Talk Talk Talk Talk Talk Myself to Death: Some Video Picks

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Some Video Picks

It comes as no surprise, I'm sure, that I'm hardly a Mike Huckabee booster. I'm intrigued about how the Republicans will deal with him if he keeps rising, but I've got a feeling that we'll never actually get to that point (although, as we've seen, the Republicans can be crafty in their attacks, so even though we might indeed witness such a reaction, it's possible that we wouldn't quite recognize it as such). But even though I'm nowhere near the Huckabee camp, it still seemed like The New York Times was serving up a cheap shot at him this morning. In a profile examining his new status as frontrunner, Mark Leibovich described Huckabee's "round brown eyes and smiley bearing [that] make him slightly resemble the actor Jim Nabors." That's right, out of nowhere, the Times said Huckabee reminds them of Gomer Pyle. That just seems unnecessary.

You may have heard some hubbub about Huckabee's new Christmas ad that says nothing about politics and everything about Christmas being Jesus' birthday. He's got an ersatz cross in the background (which just annoys me--if you're going to blur the lines between church and state, at least have the decency to be up front about it; don't put a cross in your commercial and then claim it's really just a book case, so what's everybody making such a big deal for?), and he insists that all he really wants to do is wish everybody a merry Christmas. Of course, the ad is paid for by his presidential campaign, making it the very definition of a political ad, but never mind that. I was looking at the ad after I read the Times piece, and darn it if it wasn't right. There is something in his manner that evokes Jim Nabors. Can it really be a cheap shot if it's true?

You can see the ad in a number of places, but one of them is at Time's Swampland. In the same link, you can see Rudy Giuliani's Christmas ads, one for broadcast and one for the Web. They're very odd pieces of work. In the broadcast one, Rudy's sitting there in a red sweater next to Santa Claus, listing his Christmas hopes. They're pretty normal "peace on Earth" kinds of things, but one item on his list is harmony among the Republican presidential candidates. Up to now, Santa's been nothing more than window dressing, but at this point he jumps in. For reasons known only to himself (and the Giuliani campaign, I guess), Santa's against harmony among the candidates. No, he actively wants discord. Presidential primary fights! That's apparently what says Christmas to Santa Claus.

Since we're already on the subject of video clips, Stevie T recommends this one. Don't be fooled. It looks like a straight-up version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas," but if you were following the discussion around this post, you'll find something worth your while.

1 Comments:

At 1:23 PM, December 20, 2007, Blogger Jason said...

I've got friends who call Mike Huckabee "Governor Shazam" based on the Nabors resemblance, though as a comic book fan, I have to remind myself that they are referring to his Gomer Pylesque appearance and demeanor, and not referencing Mitt Romney's Fred MacMurray-like good looks.

As for how the Republicans will deal with Huckabee, it seems like they are pretty clearly separating themselves into very distinct camps around Giuliani (the neocons), Huckabee (the theocons) and Romney (the CEOcons). Plus some people seem to still like Fred Thompson, though I can't quite figure out why. Plus, I suppose, we ought to include the libertarian (me-o-con?) supporters of Ron Paul as a fifth camp.

What will be interesting is if the different camps can stitch themselves into a coherent whole for the primary election. On the Democratic side, while there are clear policy differences between Clinton and Obama and Edwards, they all share the same basic philosophy about the role of the government and the President, and where the President's priorities should be in 2009 and beyond. That's not so with the Republican candidates, and I wonder whether the Republicans will really be able to join hands and unite behind their eventual nominee.

 

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