McCain Spanish-Language Ad: Obama's Celebrity Life Is "Fabulosa"
The McCain campaign keeps the "celeb" sneer attack ad campaign going with this new Spanish-language radio ad that tweaks the main theme a bit: "Fame must be grand for Barack Obama. But is he ready to lead in tough economic times?"
The ad also lays it on thick with the "grand" crack, adding that Obama has a "grand history of raising taxes." As in, dahling, you're so grand.
The ad, which translates "grand" as "fabulosa," is running in Colorado, Florida, Nevada and New Mexico. Full script after the jump.
ANNCR: Fame must be grand for Barack Obama. But is he ready to lead in tough economic times?Official records document, Barack Obama has a grand history of raising taxes, even on hard-working people like us making $42,000 a year.
If elected President, Obama's promises would mean even more taxes on income, electricity, small business, seniors, your life savings, your family.
Painful taxes -- when times are tough enough.
Obama's ideas "a recipe for economic disaster." Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Obama's policies are "poorly crafted"... and will result in "higher prices at the pump." Washington Post.
Obama's plans will "stunt small business" and threaten "America's economic competitiveness." Wall Street Journal.
More taxes. Higher gas prices. A recipe for economic disaster.
That's the real Obama.
JOHN MCCAIN: I'm John McCain and I approved this message.
that tweaks the main theme a bit: "Fame must be grand for Barack Obama. But is he ready to lead in tough economic times?"
Is that sarcasm?
August 19, 2008 4:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
well, just in the sense that for once they didn't use the word "celeb."
August 19, 2008 4:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
haha!
Progress is progress, I guess...
August 19, 2008 4:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
McCain has spent millions pushing this theme for weeks and he's still in the 42/43 range. It's hurting Obama some but not helping McCain at all. I think it's hurting Obama because his supporters don't see him fighting back. He will regain whatever he loses when he takes the fight to McCain.
August 19, 2008 4:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, it's official. McCain thinks Hispanic people are stupid, why else would he insult their intelligence with this crap?
http://strategy08.wordpress.com
August 19, 2008 4:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
I talked with my Republican Ohio friend the other day and he responded to McCain's celebrity gambit this way: "Isn't the point of being president to be popular so you can do stuff? I don't get why that's a bad thing."
Pretty much nails it.
http://pufferfish.typepad.com/
August 19, 2008 4:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's because he was talking to you. The rest of Ohio is apparently chewing this over, judging by polls.
August 19, 2008 4:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
No word yet from David Brooks on who forced McCain to produce this ad.
August 19, 2008 4:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Of course not. But Ed Kilgore is I'm sure already sweating over an appropriate rebuttal.
August 19, 2008 4:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't think Obama pushed back on the Celeb smear because he figures all things considered, it could have been worse. Let them run with this silly smear, rather than possibly adopting a harder hitting one.
August 19, 2008 4:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
No.
It's because he hasn't figured out what to say.
Every time he says "they are lying" it comes back to him. Remember the dollar bills? Well, now they are working on the Obama Abortion Lie, with facts and all. I don't think he wants to get down to counting who's lying more, because it destroys his message. That's why he cannot run the same campaign as McCain, because he cannot win it.
Economy? As Krugman points out, he puts everyone to sleep when he talks about economy.
National Security? Well, Obama today endorsed Biden's plan for Georgia which is the exact copy of McCain's plan for Georgia.
So.... what's left for him to talk about? Circles in the mud? Cindy's sister? Some hack POW who simply hates McCain?
August 19, 2008 4:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Normally I manage to ignore you, but today you're annoying me again -- Mission Accomplished, as your hero would say.
August 19, 2008 4:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm so very very sorry. You better get ready for some prolonged annoyance then because even Josh now puts in on the front page
August 19, 2008 5:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
"It's because he hasn't figured out what to say."
..he figured out what to say against Clinton and dismantled her convincingly.
August 20, 2008 9:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
He has to nail McCain at the DNC convention and in the debates. He has to make McCain flinch, or get confused, and the debate moderators have to have the courage to ask questions based on facts instead of based on their cozy relationship with McCain.
More than that - intrepid reporters and bloggers have to REALLY get to the money trail. The question needs to be asked of all McCain's lobbyist friends in paid advertising: "Was it worth selling out America - to foreign governments, to corporate interests who shipped American jobs overseas and increased our dependency on foreign oil - just for a big paycheck?" Question these men's patriotism. Yes, it's a free market, but question the choices McCain's lobbyists made and continue to make that go against U.S. interests.
August 20, 2008 10:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
I know that I'm just a crazy liberal, who works on a college campus, which makes me just shy of being a communist and all, so take my comment with a grain of salt: is it really a good idea, fundamentally, for John McCain's team to be constantly reminding people that Obama is popular?
What is undecided voters are thinking "Hey, he's popular, must be for a reason, and so, maybe, I'll vote for him--all those other people couldn't be wrong, could they?"
(And hopefully, no thoughts of the prior two elections will creep into this voter's consciousness...)
August 19, 2008 4:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, since you obviously have no idea what Americans like, spending all your time in coffee shops and stuffy libraries and all, I'll let you in on a secret: Americans hate celebrities. Just detest them. Always have...
August 19, 2008 4:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
But at the same time they have always been strangely drawn to them.
August 19, 2008 4:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, celebrity is anathema for political success -- just ask JFK, Ronald Reagan, and Arnold.
August 19, 2008 4:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Americans detest celebrities so much that we hardly ever even hear about celebrities...who are those two women in the McCain ad, anyway? I don't think I've ever seen them before....
August 19, 2008 4:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
What a child.
Let's talk about the "grand" life, who is worth $100 million and has 10 houses again? Hmm...I can't recall...
Who thinks people who make $5 million a year are almost middle class? Hmm....yeah, who the hell is going to trust him with understanding their struggle?
August 19, 2008 4:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
At the same time he is redefining McCain as elitist in his own fashion Obama also needs to cement his bona fides with working class and middle class Americans - address their dreams, their fears.
My suggestion for for advertising would go along this theme:
All of these areas - wages, the economy, commodity prices, energy prices, health care costs and bureaucracy - this is where the rubber meets the road. This is where Americans can believe the McCain/GOP fearmongering - or they can choose a different path. But Obama needs to define that other path in a way which offers real, forward-looking solutions, and a belief in American exceptionalism.
August 20, 2008 10:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
YAWN!!!!
August 19, 2008 4:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Feeble attempts to call him uppity in the Latino community don’t work quite as well.
August 19, 2008 4:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
El abuelo McCain esquive el tiburón.
August 19, 2008 4:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
El viejo esta celoso...
August 19, 2008 4:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
I tend to judge the political temperature by my best friend Danny, I love the guy, but he is a right wing republican who does nothing but regurgitate right wing talking points from FOX News. He's the kind of guy, when faced with evidence four years ago that Bush switched his positions on the issues far more than Kerry did - simply said in response, "Ha-ha.. Yeah right, Kerry is the flip-flopper!" If I didn't know the guy since we were twelve, I might still be in jail for assault. But, he is the type of voter who decides election, no disrespect.
The other day he called me and said, "I don't know if I'm going to vote for McCain, he's nothing but another Bush term." I was rendered speechless. Then he said, "When McCain calls Obama a "celebrity", I just see it as him whining because people don't give a fuck about what he's talking about." Man, I know its anecdotal, but still..
August 19, 2008 4:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Shhh.....don't tell Lalo.
August 19, 2008 4:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly, thank you.
Since this is not anecdotal, it's much more convincing:
American likely voters say 55 - 27 percent that Arizona Sen. John McCain is better qualified than Illinois Sen. Barack Obama to deal with Russia and now trails the Democrat 47 - 42 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today.
This compares to a 50 - 41 percent Sen. Obama lead in a July 15 poll by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University.
Today's Quinnipiac.
August 19, 2008 5:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Since this is not anecdotal, it's much more convincing"
..a poll, in August, is hardly convincing. Thanks.
August 19, 2008 5:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
..not saying my friend's analysis is convincing either, just as convincing as a poll in August.
August 19, 2008 5:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
I know. Only a loss in November will be the evidence you'll accept.
Maybe.
August 19, 2008 5:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
I know that I'm not fundamentally clumsy enough to act as if some random poll in August explains how the elections in November are going to play out.
August 19, 2008 5:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Man, they're really desperate to burn that primary money, aren't they?
Nothing cries desperation more than beating a bad idea to death. In two languages.
August 19, 2008 4:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Their Latino outreach is a joke. Latinos blame Bush for the economy. Bush=Republican. Republican=McCain. End of story.
August 19, 2008 4:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
This stuff doesn't play in the Latino community.
August 19, 2008 4:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
as a native spanish speaker I can tell you this is not a very good ad.
August 19, 2008 4:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
That is so in the case the lies about raising taxes for the middle-class and about higher gas prices, with selective quotes from major newspapers, do not stick. He is repeating them over and over in Spanish ads.
August 19, 2008 4:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
I also wonder what the impact of the racial subtext of these ads will have. Putting Obama in the same frames with white women (assuming it follows the pattern of the previous ads) probably doesn't hit the same racially charged sweet spot among Latinos, many of whom are also dark-skinned, and if they thought about it all, might resent the implications of such an ad.
August 19, 2008 5:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
This from the man with ten mansions.
August 19, 2008 4:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Please make that six.
August 19, 2008 4:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe they should start calling him "McMansion." It's got a better ring than "McSame."
August 19, 2008 4:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Celebrity and Politics are a different history in Latin America. A positive example is Ruben Blades, singer and actor, who once ran for President of his country, Panama and narrowly lost. Now he is the current tourism minister.
As one of his most famous songs said:
"La vida te da sorpresas, sorpresas te da la vida..."
(Life gives you surprises, surprises are given to you by life)
PD: Crappy translation, but this is not high school or college, right?
August 19, 2008 5:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hillary Clinton's status as a better known celebrity (along with deep dynastic traditions in Latin American politics) was often cited as a reason for Hillary's success among Hispanics in the primaries. Not sure this ad is aimed at a cleverly chosen mark. And Obama's Spanish ads tend to focus on fact that his father was an immigrant. Not sure the suggestion that Obama is rich and out of touch is going to play either. Insulting, more than anything else.
August 19, 2008 5:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
I also wonder what the impact of the racial subtext of these ads will have. Putting Obama in the same frames with white women (assuming it follows the pattern of the previous ads) probably doesn't hit the same racially charged sweet spot among Latinos, many of whom are also dark-skinned, and if they thought about it all, might resent the implications of such an ad.
August 19, 2008 5:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
A NYC latin drag queen once called me "fabulosa."
I think the McCain campaign's use of the word is a calculated attempt to use the perceived homophobia of the latin community to its advantage.
August 19, 2008 5:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
I had a similar thought...is the McCain using the feminine form (-a rather than -o) intentionally, or is it grammatically correct in reference to the indefinite noun "fame?"
Either way, I guess, they're using the feminine form to describe Obama.
August 19, 2008 6:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
This looks like a direct translation of an English-Language ad McCain is running here in Northern Virginia. So it doesn't seem like a lot of thought went into targeting for Latinos, other than thinking "this could work there, too."
August 19, 2008 5:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Monday night, Fox News Channel aired the first of two presidential candidate documentaries called "Character and Conduct." First up: Barack Obama, whose documentary pretends really hard that it's not full of stereotypes and insinuations! Couldn't stomach it Monday evening? We've got it for you in a minute: http://www.236.com/news/2008/08/19/fox_news_obama_documentary_in_8367.php
August 19, 2008 6:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Los McCains son muy rico. Tienen un aeroplano. Tienen mas que diez casas. Es fabulosa, no?
August 19, 2008 7:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
El Viejo esta pendejo
August 19, 2008 7:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mucho pendejo.
August 19, 2008 8:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Es pendejo.
August 19, 2008 10:25 PM | Reply | Permalink