W.Virginia ads depict Republican as Stormtrooper/Dr Evil

[Elfdart]

Why do candidates wait until just a few days before the election to run their best ads? Like these:

Joe Manchin Channels 'Star Wars,' 'Austin Powers' In New Ads Mocking John Raese

West Virginia Senate candidate Joe Manchin has rolled out storm troopers and an underground lair in a new ad campaign that continues to highlight Republican opponent John Raese's "crazy" ideas.

The ads, two parodying "Star Wars" and one "Austin Powers," focus on a statement that he made at a forum earlier this month about putting "1000 laser systems" in the sky as part of an effort to revamp the nation's missile defense system.

The first ad is pretty straightforward. With a musical backdrop of John Williams's Imperial March, Raese talks about his lofty plans to construct a high-tech system of sky lasers. Green beams then flash onto the screen, vaporizing a few of the programs Raese has argued against.



The second ad is fairly similar, but includes the production value of a TIE fighter to do Raese's supposed dirty work. Jobs, up in flames. Minimum wage, blasted. Department of Education, kablooey. Then Manchin emerges (as Luke Skywalker?) with his trusty lightsaber hunting rifle to destroy the cap-and-trade bill (and the TIE fighter), as he did in an earlier ad.



The third ad takes a different angle, relating Raese's talk of lasers to Dr. Evil's -- the antagonist in the "Austin Powers" movies -- obsession with the destructive rays. It also manages to tie in Raese's plush Florida residence.


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The second ad is fairly similar, but includes the production value of a TIE fighter to do Raese's supposed dirty work. Jobs, up in flames. Minimum wage, blasted. Department of Education, kablooey. Then Manchin emerges (as Luke Skywalker?) with his trusty lightsaber hunting rifle to destroy the cap-and-trade bill (and the TIE fighter), as he did in an earlier ad.



The third ad takes a different angle, relating Raese's talk of lasers to Dr. Evil's -- the antagonist in the "Austin Powers" movies -- obsession with the destructive rays. It also manages to tie in Raese's plush Florida residence.

The third one is the best, but what's really funny is that the candidate himself is putting out these ads. Ridicule is one of the most effective weapons in politics, and Teabaggers provide a goldmine of material, so why don't candidates bust their balls more often?

[Norade]

That stuff is gold, I almost laughed as hard as I did for Mr. Rent is too damn High.

EDIT: To make this post have some actual content 'd be pissed if any candidate here ever ran on a platform like that and was taken seriously.

[Gandalf]

Those are pretty good ads. It mostly just makes me feel sorry for WVians more than usual. On the flip side, I saw a Manchin ad last night on Colbert, and based on his ads I wouldn't vote for Manchin at all. Evidently the wrong Democrat got the right ad guys.

Also, surely there would be rights issues for using footage in commercials?

[Ritterin Sophia]

Those are pretty good ads. It mostly just makes me feel sorry for WVians more than usual. On the flip side, I saw a Manchin ad last night on Colbert, and based on his ads I wouldn't vote for Manchin at all. Evidently the wrong Democrat got the right ad guys.

Also, surely there would be rights issues for using footage in commercials?

Why? What's wrong with his ads?

[Simon_Jester]

Why do candidates wait until just a few days before the election to run their best ads? Like these:

"Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes?" Ads a few days before the election, especially ones that are hilarious, might well be remembered better on election day than ads done months or weeks before.

The lack of tactical use of ridicule is, I think, institutional: the American political establishment is having a scarily hard time reacting to just how batshit insane our politics has become over the past... hell, the past three years or so. It didn't used to be this crazy during the Bush years, or rather the crazies were relatively quiet.

[PeZook]

Yes, ads ran right before the election are remembered on election. Companies do it sometimes as well, depending on the product.

[Ritterin Sophia]

It didn't used to be this crazy during the Bush years, or rather the crazies were relatively quiet.

Bush wasn't a Democrat. That's the difference.

[wautd]

So who is this guy? Does he owns a company that makes lasers by any chance?

[LaCroix]

No, he's in the business of making MONEY...

[PhilosopherOfSorts]

It didn't used to be this crazy during the Bush years, or rather the crazies were relatively quiet.

Bush wasn't a Democrat. That's the difference.

I don't remember it being this nuts during the '90s either, not the politicians, anyway.

[Darksider]

Clinton wasn't black.

[Simon_Jester]

It didn't used to be this crazy during the Bush years, or rather the crazies were relatively quiet.

Bush wasn't a Democrat. That's the difference.

I know. The Democrats still haven't caught up.

There were people this crazy back in the 1990s, but they were far enough out that you could ignore them. Ten years of marinading the public in right-wing propaganda have greatly expanded both the scale of the potential far-right movement and the 'courage' of that movement. Now, not only are there more people who just believe everything said within that framework, those people are more confident that they do represent the "real" America, that they don't have to compromise or apologize.

The Democrats can't say the same thing.

[Shroom Man 777]

The 90s had Timothy McVeigh, Waco, and Ruby Ridge. I'd wager it was actually worse, so far you guys haven't had crazed militia sieges despite the loudness of the rhetoric nowadays.

[Simon_Jester]

The 90s had Timothy McVeigh, Waco, and Ruby Ridge. I'd wager it was actually worse, so far you guys haven't had crazed militia sieges despite the loudness of the rhetoric nowadays.

Thing is, the militia siege guys were like 0.1% of the population or something; they didn't have political leverage worth mentioning. No one seriously believed that the militia siege guys could take over the country, and outside their own little world, no one believed that they should.

At worst, they were a law enforcement problem, not a political problem.

Whereas the Tea Party is much more numerous and is actually challenging the political order, rather than just going off into the woods and forting up to wait for the black helicopters. Thus, the political dynamic has changed. Instead of lunatics just running off to go be lunatics on their own, they are marching in the streets, spilling their lunacy on bystanders, and hoping to impose a government of lunatics on the whole nation.

[Ritterin Sophia]

The 90s had Timothy McVeigh, Waco, and Ruby Ridge. I'd wager it was actually worse, so far you guys haven't had crazed militia sieges despite the loudness of the rhetoric nowadays.

You forgot the West Virginia Mountaineer Militia's failed planning of the bombing of the FBI fingerprinting center in Harrisburg.

That having been said you forgot about the Hutaree Militia and I disagree with your idea that just because we haven't had anything like that, we're only two years into what is most likely an eight year hold on the White House. Hell in 2010 the SPLC saw a 250% increase in far-right groups [1] and a 400% increase in the number of death threats between him and Bush [2]. Most likely we're just seeing the tip.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

Those are pretty good ads. It mostly just makes me feel sorry for WVians more than usual. On the flip side, I saw a Manchin ad last night on Colbert, and based on his ads I wouldn't vote for Manchin at all. Evidently the wrong Democrat got the right ad guys.

Also, surely there would be rights issues for using footage in commercials?

Why? What's wrong with his ads?

Well, take the Star Wars-themed ads They make blatant use of Lucasfilms IP. Someone could take their use as an implication that George Lucas endorses Joe Manchin. If Lucasfilms gave their okay first, then there's nothing wrong with the ads. Except politicians have a habit of occasionally using songs and other IP without the permission of the artists in question.

[hunter5]

In addition to sticking in the minds of the voters it also gives the opponent less time to counter the points in the ads. The longer the ad is in place the more time the opponent has to pick it apart and make you look like a liar.

[Ritterin Sophia]

Well, take the Star Wars-themed ads They make blatant use of Lucasfilms IP. Someone could take their use as an implication that George Lucas endorses Joe Manchin. If Lucasfilms gave their okay first, then there's nothing wrong with the ads. Except politicians have a habit of occasionally using songs and other IP without the permission of the artists in question.

Or it could be he paid for their use, either way it's purely conjecture unless/until Lucasfilm decides to make a statement verifying whether it was authorized or not and in no way an actual reason to say you wouldn't vote for him. So I ask again, what's wrong with the ad that makes you say you wouldn't vote for him?

[Sarevok]

People used famous scenes and elements of Star Wars for spoofing other things since ages. I don't think anyone expects these particular videos have anything to do with George Lucas's political alignment.

[SirNitram]

It helps he wants a 1000 lasers in the skies above us. One THOUSAND LASER BEAMS.

Hence the Star Wars, and thus mockery through that.

[PhilosopherOfSorts]

I ddn't forget about Tim McVeigh, Ruby Ridge, the Branch Davidians, ect, they just weren't relavant to my point, since they weren't politicians. In the 90s the people suggesting "second amendment solutions" and looking for black helicopters from the New World Order were backwoods nutjobs, today they're serious candidates for congress.

[Glocksman]

I ddn't forget about Tim McVeigh, Ruby Ridge, the Branch Davidians, ect, they just weren't relavant to my point, since they weren't politicians. In the 90s the people suggesting "second amendment solutions" and looking for black helicopters from the New World Order were backwoods nutjobs, today they're serious candidates for congress.

Oh we were there, but we didn't have the Intarwebs to spread the news outside of the circle, so to speak.