Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Seriously dude, that's a real video camera

What I find interesting about the recent flap when Virginia Senator George Allen called an Indian aide to his Democratic opponent Jim Webb a Macaca is how it didn't occur to Allen that this was a bad idea.


So you're giving a speech. A spy from the other side is standing there with a video camera taping everything you say. So you turn right to the camera and say, "hey macaca, welcome to America."


How is that not a bad idea?


So Webb distributed it everywhere he could and Allen is on the defensive. And Allen was dumb because really, Webb doesn't look like much of a candidate. He's just a Republican who switched parties because of the war. He also made a bit of a mess himself with a flyer that some said was anti-Semitic, understandable when you have a hook-nosed guy with money in his pockets.


The flyer really does look like anti-Semitic propaganda from the old days, but I suspect that may simply be because the artist isn't very good and is just using these sort of broad-stroke images propagandists are drawn for. But what's really notable about the flyer is how pathetic and amateurish and crappy it is. I mean, this guy is running for Senator?


What's interesting about both the flyer and the Macaca comment are they are down by politicians seemingly oblivious to the ways of the modern world. Allen didn't see what was wrong with attempting some sort of humorous chiding with somewhat hostile, possibly racist overtones while his opponent's video camera was trained on him. Webb didn't see the problem with an attack ad that looked like it was produced by an anti-Semitic high school student.


Poor Virginia,whichever way the election goes they're going to wind up with an idiot.

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