[UPDATED] John McCain: War Veteran. Racist.

Let's see, first McCain makes an ad about Obama's celebrity but links him as an analogy to only young, white, sexually promiscious females (George Clooney is a celebrity; Brad Pitt is a celebrity, and yet McCain curiously doesn't chose a single male celebrity to equate Obama, too.)

Then, McCain runs a web ad that actually says, "Young chicks dig Obama" and then runs footage again of only young, white female supporters of Obama.

Are you seeing a pattern?  Look, I know John McCain's campaign is smart enough not to be caught calling Barack Obama a "nigger."  If that's the burden of proof you require of me, then I'll concede that McCain won't do that and hasn't done that.

But nobody in their right mind cannot see the racial overtones in this ad.  That Barack Obama has no redeeming qualities as a candidate other than young white girls think he's a rock star.  That's not the implicit message of the webad; it's the explicit one, and you cannot ignore the racial component of that message.

McCain is calling Obama an "uppity Negro" who is the harbinger of the "End of Times".  It's disgusting and should be denounced instead of played off as if the other side is is the one playing the race card in denouncing it.

The point is Young White Girls have ALWAYS made "Rock Stars."

How many sage, crusty old ladies did you ever see swooning over "The Beatles","Or Elvis or any other personality cult? Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra in their heyday, come to mind.

How many young boys do you see swooning over Hanna Montana?
None.

Cults of Personalities usually draw the attention of young impressionable women. The message is that inexperienced young ladies are driving Obama-fervor.

Why do you have to make it KKK "Where are the White Women At??

As far as anyone being in their "right mind" is concerned, the fact that Russo at BI "humped your leg" over this, is proof enough to me that you are off base and seeing "racism" and "Anti-Christs" behind every shrub and curtain.
*Not trying to insult you in anyway*

We will still do better to stick to the issues of War, Economy and Education and Health care.

"We will still do better to stick to the issues of War, Economy and Education and Health care."

You're entirely correct. That is why no one connected to the campaign in an official capacity will or should discuss whether or not the ad is racist.

But that doesn't stop a handful of educated people posting under pseudonyms from discussing the matter, and I'm glad we have. I'm sure you notice that there's only four of us who have been discussing this.

We all seem to be in agreement that publicly decrying ads like this as racist can only hurt Obama. Only something that is hit-you-over-the-head-with-a-frying-pan-racist will be publicly rebuked for racism, and that is the proper political move, as centrist voters will pounce on anything they view as Obama "playing the race card."

Now, if ODP, the DNC, and the Obama campaigns would only become more vocal on ATTACKING McCain, ORP, and the RNC on the war, education, healthcare, and the economy...

Then again, I think our first move should be to get Jabba the Dimora out of the county party hierarchy so we can have a Cuyahoga County Party that actually increases the DPI, rather than hold the line that grows smaller with each dedicated, patriotic union retiree who passes on to meet his coworkers and war buddies in heaven.

One last point: I sincerely apologize for any instance in which I've been overly harsh and used poor language on this site. I routinely post on cleveland.com and have to sift through mountains of right-wing lies, slander, personal attacks, and bigotry each day, so the writing styles are necessarily far different.

I'd like to remind everyone in this conversation that Oprah can be credited for calling Obama "The One."

by Andrew Malcolm

As previewed in The Top of the Ticket last month, new ratings of daytime television programs show that Oprah Winfrey's daily talk show for women has dropped in ratings since her highly publicized political rallying for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama last fall.

Perhaps coincidentally, the longtime, daytime talk-show diva has not been seen on the Democratic presidential campaign trail in recent months.

Before the primaries and caucuses, she was credited with helping to draw impressive crowds and thousands of new volunteers to Obama rallies in Iowa, which he won, in New Hampshire, which he lost, and in South Carolina, which he won.

Look, jerk, you can write all you want about Paris all you want, but that's not the sum total of the argument. You apparently have no response whatsoever about the McCain's curious decision to talk about (White) "Chicks dig Obama" while only showing young white girls fauning over Obama. You apparently don't understanding that the religious overtones (which you conceded were present) have decided racial aspects to them.

It's not "an adoring white female with a charismatic black male" it's a larger pattern than that. And, of course, the McCain campaign isn't going to run a webad calling Obama a "white girl chasing nigger," they're going to be more subtle than that.  So, instead, they talk about how the white chicks dig Obama.

Frankly, I can't see how someone who so readily agrees to the religious bigotry of this ad can at the same time fail to see the racial bigotry.

I have worked in one of the largest political, PR and advertising firms in Ohio and been in advertising for 15 years and I see an ad targeted to his target audience WHITE voters. It isn't racist and I am sure it isn't intended to be. I suppose you think Buick & McDonald's commercials on BET with only black people in them, are racist? They aren't they are targeted advertising. It is a little know principle called demography and market segment.

Sen. McCain has little chance of influencing black voters so it would be a waste of campaign resources to target them with an ad they would identify with because 95% of African Americans will vote for Obama.

I am no fan of McCain but this is why Middle America can't identify with with views like this or with BI or with Sean Hanity for that matter....everyone exaggerates to prove their argument.

This election will be won the same as ALL elections...the initial run to the edges for financial support by placating to extreme left and right groups that want their issues represented and the shuttle run back to the center to gain middle America to win the election.

The center is where the majority of Americans are living at and in a democracy those are the people that need convincing.

Middle America doesn't care about FALSE cries of racism and moving to the fringe and crying "racist, race-baiter" wolf like a "Sean Hannity" exaggerator at every turn of our opponent isn't going to help us win. Stay in the middle.

One thing that for sure is going to sink the democrat party this election is Obama's surrogates and aides playing dirty politics and trying to keep Obama out of the fray, while he preaches "change."

We need to point out and dispute REAL problems with the republican candidate.  

I find the ad has racist overtones as a means to target his "white" audience. You're proving my point. McCain is running a "I'm one of you, Obama could never understand you" campaign, thus his trip to Sturgis. How is calling an ad where a white politician is attacking his black opponent by using racially charged codewords "dirty politics?"

This is the dumbest response I can imagine.  You're attacking me for attacking McCain's race-baiting?  By calling me a race baiter?

I'm as middle America as you can get, and this IS RACIST!

No! I wasn't calling you a race baiter..I was just saying many bloggers in Ohio are!

Not you. I'm tired of democrats attacking the opposition with thin, flimsy claims. Stick to the issues we democrats are smarter than stooping to name calling and childish schoolyard games and we should refrain from sounding left wing extremist. Democrats are people that want work, raise families and live peacefully.

There are so many fronts that McCain can be attacked on of substance, that exhaustive discussions of race makes democratic blogs look as if we have no issues to discuss.

But you have a good take on the "I'm like you" point I wasn't seeing that. I am NOT like Obama but that doesn't mean he cannot represent me if he is elected.

My comment was kind of blanket response to some of the other posts and some other bloggers. I understand this blog is monitored by top media politicos and it is an important platform for announcing what ALL democrats think. Including "conservative, centrist.

However, I hope you can see he is still targeting his message to his audience...and I really don't think most people in America are racist.

This "jerk" is trying to help you from looking foolish.  The choir may accept your claims of "racism," but much of America will not.  Your claim simply requires too many assumptions: that there are codeword cues in the ad; that the cues are known for triggering a racist response; that the cues in the ad were meant to trigger a racist response; and that the racist cues will be noticed beneath the stronger religious, financial, and responsibility cues.

Besides, the fact that Obama's has a non-white heritage does not mean that every white candidate's attack against him is de facto racist.

Please read Schmennis's comments--I'm not saying these things to insult you, but to help you understand the difference between a racist attack and other attacks, and so you don't lose your influence among actual centrists.

As a minority, in this ad I see a plain, white bread advertising and I have watched it 3 times and I don't see what everyone is calling racism.

Let me watch it ONE more time....
*pause*

Here is some REAL racism.

Clearly, I must be deliberately intellectually ignorant. Perhaps I could read yet another book about race issues between 1865 - 1945.

Or--

--[editted to remove personal info]

--I could simply ignore your personal attack.

Your more recent post essentially stating that your real point was that attempting to portray this ad in public as racist would fall on deaf ears is correct. I agree with most of your sentiments there. Most people would not understand immediately that the ad is racist or how it is racist, save those who were alive and politically and/or socially aware 50-60 years ago.

My point is that modernesquire's entry is not the Obama campaign's public response, and that the ad is indeed underhandedly racist from the start.

"50-60 years ago"

Exactly.  Any "code," removed from the appropriate context, loses its purported meaning.