To begin, I haven't much liked the Herman Cain ads with his campaign manager, Mark Block delivering the message. The up close images, the almost black and white format remind me of some B movie from the sixties. Why the hell the campaign manager is forced to, I assume produce, and narrate web ads maybe says something about the finances of the campaign. Some commenters on the web think it's bold and good and some sort of push back against political correctness. My own opinion is it could not have been worse if it began with "I am not a witch." In the audio Cain defends the ad with an awkward laissez-faire platitude about letting Mark Block be Mark Block. Damn it! The campaign is not about Mark Block, his personality, and his smoking habits. We are supposed to be picking a future president not a new man from Marlboro. Is Herman Cain another Ross Perot without the bad haircut and the third party ego? Is the Republican electorate tolerating Cain out of some compulsion to follow political correctness? Are we destined to have a Chauncey Gardner to show up in every election? This add would have killed any other candidate aside from Ron Paul who is fawned over like a senile uncle. Is that what Cain supporters think of him? Yes, he's affable and funny and he doesn't cause me to fidget as Gary Johnson does, but his remarks of late range from uninformed to appalling.
After he appeared on CNN his position on abortion remains unclear. In that murky "what if area" of rape and incest Cain seems to think that an incestuous parent would exercise better judgment than some government bureaucrat. Probably we will be getting to this subject early and often in the next debate. Next, Cain shocked everyone with his answer to another "what if" foreign policy issue and would he trade all the prisoners in Gitmo for one American soldier. Then we had the electric fence episode which he explains was just a joke. Lastly, the candidate who must harbor a deep political death wish, laughs off his lack awareness of world leaders with " “When they ask me who's the president of Ubecky-becky-becky-stan, I'm gonna say, 'I don't know." To cover his deficiency in foreign policy experience Cain promises to listen to his advisors but the only visible advisor Cain has shown so far makes dumb ads and smokes. In the audio below Cain explains the need to let Mark Block be Mark Block.
I liked the ad. I think it's funny, kind of poking fun at all the stuffed shirts who do things like outlaw smoking.
ReplyDeleteBut I suppose you're right. He's not at a point where he can afford to do that.
And I have noticed an inordinate amount of Bob Dole style reference to himself in the third person.
That gets on my nerves.
It's not so much the content of the ad that bothers me as the sheer recklessness. Savvy politicians don't get to be successful by pushing the envelope. We would never see anything like that coming from the Obama or Romney camp. It scares the hell out of me to go into the general election with someone who may decide to make jokes.
ReplyDeleteYou mean jokes like "we begin bombing in 5 minutes?"
ReplyDeleteYeah I remember the uproar but he wasn't up for election was he? I'm not anti-smoking. I quit about 6 years ago but the media is all over this ad and it can't help.
ReplyDelete