It’s come to this: ABC accuses McCain of using subliminal messages in Obama ad
posted at 9:15 pm on July 18, 2008 by Allahpundit
The perfect ending to “It’s just a f***ing cartoon” week. See if you can figure out from this screencap what the accusation is before clicking the link:
Now watch to see how long that particular image is onscreen:
If images of sleeping white children equal Klan propaganda and the word “elitist” equals a racial slur and a video transfer artifact equals nefarious skin-darkening hijinks, then — yeah, I guess this amounts to accusing Obama of being a terrorist. What elevates the ABC piece from idiocy to evil genius, though, is this flourish, which proves not that they learned no lesson from the New Yorker fiasco but that they learned exactly the wrong lesson:
A McCain aide told ABC that it was primarily put together by an editor who had about 48 hours to throw it together in advance of Obama’s foreign trip.
Still, in this era of hyper-analysis — and in the very week that a non-subtle New Yorker cover was blasted as beyond the bounds of satire — should something like this have slipped by Team McCain?
They’re using the overreaction of elitist imbeciles earlier in the week not as a cautionary tale for everyone to mellow out but as reason to ratchet up the paranoia. Think of it as a negligence case, with the insane uproar over the New Yorker cover serving as the new legal standard of reasonableness: Because the leftist intelligentsia is (a) nuts, and (b) known to fly off the handle for political advantage at any opportunity, it was therefore foreseeable that they’d scrutinize McCain’s ads for subliminal messages, which in turn makes McCain negligent for not vetting his ads to make sure they’re safe for nuts to watch. Is it too soon for another vacation?
Blowback
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………………………..sighs
ThePrez on July 18, 2008 at 9:22 PM
Maybe I am not sufficiently sensitive to this sort of thing, but I do not see it.
And here is a parody from Onion, that makes as much sense as the real media:
Time managing editor Rich Stengel said he was proud of the Obama puff piece, and that he hoped it would help to redefine the boundaries of journalistic drivel.
“When the American people cast their vote this November, this is the piece of fluff they’re going to remember,” Stengel said. “Not the ones by Newsweek, Harper’s, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New Republic, The Economist, Nightline, The Wall Street Journal, or even that story about lessons Obama learned from his first-grade teacher we ran a month ago.”
The article, which follows Obama for 12 days during his campaign, was written by reporter Chris Sherwood, and is relentless in its attempt to capture the candidate at his most poised and polished. Sherwood said the profile easily trumps all other fluff pieces in its effort to expose the presidential candidate for who he really is: “an awesome guy.”
“My editors told me that if I wanted to uncover the most frivolous, trivial information on Obama, I had to be prepared to follow the puff,” Sherwood said. “That meant that not only did I have to stay and watch Sen. Obama play endless games of basketball with city firemen to show readers how athletic and youthful he is, but I also had to go to NBA shooting experts to learn what aspects of his jump shot are good and what parts are great.”
Sherwood said he was granted full access to the candidate, and was permitted by chief strategist David Axelrod to ask any question he desired—an opportunity the reporter used to lob the easiest softballs at Obama yet, ranging from how happy he felt when he met his wife to what songs are currently on his iPod playlist. Sherwood was also fearless in his effort to paint the candidate as someone who is “surprisingly down to earth,” a phrase that is used a total of 26 times throughout the feature.
“If we were going to get the story we wanted, it was my responsibility as a journalist to ask the really tough questions to his two young daughters,” said Sherwood, who grilled Malia and Sasha Obama, 9 and 7, about whether they were “proud of [their] daddy.” “I also had to capitalize on every opportunity to compare the story of Obama’s upbringing and rise to power to that of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s and John F. Kennedy’s, no matter how suspect those parallels really are.”
According to the Time reporter, work on the profile was often harder than he had anticipated, with Obama at times dodging questions about whether or not he played a musical instrument, and about what Monopoly piece he thought best represented his candidacy and why.
Terrye on July 18, 2008 at 9:22 PM
Whatever gets it in the news more.
Stupid left. No one would f paid attention to it, but they are too stupid to know that the video was long and boring, so people would of cut it short. Now they will watch the whole thing to find all the hidden messages.
WoosterOh on July 18, 2008 at 9:26 PM
You cannot be wrong if you restate what you never said. wtf?
“elitist” equals a racial slur – again wtf?
defeatist elitist
Kini on July 18, 2008 at 9:26 PM
Like that third person observation: “In this era of hyper-analysis….” Geez, I wonder by whom?
Let’s call it the soft bigotry of high expectations. That is, the McCain campaign must search out all of its ads for possible subliminal messages or ideas that convey bigotry.
With apologies to Nixon and Keynes, we’re all exegetes now
SteveMG on July 18, 2008 at 9:26 PM
By my stop watch, and I had to put down my glass of wine, thank you very much, 1:17 seconds………..
You have to understand, just the mere fact that there is another candidate against Obama, it is a hanging offense as far as the Democrat Party is concerned…….
This will never stop……… If John McCain was in a room and sneezed, and someone politely said: “God Bless You.”, there would be a week of 24/7 separation of Church and State until the next time someone farted in the McCain camp, and then it would be really “offensive”…..
Take the gloves off John…….. Never Retreat, Never Surrender……… the Leftist Democrats will not.
Seven Percent Solution on July 18, 2008 at 9:26 PM
If this is honestly the level of discourse that politics has come to, I think it’s time to throw open the doors to the asylum because the inmates already have the keys.
Is anyone aware of the fact that we’re in the middle of a war, there is a murderous ideology with a decent sized following that constantly threatens to destroy us and our allies, our economic growth has slowed and our dominance in Olympic basketball is threatened?
Do we really need to be debating some randomized letters on a screen?
And, when it gets right down to it, if the Republicans did it on purpose, is it their fault for being sneaky or the Democrats fault for not finding a way to effectively squash ridiculous rumors about their candidate? If the “How dare people say that ugly lie?” tactic hasn’t worked….TRY SOMETHING ELSE!
JadeNYU on July 18, 2008 at 9:27 PM
this is hilarious from the link:
Topsecretk9 on July 18, 2008 at 9:27 PM
Juxtaposition commercials like this are exremely effective when opposing a sleazy and decitful, but eloquent and crafty public speaker. So of course ABC is going ballistic. They want him to win. This is the best way to beat him: his own words at different times. DemocRATS are sensitive to any letters on screen, but it doesn’t make them any less paranoid and delusional. Have been since November 2000.
Beagle on July 18, 2008 at 9:28 PM
I don’t see it either. Obviously, someone is a little bit testy. Touched a never maybe. I thought the video was brilliant. A fine compilation of the two faces of BHO.
Glynn on July 18, 2008 at 9:29 PM
never – nerve. sorry, my preview feature isn’t working.
Glynn on July 18, 2008 at 9:30 PM
Typical leftist psychology: you don’t mean what you think you mean – you mean what my enlightened 19th-century pseudoscience says you mean (which just coincidentally supports whatever I want you to be perceived as meaning.)
Hannibal Smith on July 18, 2008 at 9:30 PM
If you play it backwards you get the National Anthem and a voice saying Obama hates America!
TheBigOldDog on July 18, 2008 at 9:30 PM
The lizard people from Draco are making campaign ads for republicans again, I see.
lorien1973 on July 18, 2008 at 9:31 PM
Lame. And Obama is a joke. Sad that a major party keeps putting up contortionists.
Spirit of 1776 on July 18, 2008 at 9:31 PM
i was sort of thinking along the same lines earlier. I was thinking how I wished this would all just end, that it would be November already.
WoosterOh on July 18, 2008 at 9:32 PM
I think the real crime is showing Barack’s picture and showing his name. I mean, all they are doing is pointing out that Obama has a funny name and is black. That’s the real attack. All the other stuff is a distraction.
VolMagic on July 18, 2008 at 9:34 PM
Your reaction to this is all wrong, because if you watch the McCain ad REAL closely, I also definitely see the following:
a) Three French Hens
b) Two Turtle Doves
c) A Patridge in a Pear Tree
d) The “Gunman” from the Grassy Knoll
e) Waldo
f) Dora the Explorer
g) Jimmy Hoffa
i) Spock’s Brain
j) the Tin Man’s heart
k) The Cowardly Lions courage
l) Amelia Earhart
m) The missing Princes from the Tower of London
n) Al Gore’s missing common sense
o) The sleeping kids with the racial epithet from Hillary Clinton’s “What if the phone rings in the White House at 3am in the morning” ad…
q) ah, you get the idea….
Dale in Atlanta on July 18, 2008 at 9:35 PM
Yes. I see it. Just like when a moonbat told me the Wizard of Oz (written 1900) was a prophecy of WWII (Scarecrow=France, Lion=England, Tin Man=America, Dorothy=freedom, Witch=Hitler). It made so much sense. Then I quit smoking pot and became the dried up old crudmudgeon that I am today.
Limerick on July 18, 2008 at 9:36 PM
Ok, I saw it and noticed it.
Technically, it’s not subliminal either – it’s right there long enough for everyone to see.
I don’t give a damn whether it was deliberate or unintentional. It’s fair game. It if were deliberate, my hat’s off them for doing it.
Now if it spelled out moron, traitor, defeatist, looney, failure or Muslim that’s would a different story.
It just shows how hypocritical Obama and his sycophants at ABC are.
Dr. Bob on July 18, 2008 at 9:37 PM
That the letters there were the consonants of al qaeda and people just fill in the vowels with their subconcious and then see the image on screen as that?
I bet I’m right, aren’t I?
Buddahpundit on July 18, 2008 at 9:38 PM
Oh forgot…
p) Paul is Dead…. is in there somewhere….
Dale in Atlanta on July 18, 2008 at 9:39 PM
I think the Republicans are hinting at the Larry Sinclair scandal. They are saying Obama is tall, a cute’ and meaty.
WoosterOh on July 18, 2008 at 9:40 PM
The media is in the crapper and they are wondering why their ratings are down.
jencab on July 18, 2008 at 9:40 PM
RATS!
Slublog on July 18, 2008 at 9:42 PM
ABC is and always has been a blatant left wing propaganda machine . . . so we must just consider the source.
rplat on July 18, 2008 at 9:44 PM
I wonder if the media will just drive us all crazy by November. Maybe everyone will just turn off the TV.
Terrye on July 18, 2008 at 9:44 PM
“HERE’SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS JOHNNY!”
Limerick on July 18, 2008 at 9:45 PM
The letters “M-E-T” appear next to each other. Obviously this is an attempt to hurt Obama amongst non-Mets fans.
amerpundit on July 18, 2008 at 9:45 PM
Jeez…and they ask me why I drink.
flipflop on July 18, 2008 at 9:48 PM
Dale:
You forgot Willie Horten, he is in there too. Somewhere.
Terrye on July 18, 2008 at 9:49 PM
I think I saw a plastic turkey in there too.
Tim Blair would know about this.
SteveMG on July 18, 2008 at 9:49 PM
darn Terrye, forgot that one…
q) Willie Horton…
Dale in Atlanta on July 18, 2008 at 9:51 PM
Al Qaeda FTW!!!
carbon_footprint on July 18, 2008 at 9:51 PM
I played your game. I was right. And Obamanation should be compared to al qaeda, except without the stupid cowardly puzzle games.
Buddahpundit on July 18, 2008 at 9:52 PM
And the attack rabbit that went after Jimmy. Bad Rabbit.
Terrye on July 18, 2008 at 9:52 PM
r) Ward Churchill’s Indian Heritage…
Dale in Atlanta on July 18, 2008 at 9:54 PM
s) Britanny Spear’s virginity…
Dale in Atlanta on July 18, 2008 at 9:54 PM
I thought I saw an upside down cross!!!1!
carbon_footprint on July 18, 2008 at 9:55 PM
The media is so totally in love with this guy it is disgusting to watch.
If he becomes president, he could inadvertently push the wrong button and nuke someone and they would blame it on an asteroid. They would portray him like Morgan Freeman trying to save the world.
Terrye on July 18, 2008 at 9:55 PM
t)that alien that rides the comet that all the Scientology idiots in Hollywood worship….where are you Tom Cruise?
Dale in Atlanta on July 18, 2008 at 9:56 PM
Michelle’s children.
Terrye on July 18, 2008 at 9:56 PM
t) Barack HUSSEIN Obama’s (PBUH)(SAW)(SWT) missing halo..
Dale in Atlanta on July 18, 2008 at 9:57 PM
John Kerry’s magic hat.
Terrye on July 18, 2008 at 9:57 PM
u) El Dorado…
Dale in Atlanta on July 18, 2008 at 9:57 PM
v) nice one Terrye..
Dale in Atlanta on July 18, 2008 at 9:58 PM
v) John Kerry’s SF 180 Form…
Dale in Atlanta on July 18, 2008 at 9:58 PM
did you know that if you said Barack’s name backward it is amabo hiessuh kcarab.
Think about it.
The truth is out there.
Terrye on July 18, 2008 at 9:59 PM
r) Ward Churchill’s American Indian as Pan…(fixed it for you)
Dale in Atlanta on July 18, 2008 at 9:54 PM
Limerick on July 18, 2008 at 9:59 PM
w) That UFO that John Lennon and Jimmy Carter saw…
Dale in Atlanta on July 18, 2008 at 9:59 PM
And you know what language is sometimes written without vowels.
[Hint - it's spoken by j0000z!1!]
Hannibal Smith on July 18, 2008 at 9:59 PM
Bill’s cigar
Terrye on July 18, 2008 at 10:00 PM
w)Caspar Hauser…
Dale in Atlanta on July 18, 2008 at 10:00 PM
Ouch Terrye, you’re on a roll; I know THAT got lost…
Dale in Atlanta on July 18, 2008 at 10:01 PM
Jeremiah Wright’s patriotism
Terrye on July 18, 2008 at 10:01 PM
x) the missing 18.5min from the Nixon tape..
Dale in Atlanta on July 18, 2008 at 10:01 PM
pretty lame conspiracy theory..
Chakra Hammer on July 18, 2008 at 10:01 PM
z) Amelia Earhart
SteveMG on July 18, 2008 at 10:01 PM
Lost where? Ah, yes. Monica’s dress.
Terrye on July 18, 2008 at 10:01 PM
Hillary’s heart
Terrye on July 18, 2008 at 10:03 PM
Street Through a Not
(work on it…;)
Limerick on July 18, 2008 at 10:03 PM
y)The Mary Celeste…
Dale in Atlanta on July 18, 2008 at 10:04 PM
*heh* You did pick one heckuva week to get back up onto the horse…
Lee on July 18, 2008 at 10:04 PM
darn, I’m out of letters…
Dale in Atlanta on July 18, 2008 at 10:05 PM
Joe Wilson’s sobriety
Terrye on July 18, 2008 at 10:06 PM
I didn’t see any of that stuff.
But I did see George Bush, holding a remote control, send two airplanes into the twin towers, one day after someone planted bombs in all the buildings.
How did you not see that? I think you’re trying to pull our legs.
sloopy on July 18, 2008 at 10:06 PM
Bigfoot
Terrye on July 18, 2008 at 10:06 PM
.
That’s what it was until he flipped.
News2Use on July 18, 2008 at 10:08 PM
So beyond retarded it’s not even retarded any more.
The video makers used a stock effect in LiveType (Final Cut Studio) or similar software – it flies in individual letters randomly in a line of type.
Reminds me of the 19th century guy who claimed that all the Earth’s measurements (circumference, yadda yadda) were contained in and could be derived from in the features of the Great Pyramid.
Moral of the (incredibly stupid) story: Given enough parameters, anything can be “related” to anything else. And since there are only 26 letters in our alphabet, well, every sufficiently complex sentence resembles every other sentence or phrase.
This is what it’s come to, for the Left and its media enablers? THIS?
Gilda on July 18, 2008 at 10:08 PM
derived from in the featuresderived from the featuresGilda on July 18, 2008 at 10:09 PM
Dale, a riot you are…
z) Dan Rather’s cadavre
Sorry, but I misread “vaccination”, thinking of the elitist lefties.
Entelechy on July 18, 2008 at 10:09 PM
Forgot, fiction is indignant today.
Entelechy on July 18, 2008 at 10:10 PM
How did you not see that? I think you’re trying to pull our legs.
sloopy on July 18, 2008 at 10:06 PM
I confess, you’re correct….
Dale in Atlanta on July 18, 2008 at 10:10 PM
WHERE the heck is funky chicken? Anyone?
Limerick on July 18, 2008 at 10:12 PM
ooh ooh, I got one…
Obama’s “Christianity”!
HAH!
Dale in Atlanta on July 18, 2008 at 10:12 PM
Wouldn’t that be niessuh?
Entelechy on July 18, 2008 at 10:13 PM
The missing Roman XIII Legion…
Dale in Atlanta on July 18, 2008 at 10:13 PM
Caesar had it last. Ask him.
Limerick on July 18, 2008 at 10:14 PM
did you know that if you said Barack’s name backward it is amabo hiessuh kcarab.
Think about it.
The truth is out there.
Terrye on July 18, 2008 at 9:59 PM
If I saw it backwards, to I still have put the Muslim Honorfics: (PBUH)(SAW)(SWT) after “HIS” name??
Dale in Atlanta on July 18, 2008 at 10:14 PM
Caesar had it last. Ask him.
Limerick on July 18, 2008 at 10:14 PM
No, I’m SURE saw it in that McCain ad, somewhere..
Dale in Atlanta on July 18, 2008 at 10:15 PM
Valerie Plame’s missing secret Identity??
Dale in Atlanta on July 18, 2008 at 10:16 PM
Relax, man. You are going way overboard in desperation. McCain intended to evoke al qaeda. It’s okay; deal with it.
Let’s all just deal with that reality. It’s a good thing.
Buddahpundit on July 18, 2008 at 10:17 PM
“Kenneth” and the missing Frequency??
Dale in Atlanta on July 18, 2008 at 10:18 PM
I saw a swimming rabbit attacking a befuddled former southern governor in a canoe (The governer, was in the canoe. The rabbit was in the water.)
jl on July 18, 2008 at 10:18 PM
And if you remove some letters and look at it at a 29.5% angle, it says “a moss crab”. Karl Rove’s at it again!
amerpundit on July 18, 2008 at 10:19 PM
Ron Paul’s sanity.
Terrye on July 18, 2008 at 10:21 PM
amerpundit:
Ahh, now that is cunning. Pure cunning.
Terrye on July 18, 2008 at 10:22 PM
BHO is smart AND out of his mind; in other words the perfect Democrat candidate.
Mojave Mark on July 18, 2008 at 10:22 PM
AL-A-(q)p-(m)u+n-D-
Nah….can’t be
Limerick on July 18, 2008 at 10:23 PM
Well, one thing you won’t find in it is professional, sober-minded journalism.
‘Cause that simply doesn’t exist.
SteveMG on July 18, 2008 at 10:23 PM
News2 use:
I can’t spell. frontwards or backwards.
Terrye on July 18, 2008 at 10:24 PM
Steve:
No, that really is lost isn’t it?
Good night Chet.
Terrye on July 18, 2008 at 10:25 PM
See…if they can scream loud enough about imagined subliminal messages in the ad…they’ve effectively ceased conversation about the meat of the piece…namely that Obama has a position on Iraq like fluff blowing in the wind.
Sarjex on July 18, 2008 at 10:27 PM
Sure, sure, it only appears for a second, but it’s enough to…turn ordinary Americans into KILLING MACHINES!!! Manchurian CANDIDATES, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!
PattyJ on July 18, 2008 at 10:27 PM
I noticed this yesterday but I stopped the frame when the video read “Ba Al.” I thought it was a humorous mistake. As it was. With the halo around Obama’s head and the phrase Ba AL it was pretty funny. If you pause during the video you will see the Ba Al part in the very beginning.
AnthonyK on July 18, 2008 at 10:28 PM
All I saw was a liminal, lying, shallow, two-faced doofus.
(And some letters, too.)
profitsbeard on July 18, 2008 at 10:30 PM
I don’t think the man is al qaeda and I never have. I’m not so weak minded that a few unrelated letters flashing across a screen is going to convince me he is.
I don’t like the man, and would never vote for him because I believe him to be nothing more than another bought and paid for communist-democrat.
coldshot on July 18, 2008 at 10:31 PM
Between this one and the _hange in the screen shot on the other one … I’d say the McCain campaign needs to give this person a raise… they’re really good ..
I think maybe their subliminal is subliminal even to them!
:)
Texas Gal on July 18, 2008 at 10:32 PM
We analyzed episodes of Baywatch recently for subliminal messaging. If you stop frame the female guards when they are running and trace the letters their nipples form when you connect the dots it is shocking.
It is some form of code known only to foreign agents.
The words most often formed….
WANUUUVUUVVUWUWU; and upon occasion; POUWMWVMWMWVMWMWVMVM
I have a Russian friend who say it translates from Urdu and Farsi as…”We are weak preverts that are to be destroyed!”
Beto Ochoa on July 18, 2008 at 10:35 PM
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