Posted by Pam Spaulding May 21, 2008 in Uncategorized, Conservatives Sure Are Funny, Election, Democrats, Bad Ideas
Here is a completely brain-dead quasi gay-baiting ad for Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO), who tries to paint his opponent, Kay Barnes, as joined at the hip with Nancy Pelosi and her “San Francisco style values.” We all know what that means. Those values are hilariously depicted by a man in a cowboy hat dancing with two women…and even better, two of them are brown.
Talk about having zero to run on.
See the response from Barnes below the fold.
Barnes came right back at him…
35 Responses to “Pathetic GOP candidate ad: dancing people = ‘San Francisco style values’”
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Kay Barnes, not Kay Graves.
Was wondering for a second if it was a husband/wife or brother/sister pair duking it out for the seat…
Holy shit, Potsie’s running for Congress. And he’s all reactionary and shit!
I was having slightly un-charitable thoughts about either the general genetic diversity of Missouri or the degree of control just one family seemed to have over the Missouri political scene.
Also, since when does a co-ed group of random clubbish dancing people scream TEH SAN FRANCISCO LIBRUL GEY MENISS!!! ? Are conservative Missourians still living in an era where dancing in general (and especially in mixed-race and mixed-gender groups!) is sinful?
So, are we invited to the party?
Are all bars in SF that lame? I’ve seen better scenes in a first grader’s attempted nativity class project!
“Are conservative Missourians still living in an era where dancing in general (and especially in mixed-race and mixed-gender groups!) is sinful?”
Well, there WAS that movie…
Wait…
In Missouri, if a man dances [badly] with two women that’s considered “GAY”?
“Show me” state. indeed.
Also, since when does a co-ed group of random clubbish dancing people scream TEH SAN FRANCISCO LIBRUL GEY MENISS!!! ? Are conservative Missourians still living in an era where dancing in general (and especially in mixed-race and mixed-gender groups!) is sinful?
Ah, but the whole ad is about: urban values, illegal immigration, and gay marriage. Thus, you get some people of color who look to be gay and partying…and that’s all it is: “Look out! Niggers and spics and faggots!” And that’s all the Republicans have.
Ah, my god, that was so terrible and so weirdly funny at the same time. What’s really a shame is that there are still some people out there on whom that kind of ad will be effective. Although, I thought it very strange that, when the voice-over was talking about same sex marriage, the video showed ONE guy dancing with TWO women. My thought would have been something like, “Geez! I gotta get me one of those dorky looking hats!”
I’m from St. Joseph, MO, and FYI this shit is also on the radio (same exact script). Someone wrote a letter to the editor published in today’s St. Joseph News Press re: Graves’ ad, and they said their “worst fear” was Barnes subjecting our region to “San Francisco values.” Typical of this part of the country, I know, but FWIW a lot of folks around here think it’s disgusting. Two responses to the ad here (scroll down to “Graves Lost My Vote”).
I know, and the guy is between the two women, clearly signifying that he has his pick of the ladies, not that any of the group are gay.
That said, did anybody ever see that documentary Hell House where the people making the Christianist haunted house don’t know what a pentacle looks like and can’t come up with the actual name of Teh Evul Card Game they’re trying to denounce? This reminds me of that.
And I will ad that these two ads should be shown together in graphic design classes as a visual aid to show The Power Of Typography. It’s amazing how childish Graves’s use of Comic Sans (or whatever that is) makes his campaign look, whereas Barnes uses that crisp all lower case sans serif to depict herself as commonsense and dignified.
And I will now go back to work designing logos of Italian restaurants that exist only in TV land…
When the New Madrid fault system lets loose next time … and it could be any time soon … they better hope and pray that somebody has some San Francisco Values going on or the wreckage is going to make Katrina look like a fart in a bubble bath!
YES to Illegal Immigrants
Because … they’re going to come here and dance really badly with your women?
Hell, if I thought people danced like that in San Francisco, I’d be afraid to go there, too. I’m no Ginger Rogers, but I dance better than those people.
I’m also in the confused camp on why everytime they mentioned teh gay they put up a mixed sex couple or group (there’s a man and a woman later on)… isn’t having the text match the image grade school stuff at this point??
Also, I don’t know the significance of this, but I thought it was quite interesting that the narrator in both clips was the opposite gender of the candidates.
(sorry if this posts twice, the anti-spam is defeating me soundly)
I think we’re all missing the really terrifying aspect of all this, and that is CABLE CARS! OH NOES!
This just reminds me of the Vernon Robinson ad I used to hear in Greensboro NC — “Brad Miller supports gay marriage and sponsored a bill to let American homosexuals bring their foreign homosexual lovers to this country on a marriage visa. If Miller had his way America would be nothing but one big fiesta for illegal aliens and homosexuals.”
That sounded like a fun party to me. This San Francisco values party looks dull, frankly. Do I have to have that hairstyle?
Also, I just got back from San Francisco and my impression of San Francisco values is the following: Go jogging along the waterfront, honk at everyone during rush hour, go to bars on the weekends, and talk about your new startup and/or your new top secret project at [large tech company] that you can’t actually say anything about. And pay too much rent. I did not notice any public debauchery. Considerably less than I saw in Paris, for example.
I missed Bay to Breakers, though, so I might have missed it all.
To look at the bigger issue; would it had been better for Grave if the ad pictured two bathhouse twinks engaged in full-blown sex instead of bad dancing between two chicks and a guy? Because the former is the most “offensive” thing about “San Fran values” that he was trying to drive at.
It kind of reminds me of arguments I’d have with people who would state a a pretty benign fact as if it was something that should be rallied against.
“We live in a time and place where they sell MOTHER JONES magazine in South America. SOUTH AMERICA!”
or
“They have GAY sex in San Francisco. GAY SEX!”
And I will ad that these two ads should be shown together in graphic design classes as a visual aid to show The Power Of Typography. It’s amazing how childish Graves’s use of Comic Sans (or whatever that is) makes his campaign look, whereas Barnes uses that crisp all lower case sans serif to depict herself as commonsense and dignified.
And I will now go back to work designing logos of Italian restaurants that exist only in TV land…
I kind of noticed the typography of the two also, which is something I almost never notice.
I think that maybe Grave’s choice of font might had been a good choice, for the demographic he’s going for. The print is pink, flamboyant, and tacky, and he is trying to associate those ideas with the “San Fran” values.
You forgot “use a recumbent stationary bike to charge your plug-in modified hybrid car” (yes, I really did see that), “bring your bike into the taqueria with you”, “eat lots of chocolate” and “take your dog to the park twice a day”.
Oh yeah, and live in a participatory democracy. Truly scary stuff, that.
Aren’t these dupes afraid that their portrayals will be seen by children … and liked? I just keep thinking of Dolly Parton talking about seeing the brothel denizens and thinking “I like that look” while her mother railed against the fancy ladies. It could lead to a cripling epidemic of flashdance in the midwest!
Pathetic record, pathetic campaign. BURN!
Yeah, Jonathan, but couldn’t they have at least put a SAME SEX COUPLE in with the mention of gay rights? I mean, wtf do some random seemingly heterosexual people dancing badly in tacky clothes have to do with anything they’re trying to rile people up about?
And while you’re right that one could see why he chose that particular typeface to appeal to his particular audience, everyone with an intact aesthetic sense will see it and think, “wow, what a tacky ad…” Of course, I could go on and on all day about the way that the wingnut right actually does seem to be against even the most basic understanding of “things that look pretty”, as if there quite blatantly trying to undermine Everything That Is Good In The Whole World.
They’re! They’re! I meant “they’re”, not “there”! Agh!
What I find amusing by all the politicians going for the so-called “values voters” is that all the straw men they set up, all the boogiemen which are meant to frighten the beejeesus out of everyone are SO over the top, they are well into “self-parody” territory. the images aren’t frightening, they are silly. It takes a very shallow person who has already made up his/her mind to really believe that kind of stuff.
Yet, it keeps happening again and again. Very odd.
I did not notice any public debauchery. Considerably less than I saw in Paris, for example.
Well, last time I was in SF, I saw plenty of public debauchery.
It was Fleet Week.
Oh, you mean the best values?
Ms Kate, I did! I also forgot “Drive Priuses at much higher rates than people in North Carolina.” And as we all know, Priuses make you gay. It’s much like soymilk.
There is plenty of debauchery here in San Francisco! I get some every weekend! Try the gay bars in SOMA. Fun times.
I also wonder who Graves is leeeeering at in the final “I approved this message” cut.
He has the look of a perv about him, as though he’d really like to see that young relative naked … ah, gotta love those family values!
Just imagine the public shitshow if a Dem candidate from California or New England lambasted someone’s “Jefferson City values” or “Biloxi values.”
I miss the San Francisco debauchery actually. I had to vicariously experience Bay to Breakers through a friend’s photos.
Just imagine the public shitshow if a Dem candidate from California or New England lambasted someone’s “Jefferson City values” or “Biloxi values.”
Or described rural voters as “bitter?”
You know, the main thing I got out of that was that the Republican is seriously, seriously hurting for money, or doesn’t know enough to spend money on decent video production.
I mean, I’ve seen better production values in those “HEAD ON” ads.
As for the “man dancing with women means TEH SCARY GAYZ” thing, I think the idea is not to invoke homosexuality defined as two people with similar genitalia getting it on, but to tap into the “homosexuality == effeminate” meme and project a general vibe of debauchery.
I also think the cowboy hat is supposed to somehow translate in the back of the head into “assless chaps”, but I’m less sure on that.
“everyone with an intact aesthetic sense will see it and think, ‘wow, what a tacky ad…’ ”
My guess would be that “everyone with an intact aesthetic sense” will have decamped Missouri for… oh, I dunno, San Francisco? (or at least New York)… long since?
Or is that mean of me?
Or described rural voters as “bitter?”
Now that gas is at $4, you may want to check back with your rural friends. I suspect that having to pay $70 to fill up the pickup truck that they can’t make a living without might be making them just a wee bit bitter.
Dont forget Folsom Street and Lovefest in September!
Ah…Frisco in the Fall…