Althouse: Slate's anti-Obama ad.

April 18, 2008

Slate's anti-Obama ad.

A joke, of course. (Slate can't be anti-Obama.)

AND: Does Obama mean to give Hillary the finger here?

Based on the way he laughs when they get it, I'd have to say yes. Especially ironic, since he's pushing the line about how he's the one taking politics to a higher level.

42 comments:

The Drill SGT said...: So at what point does an ad by a media organization become a "contribution in kind"?

Corporations of course being forbidden to make contributions; 4/18/08, 5:36 PM
Revenant said...: Yeah, he was definitely giving her the finger there. Which, you know, actually makes me like him a little more.; 4/18/08, 5:44 PM
George M. Spencer said...: I've been trying to unload extra Springsteen tickets. Great seats. Cut the price. No takers.

My sense is that Van Halen is the hotter draw.

Makes you wonder....

People want to party, not feel glum.; 4/18/08, 6:25 PM
Heywood Rice said...: The side view makes the whole finger thing less convincing.; 4/18/08, 6:28 PM
Jacob said...: He was not giving her the finger.; 4/18/08, 6:31 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: If Obama is giving the finger....real mature. So... if he's President will he give the Queen of England a wedgie, sew up the Supreme Court Justices robes, give noogies to people that don't agree with him. What a cut up. Yuck Yuck Yuck

Anyone else notice how his diction,dropping the "g" (a'rite instead of alright), speaking style and cadence changes like a chameleon when he is talking in front of a predominatly black audience compared to his speaking style in front of the San Francisco billionares? He is almost as bad as Hillary for trying to pander to the rubes by faking their accent.

Tip for politicians: decide who you are and stick with it instead of having more personalities than Sybil. We might actually trust you.....maybe.; 4/18/08, 6:35 PM
Heywood Rice said...: Tip for politicians: decide who you are and stick with it instead of having more personalities than Sybil.

Yup, that game is for anonymous people on the internet calling themselves things like “Dust Bunny Queen”.; 4/18/08, 6:42 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Yup, that game is for anonymous people on the internet calling themselves things like “Dust Bunny Queen”.

Ah, but I am the same bitchy personality no matter what I call myself. :-) I have no other sock puppets, and you may have noticed that I'm not running for President.; 4/18/08, 6:45 PM
Jeremy said...: and you may have noticed that I'm not running for President.

So says you DBQ. Or should we call you Punk McCain?! (If you need an ambassador to Monaco, I'm available!); 4/18/08, 6:53 PM
Revenant said...: So... if he's President will he give the Queen of England a wedgie, sew up the Supreme Court Justices robes, give noogies to people that don't agree with him.

I would totally vote for that candidate. If anyone wants to run on the platform of "I Will Pimp-Slap the U.N. Secretary General" I'll even raise money.; 4/18/08, 6:59 PM
Greg Brown said...: As a former cigarette smoker and frequent Obama watcher, my sense is that he fidgets a lot because it's hard to retrain your hands to no longer reach toward your mouth even after you've given up the cig-crutch.; 4/18/08, 7:41 PM
MadisonMan said...: I confess that I have two accents. A flat twangy nasal midwesteran accent that I've grown to love and use here in Madison. But when I'm in my home county in Pennsylvania, I sound just like a native there -- which I am.

My brother in Memphis sounds very southern in Memphis (He's lived there for *decades*. He sounds very rural Pennsylvanian in Pennsylvania.

I guess my whole fam damily are vocal chameleons.; 4/18/08, 7:59 PM
Alan said...: I thought the first one was pretty funny. The second, I don't think he was flicking her off. He made no followup reaction to the "gesture" for the crowd. Though I think the crowd thought differently.

Did you see this video? It may win Obama the campaign. :)

And for added amusement....; 4/18/08, 8:21 PM
DADvocate said...: Sure looks like it to me, especially considering the way the audience laughs and his chuckles, etc. He's brought politics all the way up to junior high now. Wonder where he'll go from here.; 4/18/08, 9:04 PM
Anonymous said...: As opposed to President Bush, who sexually harassed Angela Merkel.; 4/18/08, 9:26 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: If he is giving her the finger, good for him. That woman is pure, unadulterated, trash. She does not deserve to be president, senator, or any other elected office. All she deserves is the humiliation that she is the offended wife whose husband diddled with a much younger woman. She deserves that over and over again. She is nothing, she has done nothing, and she will do nothing; except expel gas.; 4/18/08, 9:34 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: downtownlad said...
As opposed to President Bush, who sexually harassed Angela Merkel.

Liar. Prove it.; 4/18/08, 9:34 PM
Jennifer said...: I don't see anything wrong with adapting your speech to your surroundings - as long as you are staying within bounds of what is reasonable in your experience and background. I do the same thing. Anybody with a somewhat cosmopolitan background probably does as well. Anything else is a little like expecting people to wear the same thing regardless of the surroundings and company.; 4/18/08, 10:05 PM
Jennifer said...: I don't wear evening gowns to BBQs and I don't break out the Hawaii in North Carolina.; 4/18/08, 10:06 PM
Sloanasaurus said...: Anyone else notice how his diction,dropping the "g" (a'rite instead of alright),

I also noticed some of the urban accent slipping through. Obama falls off his game when he gets distracted from prepared speeches.

I don't buy the giving the finger though.; 4/18/08, 11:14 PM
Eli Blake said...: Obama isn't giving her the finger.

And of the three candidates his health care plan is the one that makes the most sense (adults can choose not to have healthcare if they wish, but children are not mature enough or old enough to understand the consequences of making such a choice and therefore a mandate on covering kids makes a lot of sense. At the same time he understands that if employers drop coverage plans (as the McCain plan is geared towards encouraging) and you don't force insurers to create a nationwide pool and offer insurance at an affordable price to everyone in the pool, there are some people whose risk level is high enough that they wouldn't be able to buy insurance at any price (most notably, cancer survivors, of whom McCain is one.); 4/19/08, 12:36 AM
Nichevo said...: Dear Middle,

dtl is referring to a conference at which Pres. Bush came up behind Merkel's chair and gave here a quick impromptu neck-rub.

I've had it happen to me and I'm a man. It could possibly be considered harassing, but is probably not meant that way. It is not my favorite interpersonal gesture but it is probably intended as friendly and I cannot see it as sexual, even if I personally disapprove of it in general or of Bush's doing it to Merkel in particular.

dtl is up to his usual BS and as usual cannot be relied upon for honesty. Really, dtl, you can do no harm to your enemies this way, nobody is fooled, at least not for long.

Why then do you sacrifice your credibility in this sort of futile verbal banzai charge? I think we're past the point where one can take you seriously. If you stay here, could you try not to be worthless?; 4/19/08, 1:55 AM
John Stodder said...: Well, it doesn't matter. Obama will never admit it because if he did, it would show him as being too childish to be president. His supporters already are expressing outrage that anyone would dare suggest such a thing, and pushing the matter won't change their minds. Those who think he did it can't prove it. Case closed. If he really is that childish, he'll do something equally lame again. You can't conceal who you really are for long, especially with so many eyes on you. Hillary, Obama and McCain all might as well be Britney, Lindsay and Paris. All of them prey for the obsessively attentive.

Obama has spent the last few days complaining about all the attention being given to "the things we say." That's got to be the most absurd complaint I've ever heard from a presidential candidate. Uh, yeah, when you're president, they pay even more attention to the things you say, because on those things very much depends. Like war or peace. The stock market. Thousands of careers. History. Just a few things like that.; 4/19/08, 2:28 AM
John Stodder said...: As for Springsteen -- man, I was such a fan of his! He's still capable of making a great song -- "Girls in their Summer Clothes" is wonderful -- but overall, he's turned into a depressing scold since about 1982. The rock critics shouldn't have overpraised "Nebraska" so much. It was okay, but we really didn't need him to do any more music like that. Now, its like he expects his fans to earn their joy in his upbeat music by concentrating first on what a shitty country this is.

U2 does a better job of making room for social commentary in a genuinely exciting rock show. Bruce is just clumsy.; 4/19/08, 2:32 AM
Revenant said...: he's turned into a depressing scold since about 1982.

Amen to that. His stuff up to and including "The River" was great, but after that? Meh. Maybe three or four good songs, tops. Plus he de-emphasized the E Street Band. What's up with that?; 4/19/08, 2:46 AM
titusscored said...: This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.; 4/19/08, 3:55 AM
titusscored said...: I did a Philipino tonight (he was a repeat) as well as a guy from Trinidad Tobago-how global am I?

The plip was the one that I made out with and the nig was the one sucking us off in case you wanted to know the positions.; 4/19/08, 3:59 AM
titusscored said...: I am the superior cracker in the three way.; 4/19/08, 4:01 AM
titusscored said...: This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.; 4/19/08, 4:02 AM
titusscored said...: I ran out of the building holding hands with my flip like Madonna in the Justify My Love video.

I love Madonna.

The flip wants to marry me.

We shared a cab and held hands. It was really special.

Also, dindin tonight at my fabulous friends was fabulous.

We were on the 32nd floor roof deck lookiing out at the city eating Mahi Mahi.

I was absolutely on fire tonight. The reviews are in and it was 10's all across the board.; 4/19/08, 4:07 AM
titusscored said...: I would like to do Casey Affleck-he is really hot.; 4/19/08, 4:07 AM
titusscored said...: This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.; 4/19/08, 4:46 AM
rhhardin said...: A new threat to the kindergarten candidate

The Clintons are running around with flamethrowers, gleefully trying to incinerate the prospects of the party’s leading candidate, Barack Obama.

is pointed out by Bob Herbert.; 4/19/08, 5:45 AM
Ann Althouse said...: About the side-view STILL shot. It's a STILL SHOT. I don't know which frame of the video it corresponds to. The finger must go up and then come back down. I don't think that's the apex frame.; 4/19/08, 7:30 AM
Ann Althouse said...: And Titus, I had to delete some of your contributions. I appreciate the effort, but you have to step back from the most graphic depictions.; 4/19/08, 7:31 AM
rcocean said...: Slate should stay away from comedy and satire. Not funny. Also, I doubt anyone under 40 knows or cares about the "Boss".

The "finger" may help with Democrats - who like this sort of thing - but independents will hate it. They want the POTUS to act like an adult.

Hello, President McCain.; 4/19/08, 8:07 AM
Fen said...: Uh, yeah, when you're president, they pay even more attention to the things you say, because on those things very much depends. Like war or peace. The stock market. Thousands of careers. History. Just a few things like that.

Which could play out in the general election. Does anyone really believe Obama is invested in defending Western Civ from its enemies? He seesm to be weak on that.; 4/19/08, 10:25 AM
Pastafarian said...: Here we go again -- another "good night jammies" affair.

First: I'm not an Obama supporter -- I think he's the worst of the 3 remaining choices.

Second: No, of course he isn't flipping Hillary off. His index finger can be seen in SEVERAL still frames in the post from antiphone (6:28pm) to be parallel to his middle finger. The crowd's reaction is to his feigned attempt to mitigate Hillary's hubris in attacking the Obamessiah; his reaction to the crowd is, I don't know, feedback to them that they're performing to his expectations; feigned amusement at his own disingenuousness; shit, I don't know, and I don't care.

Jesus, I'm getting sick of this stuff. Can we stop looking for subliminal messages now? I feel like I'm reading a pro-Kucinich blog, with morbid stories of alien abductions complete with anal probe (not that there's anything wrong with that, Titus).; 4/19/08, 1:30 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Jesus, I'm getting sick of this stuff. Can we stop looking for subliminal messages now

Me too. How about the candidates actually speak about the issues and candidly expose their positions instead of taking umbrage whenever they are asked more that 8 questions in a row,or begin to tap dance around anything resembling policy.

When we are given NOTHING to work with as an electorate, what do you expect that we are going to do? Seems like we are down to reading tea leaves and finger gestures.

It's their (Obama and Hillary) fault and they could fix it if they wanted too. They don't want to do so, because they are both nothing more than empty bags of hot air.; 4/19/08, 4:21 PM
AlphaLiberal said...: Based on the way he laughs when they get it,

So, based on an assumption that they "get it...."

Look, they responded to his speech, to his words. This is the simplest explanation.

I've been to a few rallies in my day and most people wouldn't notice the middle finger. Just commentators with nothing more to contribute to the debate.

And to call the man's honor into question over a goofy claim of subliminal messaging is by no means fair.; 4/20/08, 12:17 AM
AlphaLiberal said...: Okay, you made me watch this again.

The whooping and hollering start before the finger touches the face. Therefore, it's not a reaction to the finger.

But you want to believe this. You want the world to work out this way and be this way. So, facts don't matter.; 4/20/08, 12:20 AM
AlphaLiberal said...: IOKIYAR

President Bush Did It & It's a Sicilian Thing: Scalia's Potential Excuses for Flipping Off Critics Minutes after Catholic Mass

Ha-ha.; 4/20/08, 12:31 AM