{"id":16444,"date":"2008-08-01T15:51:32","date_gmt":"2008-08-01T19:51:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/16410.html"},"modified":"2008-08-01T15:51:32","modified_gmt":"2008-08-01T19:51:32","slug":"senator-smalls-version-of-friday-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/senator-smalls-version-of-friday-fun\/","title":{"rendered":"Senator Small’s version of ‘Friday fun’"},"content":{"rendered":"

A McCain campaign aide described this new web video as “a little Friday fun,” hoping, desperately, that major news outlets will pick this up and air it for free. So, why am I playing along? Featuring the latest inanity from the single most annoying presidential campaign in modern history?<\/p>\n

For a few reasons. One, I’m not CNN, so it’s not like my post on the subject will necessarily lead to a viral web sensation. Two, I think it’s always worth noting what the McCain campaign is up to.<\/p>\n

And this is what they’re up to.<\/p>\n

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For those who can’t watch clips online, the video is basically a montage of a bunch of out-of-context quotes intended to make Barack Obama look as if he’s running as some kind of messiah candidate. There’s a huge emphasis on Obama being “The One.” (I kept waiting for Morpheus and Trinity to show up, offering some kind of endorsement. Instead, the ad throws in a shot of Charlton Heston as Moses.) The narrator tells the viewer, “He can do no wrong.”<\/p>\n

The most annoying aspect, of course, was the campaign’s use of this bogus, anonymous quote the Washington Post irresponsibly ran yesterday: “I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions.” Obama was actually saying the opposite<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the big-picture takeaway is the reinforcement of the problem McCain’s had all week: his campaign seems intent on making him smaller and smaller as the campaign drags on.
\n
\nWe talked yesterday about McCain as Senator Small<\/a>. McCain’s strength as a political celebrity has always been his stature. His larger-than-life personal narrative. His credibility as a serious leader who takes seriously words like “honor” and “character.”<\/p>\n

That John McCain has left the building, replaced with a small man running ads about Britney Spears.<\/p>\n

The report from ABC News’ Jake Tapper struck the right note<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In case you were wondering if Sen. John McCain was going to end the week on a note of substance and the kind of high-minded politics the presumptive GOP nominee said he would like to see in this campaign, a new web video indicates that wasn’t in the cards.<\/p>\n

A new web video called “The One” mocks Obama as messianic, using some of Obama’s words against him — some fairly and others unfairly. The ad even juxtaposes Obama with a scene from The Ten Commandments, with Charlton Heston, as Moses, parting the Red Sea. […]<\/p>\n

The John McCain of 2000 would not have run this campaign.<\/p>\n

Then again, the John McCain of 2000 lost.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Fair enough. In fact, the 2000 McCain lost in part because Bush and Rove sold their soul and ran a cheap campaign — just like McCain is doing now.<\/p>\n

I have to say, when I watch some McCain ads, sometimes I think, “These guys are wrong.” Other times I think, “These guys are lying.” And watching today’s video, I thought, “These guys are assholes.”<\/p>\n

Honestly, has there ever been a less-likeable presidential campaign? Ever?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A McCain campaign aide described this new web video as “a little Friday fun,” hoping, desperately, that major news outlets will pick this up and air it for free. So, why am I playing along? Featuring the latest inanity from the single most annoying presidential campaign in modern history? For a few reasons. One, I’m […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16444\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}