Althouse: The GOP's "Doing Fine" ad evokes the opening titles to "The Terminator."

June 9, 2012

The GOP's "Doing Fine" ad evokes the opening titles to "The Terminator."

We were just talking about the way that ad is closely modeled on an anti-McCain ad from 2008. You can see the McCain ad at the Politico link where the similarity was noted. At my post, my son Chris dropped by to say the GOP ad "uses the main theme beat from The Terminator."

Here's the new "Doing Fine" ad:

And here's the opening title sequence from "The Terminator." Sorry I can't embed that. Anyway, the beat is used throughout the movie to make the viewer feel anxious about the relentless approach of the horrible robot from the future.

19 comments:

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...: Sounds more like "Terminator 2."; 6/9/12, 6:56 PM
Comanche Voter said...: Who cares which Terminator theme?

Team Romney was on that statement like a duck on a june bug. Good for them.; 6/9/12, 7:03 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: ..the horrible robot from the future... that would be the National Debt..

The Tea Parties are the mother of the future leader who's supposed to save the day.. until the National Debt.. that would be the robot.. is turned and starts to helping the tea parties save mankind.

At first, the tea parties doubt the robot.. national debt is really working for us..

But eventually they make their peace with it.. specially after they are told new debt is deadlier.. than old debt.. i mean old robot.. whatever.; 6/9/12, 7:08 PM
Jaq said...: The Terminator is available instantly on Netflix. Perfect idea for a movie after a long day of yard work.

It's kind of funny how I seem to be happier the closer I get my yard to look like my Grandmother's yard. Traditional perennials like tiger lilies and irises, gardens for vegetables and one for cut flowers, meat birds, a strawberry patch, rhubarb. None of that costs a lot, btw, and yet all if it raises the quality of life.; 6/9/12, 7:10 PM
ndspinelli said...: We were married on Belmont Saturday 1977, the day Seattle Slew won the Triple Crown. I grew up w/ a horse betting old man and my bride also loves playing rhe ponies. We drove to the OTB in Baraboo[she picked the winner and I picked the 2nd place horse] and stopped @ PF Changs for dinner. To my chagrin, I saw Russ Feingold, a guy I always voted for even if he was a commie, dining w/ a local complete asshole progressive hate monger DJ known as Sly. I'll never vote for Feingold again. And, Feingold is "Little..like a monkey."[Great line from The Hangover].; 6/9/12, 7:10 PM
Jaq said...: ".the horrible robot from the future... that would be the National Debt."

You should have quit right there and you would have had a thread winner, IMHO.; 6/9/12, 7:13 PM
Ron said...: More like Game of Thrones...drunken, power-mad wee folks...; 6/9/12, 8:05 PM
wyo sis said...: Very similar. The Republicans are getting very good at this.; 6/9/12, 8:05 PM
Joe said...: They missed the worse assertion by Obama; that the real problem is how public sector employees are suffering.; 6/9/12, 8:31 PM
Quaestor said...: The Terminator theme is in cut time, two sixteenths, a sixteen rest, syncopated triplet and a quarter rest. The GOP ad is in 4/4 time. The figure is almost the reverse of the Terminator and ends in a dotted quarter rest.; 6/9/12, 8:41 PM
Quaestor said...: To my ear the tempo is the same, 72bpm. Very ponderous, not a human speed at all, suggesting a heavy, slow-moving monstrosity. Unfortunately the debt monster is anything but slow-moving.; 6/9/12, 8:47 PM
edutcher said...: Joe's got the real point of Zero's view of things.

How can the economy be fixed when government doesn't have all the drones it needs?; 6/9/12, 9:22 PM
Sofa King said...: I agree with John. The iconic "Terminator" theme is really T2 Judgment Day. It's also got the punchy drums.; 6/9/12, 10:34 PM
Sofa King said...: And I believe the T2 cadence is simply syncopated. In 4/4, it would be eighth quarter, quarter, eighth quarter.; 6/9/12, 10:48 PM
Alex said...: Implicit in this ad is the idea that POTUS can "fix the economy", which is exactly the socialist mindset. Why does the GOP get sucked into this falsehood?; 6/9/12, 11:41 PM
Alex said...: Quaestor - love your avatar. "It's a Good Life" is an excellent allegory for totalitarianism.; 6/9/12, 11:42 PM
yashu said...: Good ad. I also like the new Headwinds ad because I think it's hilarious (yet sad).

There's great material to be found in Obama's rhetorical tics.; 6/10/12, 2:36 AM
Jaq said...: Maybe the POTUS can't fix the economy, but he sure can break the economy. I don't see what your point is.; 6/10/12, 5:30 AM
What Next said...: The chickens... are coming home... to roost.; 6/10/12, 7:43 AM