Brown moved to New Hampshire last December, but he moved into what had been their vacation house (since 1993). And he was born in New Hampshire, unlike Shaheen, who was born in Missouri, which makes it possible for Brown to say — jokingly? — “Sen. Shaheen is not from here, but apparently it’s a problem with me?” Shaheen has been a New Hampshire resident since 1973.
Massachusetts is closer to NH than Missouri is, but in the closeness there's "a complicated relationship":
They share a state line, professional sports teams and a major media market, but there are traces of resentment among some New Hampshire natives. Thousands of Massachusetts residents moved into New Hampshire in recent years, drawn by lower taxes and cheaper real estate. The migration helped give Democrats a slight voter registration advantage, although the state is considered far more balanced politically than solidly Democratic Massachusetts.How does that cut for Scott Brown? He comes from Massachusetts, but he's a Republican, and other migrants from Massachusetts have tipped New Hampshire toward Democrats. Resentment toward Democrats from Massachusetts should translate into a vote for Brown, if the longtime New Hampshirites resist the liberalism of the newcomers. And Brown can also try to win the votes of those transplanted Massachusettans, who could see him as their guy.
Brown chuckled when 39-year-old Christine Kalinowski told him she was from “Southie,” or South Boston. She said she moved to New Hampshire just a few months ago, like him.There's that dynamic. I suspect the newer residents from Massachusetts think they are the cool kids, and they will like seeing themselves in the gorgeous face of Mr. Brown.
“I voted for him before,” she said, “and I’d definitely vote for him again.”
I started thinking about Brown this morning because I was reading a Gail Collins column in the NYT called "The Season of the Twitch," referring to this being the "the season where center stage goes to whoever screws up the most" (and the Donovan song title). Brown's supposed screw up was that quote I put in the post title. Collins calls attention to that, I think, to dilute a truly damaging screw up by a Democrat, Bruce Braley, who was on track to win the Senate race in Iowa, until he got caught on video telling "a bunch of trial lawyers at a Texas fund-raiser that if they didn’t contribute to his campaign, Republicans might take control of the Senate and there would be 'a farmer from Iowa who never went to law school' running the Judiciary Committee."
Having begun with Brown and buried Braley in paragraph 12, Collins scampers back to the topic of Brown, declaring "New Hampshire’s still my favorite." She doesn't explain why, so I'm going to assume it's because it's a Republican screw up. Anyway, thanks to Collins for drawing my attention to this great — and totally not a screw up — ad by Joni Ernst, a Republican who's running for the Senate in Iowa, stating that she "grew up castrating hogs on an Iowa farm":
Ernst and Braley are running for the seat that Tom Harkin is vacating. Grassley is the other Iowa Senator. Braley attacked him as part of an argument for maintaining Democratic control of the Senate. Grassley is 80 years old and has served in Congress since 1975. He does have a family farm, operated by his son. His biography also shows him to have worked as a sheet metal shearer/assembly line worker for more than 10 years, and he has "PhD work" in political science. There's no reason to disparage Grassley for being a farmer. I see more reason to question whether he should be listing his occupation as "farmer," and certainly he deserves attack for hanging around Congress too long. But Grassley is not up for reelection this year. Braley is trying to say it's ridiculous for this man to chair the Judiciary Committee. The question for voters on this score is whether it's less ridiculous than having Patrick Leahy chairing the committee, which is what you get with a Democratic majority. Leahy is only 73, but like Grassley, he's been camped out in Congress since 1975.
Whatever. To sum up: Scott Brown is ultra-handsome, and Joni Ernst is an out-and-proud castrating woman.
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After the castration comment, I loved the "make them squeal!"
Question is how are the Democrats going to spin this into the "War on Women"?
Joni Ernst has a spouse named Gail, but hold off rumor-mongers: Gail is man. In fact Gail is a Command Sergeant Major in the Army Rangers (retired). Joni herself "has served a combined 21 years in the US Army Reserves and the Iowa Army National Guard," and "She spent 14 months mobilized and overseas in Kuwait from 2003-2004 as a company commander at the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Her unit was responsible for running logistical convoys in Kuwait and into southern Iraq. A Lt. Colonel, Ernst currently commands the largest battalion in the Iowa Army National Guard."
There's that dynamic. I suspect the newer residents from Massachusetts think they are the cool kids, and they will like seeing themselves in the gorgeous face of Mr. Brown.
I don't think there's anything to that dynamic. The new residents from Mass who voted against Brown there will feel no affinity for him in NH.
this great — and totally not a screw up — ad by Joni Ernst, a Republican who's running for the Senate in Iowa, stating that she "grew up castrating hogs on an Iowa farm"
It would be a screw up if men reacted the way feminists react to political language. "She's hostile to men, she hates men, this is a war on men."
And there might be some subliminal hostility to men in the joke.
Why use the word "castration" in a political ad? How many men think castration is funny? Close to zero. How many women like castration jokes? More than men, certainly, but it's still a minority of the female population. Most women do not like castration jokes, and almost no men do.
So it is a mistake to joke about castration in a political ad. Will she pay a price for it? No.
She says "castrating hogs" but it's not too much of a stretch to think "castrating pigs" which is how many feminists talk and think.
So if the Republican candidate wants people to think she's a feminist who wants to castrate pigs, then it's a good ad. I would think that idea and language might dampen her support.
It's bizarre that nobody on her staff mentioned this or thought about it.
Castration is bossy.
I doubt that any MA voter who voted for Warren will now vote for Brown if they happen to be a NH resident now.
On the other hand, as a MA voter who lives 10 miles from NH, I think that most MA people who move to NH are more conservative than the average MA resident--though less conservative than the average NH resident.
The pigs are the pork barrel politicians, and she's going to Washington to cut them. For our sake.
Castrating animals is a pretty normal part of meat production. If you're squeamish about it, you are, ironically, not very manly. And you'd better be a vegetarian.
Gail Collins compared that viral ad to the viral video of Sarah Palin that had turkeys getting slaughtered in the background. My reaction to that was: You're pathetic if you don't know how meat is produced.
By the way, Palin has endorsed Ernst.
What do you want to bet that they filmed a version of the commercial with her holding a burdizzo?
"Why use the word "castration" in a political ad? How many men think castration is funny? Close to zero. How many women like castration jokes? More than men, certainly, but it's still a minority of the female population. Most women do not like castration jokes, and almost no men do. "
Castrating progressives in the Senate and making them squeal is pretty funny to me. Wishing her luck in the fall.
Brown the carpetbagger? Maybe but then again he has far closer ties to NH than Hillary ever did to NY when she ran for the Senate.
Here's my post on Sarah Palin and the turkeys: "HuffPo is aghast that turkey-killing doesn't faze Sarah Palin. Deal with it, you candy-asses. If you eat meat, something like that is going on in the background for you too."
By the way, I see Meade (whom I had not yet met) in the comments saying: "Time for a new banner: Althouse... muscular hard-ass liberalism with the thermostat set cruelly low."
She very likely meant the ad in an innocent way. She goes from "castrating hogs" to "cutting pork in Washington."
But "castrating" is very male-specific. So our mind takes us to male politicians in the Senate and in Washington. She wants to neuter them, cut their balls off. Is that the gist?
"Why use the word "castration" in a political ad? How many men think castration is funny? Close to zero. How many women like castration jokes?"
Is it a joke? It's a fact. She grew up castrating hogs. She did the tough work of hog farming and was not squeamish. She's also fought in wars.
Who do you think should go from Iowa to Washington as a newcomer to the Senate? Someone more delicate?
I wish Brown luck. It's always a good thing when an incumbent loses, even if the person winning is a sort-of incumbent.
And actually men seem to find attacks to the testicles very funny. It's used in movies all the time for laughs. It seems to be one of the MAIN things men find funny.
Another reason to use hog castration in an add in Iowa is that it's shorthand for "not only was I a farmer, but I did the dirtiest job with a hard animal to raise. I didn't just play at farming.
"I'll take care of those pigs in Washington" is a subtext, but this is for an audience that sees that as just another job, not feminist commentary.
So, how "male" is the average congress critter seen to be?
Castrating animals is a pretty normal part of meat production.
She is running a political ad, not a documentary about meat production.
If you're squeamish about it, you are, ironically, not very manly.
Are you trying to cut my balls off? Geez. Run for office on that!
Imagine a man running an ad about cutting tits off a cow. I don't know why a farmer would cut tits off a cow. I have no idea if farmers ever cut tits off a cow. All I know is, that's a lousy political ad to run.
And you'd better be a vegetarian.
I'm not a vegetarian, I love meat. I'm not talking about the ad on a literal level, I'm talking about the hostile feminist subtext.
Castration joke = bad politics.
I don't know if she should be kissing babies. Men should kiss babies. Women should avoid castration humor. At least if you're running for office.
Imagine a man running an ad about cutting tits off a cow. I don't know why a farmer would cut tits off a cow. I have no idea if farmers ever cut tits off a cow. All I know is, that's a lousy political ad to run.
Nice strawman.
Braley's comment could really damage him, for a few reasons:
1) Statement was made out of state to a group of trial lawyers--it has the sense of "this is what I really think when I'm out of earshot of the hoi polloi back home." It's also why the Dixie Chicks' remarks sparked more outrage because it was to an audience in Britain rather than country fans in the U.S.
2) Most Iowans may not be farmers, but even non-farmers don't like the idea of farmers being talked down to.
3) Trial lawyers. Sure some get elected (see, Edwards, John Sleaze), but they're still a profession held in low regard.
If the GOP capitalizes on the gaffe to raise money and picks a sharp candidate, Iowa can tilt into their column. I don't see any downside to Ernst's "castration" commercial--it's hokey, but people love hokey. If she's good on the stump I could see her pulling this off.
Brown's got a tougher road--NH is a blue state, though they can put someone like Ayotte in office it still leans the other way. He'd need a solid campaign and some slipups by Shaheen.
And actually men seem to find attacks to the testicles very funny. It's used in movies all the time for laughs. It seems to be one of the MAIN things men find funny.
It can be funny. Ben Stiller got his penis caught in a zipper. That was funny. There can be a lot of humor out of pain.
I don't think Lorena Bobbitt was funny. Feminists thought that was funny. I think he actually went on comedy tour to talk about the injury.
Men deny injuries or make light of them because this is how men act.
Regardless of man's tendency to ignore or minimize injuries, it's a bad idea for a female politician to use castration humor.
Show me the ad with the former pig farmer impliedly promising to force female politicians in Washington into a form of sexual and reproductive slavery.
The "gilt pool" describes a group of young females that have been designated as potential brood sows. This portion of the breeding herd is probably the most overlooked and undermanaged, but it actually holds the entire program together. A number of sows will be culled after each farrowing period because of infertility, disease, age, lameness, size, etc. Maintaining the proper number of females in each breeding group (regardless of the type of operation) depends upon the introduction of replacement gilts.
I would think that Scott Brown's number one mission is to be a Democrat Money Sink. His job is to attract as many Democrat dollars to New Hampshire as he can. Winning the election itself is just a bonus. But I am from Massachusetts, and voted for Scott, twice.
Good luck to you, Scott.
Regards — Cliff
"And actually men seem to find attacks to the testicles very funny. It's used in movies all the time for laughs. It seems to be one of the MAIN things men find funny."
I thought it was a great ad, and I understood pigs to be pork.
And men do find attack to the testicles funny, as long as it's someone else. I think it's one of those rules of humor.
Nice strawman.
I don't know enough about slaughtering animals to come up with an example of a sex-specific violence against an animal that is innocent (i.e. used for the production of meat). "Cutting the tits off cows" is a straw man because (as far as I know) there is no innocent reason for a farmer to do this. If I knew more about farming maybe I could come up with a better example.
People respond to humor in different ways. Cuban Bob likes the castration joke, because she will be castrating liberals. My response is maybe she's a feminist and doesn't like men. Those are two different responses, from two different men.
Also I would advise against castration bumper stickers.
I remember when Jesse Jackson wanted to castrate Obama. That was funny!!
Well we all knew that Brown would face accusations of "carpetbagging" but I don't think those accusations will carry much weight with voters - after all, Scott Brown DOES have some fairly strong connections with N.H.
And hell, Bobby Kennedy didn't have any serious connections to NYS when he ran for Senator there, and Hillary Clinton, to the best of my knowledge had NO connections to NYS until she decided to run for Senator from NYS.
Count me in the anti-castration camp. Nonetheless, it was a funny joke, and it gave Ernst an instantly recognizable identity. In future campaigns, the ad may come back to haunt her, but right now it's an effective ad.
I grew up on a cattle ranch. I guess it's funny in the abstract.
If you know anything about meat production, you know that castration does not diminish the appetite. Pigs will not have the urge to reproduce, but they will continue to feed their fat asses.
If she were a Democrat, the anti-man thing would be more plausible. But sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and a fortunate (!) metaphor relating to the jerks making the pork barrels in a large pork producing state is just a metaphor relating to the jerks making the pork barrels in a large pork producing state. It's not like she objected to being called Ma'am or anything. Sheesh.
An uncle of mine in California with whom I have little contact included me in a mass email with a link and an approving blurb.
The argument that Scott Brown isn't much of a Carpetbagger because of Bobby Kennedy and Hillary Clinton does nothing for me. I don't live in NH, of course.
Democrats will try to tar him as a carpetbagger, of course, and he can very validly say, Look, I was born here, I've owned a house here for 20 years, my mom and sister live here, and I live here now. I think I represent the New Hampshire values of a, b, and c so much better than Missouri-born Senator Shaheen.
As long as a, b and c resonate with voters, he'll do okay.
Brown is a handsome guy and likable. A good candidate is always hard to beat.
Joni Ernst should have had her husband introduce her to Iowans in order potential voters feel comfortable and at ease around her.
She should be shown in the background baking cookies and humming a showtune.
This is what Iowans want, need, and will get from the next viral Iowa Senate ad we talk about, presumably not by the rookie Joni Ernst.
“If Nebraska’s Deb Fischer can see through the bull in Washington, then Iowa’s Joni Ernst can help her cut through the pork,” Palin wrote. “Growing up on a hog farm in Southwest Iowa, Joni has taken her ‘pork cutting’ skills to the Iowa State Senate, where she has been a champion for life, small government, and lower taxes – voting for the largest tax cut in Iowa history.”
Posted alongside a picture of Ernst in uniform, Palin was paying homage to the TV ad Ernst released on Tuesday.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/03/sarah-palin-endorses-joni-ernst-iowa-105059.html#ixzz2xAyJIKgZ
How much money is that ad worth to Joni Ernst?
How much less would it be worth without the second statement?
Answers:
A) A lot.
B) A significant amount.
I remember when Jesse Jackson wanted to castrate Obama. That was funny!!
Here is that video.
It made me laugh. I don't like Obama! Also I'm laughing at Jackson.
I said this...
How many men think castration is funny? Close to zero.
I was wrong. It can be funny. We laugh at violence all the time. Aggression and hostility can often be submerged into humor. In fact I think it's very healthy to do this.
But to use it as political humor in a television spot? Castrating men (even if they're awful liberal men) is a bad idea. It's too close to "castrating bitch," for instance. You don't want to give anybody the idea that you're hostile to half the voters.
And, on top of this, voters are thinking of you in the mud, working with pigs, cutting their balls off. "Vote for me, I'm ready to get dirty in Washington. I'll be castrating those liberals for you." So even if you laugh, you're laughing at her, which is not effective humor for a politician.
Check out the reaction to the ad at Ace of Spades by DrewM.
Charles Cooke says this spot has the greatest opening line in the history of political ads. Personally I think "I'm Joani Ernst" is kind of meh but that next line is by far the greatest second line ever in the history of political ads.
Besides Saint Croix the only person I have seen or heard react negatively to this ad is Bob Beckel on the Five.
Ronald Reagan was brilliant at using humor. Note all the aggression in his humor. He's attacking things. Attacking Communism, attacking the press, attacking liberals, attacking his opponents. But it's always gentle attacks. Even Mondale laughs at his joke.
The reason a politician uses humor is not to be funny. That's the tactic, but not the goal. You are expressing an idea, or attacking an idea. You use humor to minimize the anger. It opens people up to what you are saying.
Who is she attacking? Castration makes us think "men." But that's no good. You don't want to attack men.
You want to attack pork. Make clear that it's liberals who are pigs. And I would have some female pigs, too! Make clear you are not talking about "male chauvinist pigs." Feminism has made this a common phrase. And to add to this a castration joke?
I dunno. A frequently used phrase in New Hampshire is "Massholes"--in describing visitors--much less carpetbaggers from Massachusetts.
St. C,
Give it a rest.
I think the "carpetbagger" label these days means nothing unless it is paired with the impression that the candidate has no knowledge or connection to the voters. If you like the candidate, you really couldn't care less where they were born or how long they've lived in your state. You just want to make sure they'll vote the way you want them to and handle constituent service competently.
Saint Croix said...
Nice strawman.
I don't know enough about slaughtering animals to come up with an example of a sex-specific violence against an animal that is innocent (i.e. used for the production of meat). "Cutting the tits off cows" is a straw man because (as far as I know) there is no innocent reason for a farmer to do this. If I knew more about farming maybe I could come up with a better example.
People respond to humor in different ways. Cuban Bob likes the castration joke, because she will be castrating liberals. My response is maybe she's a feminist and doesn't like men. Those are two different responses, from two different men.
Also I would advise against castration bumper stickers.
3/27/14, 9:22 AM"
Sait Croix
Well she probably isn't a man hater since she is married and married at that to a former command sergeant. As for the humor, that depends on the targeted audience. It may not be funny to people where you live but maybe the folks in Iowa will find it amusing. Personally I find the prospect of her winning and thus helping to castrate Harry Reid politically quit amusing.
Saint Croix, I have to disagree with your idea that the Ernst ad will hurt her. Voters love hokey ads that go along with the underlying message. In Paul Wellstone's first race, he did an ad with the film sped up to demonstrate that he didn't have the "big money" to afford more ad time. And Joe Manchin more recently did an ad where he literally shot a printup of the ACA with a rifle. Those ads work!
Here is a fox who is stealing our balls.
Here is an evil woman who steals a ball. No votes for you!
I'm always saying that people should stop caring about looks when electing people because it's irrational.
Just now, however, it occurs to me that our politicians are generally terrible, with a few notable exceptions. If they're going to be terrible, they may as well be good looking since we have to see their pictures all the time.
So then would the rule be, vote for the best one, but if they're both terrible, vote for the good looking one?
No, that doesn't work. By being good looking, the terrible one will be harder to get rid of when a non-terrible candidate finally comes up against him.
So, I think the rule is, "Vote for the best one. If both are equally terrible, vote for the ugliest one." Then it will be easier to oust him later.
I googled castrating pigs and her face pops up. That's not good.
Her campaign doesn't have any money. $290,000 cash on hand. So that's probably why she's talking about castrating pigs. To get attention. And it's working, in terms of attention.
Jimmy Fallon says, "I don't know what she's running for, but just give her the job."
If you google Iowa Republican Senate nominee her name pops up all over the place.
GOP candidate promotes pig castrator background.
Well she probably isn't a man hater since she is married and married at that to a former command sergeant.
I hope he doesn't start joking about castration.
St. C,
Give it a rest.
Yeah, when I saw the video I was like "Ahhhhhhhh!" That's my reaction to castration. Not a fan. But now I'm all, "castration, castration, ha ha." And you're like, please shut up about castration.
It's funny (peculiar, not ha ha) that people would move from high-tax Mass. to no tax NH, and then vote in NH for the same party whose policies drove them out of Mass.
That's my reaction to castration. Not a fan.
Well, spend time on a swine farm. You'll get acclimated to both the smell and the reality of castration.
You do know there's a difference between castrations on a farm and your own testicles, right?
I started thinking, "Oh God, this is just like Christine O'Donnell and the witch thing." And this blog already had that idea.
You do know there's a difference between castrations on a farm and your own testicles, right?
It's not a documentary about your life on the farm! She is making the analogy of pig castration to what she will be doing in Washington.
Do you think that's a good analogy?
The Jimmy Fallon skit was my reaction. You can see Fallon at the link at 11:46.
S C take a chill pill. It's still early in the game and the and the Democrat isn't exactly a peach. So Fallon and Stewart a couple of democrat house boys make a few jokes so who cares? What matters is what the Iowa voters think. Besides if asked who do you think the voters in Iowa believe has held a more honest job? A shyster lawyer or a pig castrator?
"You do know there's a difference between castrations on a farm and your own testicles, right?
It's not a documentary about your life on the farm! She is making the analogy of pig castration to what she will be doing in Washington.
Do you think that's a good analogy?"
Voters in Iowa who believe in small government may well like the analogy.
So, we have one guy who tells big trial attorney donors that he is with them, and his opponent telling Iowans that she wants to go to DC to castrate the hogs there. Which is going to work better in Iowa?
I think that a lot of people are underestimating the appeal of this ad. Sure, a lot of Iowans aren't farmers, and many don't even have farm roots. But, I think that it is the sort of thing that appeals to Iowans.
I may be a bit biased here, after watching Jon Tester get himself reelected by driving a combine in a lot of his ads. It somehow went to the culture of the state. And, I think the cutting hogs ad will do the same in Iowa. It fits the way that a lot of people in Iowa talk and think about people in DC. And, the more the MSM pans the ad, I think the better it works.
1. And actually men seem to find attacks to the testicles very funny. It's used in movies all the time for laughs. It seems to be one of the MAIN things men find funny.
not this man. I think the natural reaction to the male skier forking a tree at 20 mph is: "Jesus, That has got to hurt!!", while crossing ones legs.
2. Joni Ernst. Great ad, lots of free media, in Iowa, being connected to farms is always a good thing. 25% of the jobs are connected directly to farms and first tier linkages. Being down to earth, and comfortable in ones persona, priceless. PS: running Iraq Convoys as a Company Commander was no fun time... Expect to see a few shots of LTC Ernst standing at attention in front of her troops (though not released by the campaign. It's a violation of the Hatch Act)
3. Braley. Toast. Making fun of Iowa farmers while out of state, by an Iowan non-farmer, prissy trial lawyer? Iowa Farmers want their Senators to be farmers and represent farmers, not hump their skinny little legs up against trial lawyers. Priceless for Ernst. He will lose...
4. Brown. He won't be construed as a carpetbagger.
5. Grassley. hammer Braley...
I actually did get my penis stuck in my zipper in 1982.
There ain't one damned thing funny about it.
But everybody sure did laugh.
There's no reason to disparage Grassley for being a farmer. I see more reason to question whether he should be listing his occupation as "farmer," and certainly he deserves attack for hanging around Congress too long.
You want a guy who is/was a farmer, who owns a farm, who pays taxes as a farmer, likely comes back to Iowa for his holidays to cut brush on his farm ( bushie I know) to use a different label on his persona and tax form and political ads?
"Vote for me, I'm a Washington politican?"
Not F'ing likely.
Hey, it worked for Robert Kennedy and Hillary Clinton.
And maybe Caroline Kennedy should have run for Senate in Massachusetts.
It even sort of works for John Kerry. He's from Massachusetts and got elected there and his wife, with whom he lives, does not vote in Massachusetts because she is a resident of much lower tax Pennsylvania.
St, Croix: "Why use the word "castration" in a political ad? How many men think castration is funny? Close to zero. How many women like castration jokes? More than men, certainly, but it's still a minority of the female population. Most women do not like castration jokes, and almost no men do. "
It's a farm state, S.C. They are not so squeamish.
The horsey set call it gelding. So refined.
I grew up in an abortion clinic. When I see a misshapen fetus like the the Affordable Care Act coming to term, I know how to suck it out of the government uterus and snip it's spinal column.
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