourse, but perhaps attacking his supposed stances against lying cheating and stealing just doesn't make your case against McCain.

Posted by DDP | April 4, 2008 11:35 AM

DDP, good points (I assume they were addressed at Matt Y. rather than me, but I'll answer them). Two responses:

1) I'm just thinking about the effectiveness of the ad. I don't think invoking snitching is appealing, even if it's right on the merits.

2) I do wish that (as aleks said) we'd seen more people blowing the whistle on the Bush Administration's wrongdoing. But has there been any indication that McCain's blown the whistle on any serious misconduct, or done anything to support whistleblowers -- as opposed to prep school kids who stay out past curfew?

Posted by Matt Weiner | April 4, 2008 11:44 AM

Odd also is that the narrator uses the biblical language of "I shall not" when describing the honor code even though the text, which is right there for the world to read, says "will not." What's up with that?

Posted by Luke Mitchell | April 4, 2008 11:45 AM

Odd also is that the narrator uses the biblical language of "I shall not" when describing the honor code even though the text, which is right there for the world to read, says "will not." What's up with that?

Posted by Luke Mitchell | April 4, 2008 11:49 AM

Ted Williams was also John Glenn's wingman in Korea.

Posted by snoey | April 4, 2008 11:52 AM

DDP--fair point about whistle-blowing. But watching the ad I somehow don't get the reach from turning in anyone who sneaks out of bed at night, to exposing government corruption. It's too far.

Especially as the ad repeats the turn-in-your-buds theme twice, yet says that McCain's proposal for transgressors was forgiveness.

Posted by Deborah | April 4, 2008 11:58 AM

Isn't McCain the guy who almost got bounced from the Naval Academy for misconduct? And wouldn't he have been bounced if another student hadn't taken the rap for one of his infractions? Maybe that's why they're going with a geeky high school teacher instead of one of McCain's professors at the Naval Academy (where they also have an honor code). And where was McCain's sense of honor when he let somebody else take the fall for his misconduct? Doesn't somebody in the media need to point this out?

Posted by Jose Padilla | April 4, 2008 12:10 PM

"So Much Unfairness in Things," a fairly well-known short story about an honor code violation (cheating on a Latin test) was written by a teacher at Episcopal. And set there, too, it seems. There is no forgiveness and redemption by the school. The kid is tossed and has to go to Hotchkiss, poor dear.

Posted by oudemia | April 4, 2008 12:11 PM

What's particularly weird about the ad is if this teacher so shaped McCain, why did he do so poorly at Annapolis and act like a cavaliering douche for another 30 years? Did he one day open up his yearbook, and realize old teach was onto something? McCain wants us to believe both that he's always been bound by honor AND he was a shiftless creep until later in life. Doesn't fly.

Posted by NHCt | April 4, 2008 12:14 PM

McCain's ads sound like an obituary.

Posted by Patrick Nelson | April 4, 2008 12:24 PM

Specifically, the voice over sounds like the minister who didn't know the deceased but was given a list of notes to form an obituary that would please the bereaved family members.

Posted by Patrick Nelson | April 4, 2008 12:32 PM

Calling Ted Williams an asshole is typical internet superficial stupidity. Yeah, he was an extremely difficult and unpleasant person at times, but the overwhelming percentage of guys who were his teammates in baseball or comrades in combat admired him and held him in high esteem; he was no Barry Bonds. He was ahead of his time in terms of race, and was never one of those old fogeys who was hesitant to give the modern ballplayer his due. After not seeing combat in WWII, since he was the only child of his widowed mother, he could have easily avoided combat in Korea, had he been so inclined. He instead willinging served in extremely dangerous combat roles, and narrowly avoided being killed. His efforts in the area of philanthropy were substantial.

Anyone who would reduce such a life to the description of "asshole" is himself an ignorant jackass.

Posted by Will Allen | April 4, 2008 12:34 PM

Another thing that struck me as pretty weird is that all of the hero shots are not only sepia toned, but are all a bunch of dead, white guys. Made me feel like I was watching an ad for a Civil War movie about the tragic honor of the old confederacy or something. Truly weird.

And yes - the smoke. Maybe they were trying to appeal to all those honorable smokers who are looking for someone to vote for?

Posted by jtroth | April 4, 2008 12:36 PM

Let's not overlook the awful voice-over. The only thing good about the guy they chose is that he suits the overall cheeziness of the ad. We have all heard his voice a million times, but I think all the associations are with bland "feel-good" sentimentality that is by now the exclusive province of the over-70 crowd.

Posted by bobbo | April 4, 2008 12:37 PM

MattW and Deborah,

Both valid criticisms. But I only was pointing out that to mock him for snitchin' is lame. Like Matthew (Y) grew up in 'da hood or something.

Posted by DDP | April 4, 2008 12:38 PM

The voice over creeps me out because it is the Forensic Files guy and I half expect him to start talking about thallium poisoning.

Posted by oudemia | April 4, 2008 12:41 PM

Ted Williams was also John Glenn's wingman in Korea.

I'm betting McCain was Duke Cunningham's wingman in Vegas.

Posted by calling all toasters | April 4, 2008 12:43 PM

Actually, I went to a public high school in North Carolina that had an honor code with a long and venerable tradition. Maybe it's a southern thing.

This might also explain why I really liked the fact McCain was smoking in the ad. Still, this is one white Republican North Carolinian who will be voting for Obama, assuming Hillary doesn't steal the nomination from him.

Posted by Mark H | April 4, 2008 12:45 PM

Well, I'd say he's got the Depression-era English teacher vote wrapped up.

I realize that he can't talk about any issues in his ads, since most Americans aren't with him on, well, any of the issues, and he's pretty incoherent on them anyway, but this was just surreal. And I didn't notice the length, but it felt like it was four minutes long.

My public NC high school didn't have an honor code, but props to Mark H. You have until APRIL 11th to re-register as a Dem or independent and vote O in the primary.

Posted by Jen | April 4, 2008 1:15 PM

oudemia -- Ha. I linked that story above, but I didn't know it was the same flippin' school.

Still on the literary front, according to Ethan Canin's "The Palace Thief" (filmed as The Emperor's Club, don't know if they kept the ending),

SPOILER

candidates for high office may want to play down their prep-school background even if they're honoring a teacher from that very school. (Though I thought that the ending was massively unrealistic -- in real life, someone who falsely claimed to have gone to public high school would've been ripped to shreds within two news cycles, even in the pre-internet early 90s.)

I still think it would've been classier to spell Ravenel's name right in the ad.

Posted by Matt Weiner | April 4, 2008 1:33 PM

Sorry, the campaign in "The Palace Thief" takes place in the 80s. Still, he would've gone down like Joe Biden plagiarizing Neil Kinnock.

Anyway, on McCain, I like the last two paragraphs and comment here.

Posted by Matt Weiner | April 4, 2008 1:36 PM

Some questions about the ad.

1. Who’s the “rock star” mentioned? I can’t think of any who aren’t involved in sex and drugs. Strange allusion.

2. What’s with the smoke?

3. Aren’t all political ads SUPPOSED to have a voice-over by the candidate saying he “approved this message”. While it said the ad was done by the candidate, I’m left wondering if it really was or if it was done by a 527?

4. Where is this ad playing? What media markets?

TIA

Posted by phoebes | April 4, 2008 1:58 PM

"Way to appeal to the geriatric generation, John."

You're right, McCain's so stupid -- doesn't he know that it's the young people who are the most reliable voters, not old people?

Posted by Fred | April 4, 2008 2:12 PM

"the only major star named after Teddy Roosevelt"

Theodore Roosevelt "Ted" Lilly, current starting pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, is hurt.

Posted by Vidor | April 4, 2008 3:00 PM

On watching the first half with the sound off again -- wow, the smoke is weird. What were they thinking?

My first thought was what were they smoking?

Posted by Tom Hilton | April 4, 2008 3:36 PM

Best phrase: "in his days of learning."

Posted by jrb | April 4, 2008 3:52 PM

The much-neglected comment upthread about the daguerrotypes nails it. With all this absurdly nostalgic stuff about the Old School Traditions and the weird pictures, I was constantly thinking "and then they all died in the battle of the Somme". The main thing I thought was "old, old, Old!".

The smoke was also very distracting - I kept thinking it was going to pan to some memorial flame or something, but apparently it was just there to look cool and to be obviously in higher resolution than the old faded photographs.

Posted by Warren Terra | April 4, 2008 7:32 PM

"Maybe the Ted Williams thing is meant to appeal to nostalgia over the old days of great, white players. Given McCain's options for winning in November, super subtly implying that your opponent is a cheater and a jerk like Barry Bonds . . . ok, but I think we can all agree that McCain's bound to try some pretty crazy lines of attack.

Posted by aleks | April 4, 2008 10:55 AM"

Ironically, Ted Williams was half-Mexican - his mom was Mexican - yet old white fans conveniently forget this because he was named Ted Williams. I wonder if the wingnuts will react to this by either 1) realizing Mexicans aren't all bad or 2) rejecting Ted Williams. I'm not holding my breath for #1.

For his next ad, McCain will push a tire with a stick down an old dirt road. I'm not sure more Boomer masturbation on the same old issues is what is going to sell against Obama.

Posted by Reality Man | April 5, 2008 1:55 AM

Those images make Episcopal, with its columns and porticoes, look far more like a sclerotic haven for the children of a forgotten Southern ruling class than the actual campus (off Seminary Road in Alexandria, VA) does if you go there and see it in broad daylight.

Either way, I suspect it'll strike most Americans as being a whole 'nother world from where they went to high school. And they'd be right.

Posted by low-tech cyclist | April 5, 2008 7:26 AM

I will not lie.
I will not cheat.

Except on my wife, of course.

Posted by MikeN | April 6, 2008 12:35 AM

Some people said McCain calling himself "John Sidney McCain" is a setup for calling Obama "Barack Hussein Obama". I think it might be. But I don't think they would try it until right before the election, for shock value. If you mention the full name early, people will get used to it.

So, I think we should remind people, now and then, of Barack Obama's full name, to forestall any shock value.

Generally, I think you shouldn't believe anything negative brought up in the last week of campaigning. If a candidate has something negative, they can say it before that, so that the opponent has a chance to respond.

Posted by Bengt Larsson | April 8, 2008 6:07 PM