Top of the 13th, 1 out, 2 strikes on the Penn/Ickes comedy team
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Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings posts the new Clinton ad and WOWZER it’s gonna WIN Little Tuesday for her!
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My first thought was: “Wow, somebody needs to download newer ringtones at the White House.”
Then I thought: “Wouldn’t there be no sound, just a switchboard operator with a headset?”
My next: “I’ll bet it’s Ernestine.”
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Finally, I saw the Obama response ad and I was still bugged by that telephone sound. I wonder if it has a dial and is bright red. With a label that says “For Clintons and Bushes only!”
And the kid sleeping has that stupid 1964 feel:
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“Hi infidel pig. This is Osama Bin Laden. Do you know where you last saw your kid sleeping?”
I’m usually bemused by campaign tactics unless they strike low blows. This isn’t low. This is like they focus-grouped it at a mental hospital and it made the guy who thinks he’s Napoleon giggle. “It works! It works! Belgium is MINE!”
And shot himself with his scabbard.
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Update: Apparently I’m not the only one reminded of the 1964 Daisy ad. Y’see, Howard Wolfson just had to explain the punchline. Always the sign of a great joke.
Howie, it’s about ‘Ominous to Innocents’ and the repetitive foreboding sound.
Who’ll be ready on Day One to make America’s Funniest Home Blithering idios?
March 2nd, 2008 at 4:52 am
[…] Old tactics from long experience: Emphasize experience. Run ads with overtones stretching back 24 and 44 years. (Easy to make fun of, but the uncertainty and fear card does have some impact). Call in the old posse where it might help. And attack the press constantly to keep them on the defensive, so they will be less prone to go too negative on you. […]