In Thursday’s (1/4) Open Thread Booman asked the magic question “What the hell was that?” regarding Carly Fiorina’s California Ratpublican gubernatorial primary ad that has come to be known as “The Demon Sheep” ad throughout the media.
Yeah.
That one.
My preliminary answer?
It was brilliant advertising.
My full answer below.
Read on if you are interested.
In winning.
That was great advertising, of course.
Great advertising.
It’ll work, too.
And…count on it…right now hundreds if not thousands of political hustler pros working for all (so-called) parties are analyzing that ad, which I will guarantee cost a great deal more than most (if not all) ads used in primaries.
In the grand spirit of Mae West’s “Call me anything but call me often” and George M. Cohan’s “”I don’t care what you say about me…as long as you spell my name right,” this ad has gotten Ms. Fiorina’s name spelled…right or wrong…all over the country. It is a brilliant piece of political hypnomedia work, and the general leftiness adverse reaction to it is one example of the reasons why the right wins while the left loses here in the U.S. at an approximate ratio of 7 to 3.
Yes…the ad is probably factually full of shit to some degree and things would be better in the U.S. if such shenanigans were to be somehow banned, but that ain’t gonna happen and unless the left finds some morally acceptable tactic to counter this sort of work…you know, like standing up in public and telling the truth with real passion?…then there are two choices left.
1-Become the same as the right. (Already happening, of course. You are how you act.)
or
2-Lose like a motherfucker. Again.
That “standing up in public and telling the truth with real passion” idea?
Obama is circling ever closer to it, witness his schooling of the Rats last week.
When in doubt…tell the truth.
But that is such a revolutionary approach that it might take years for it to trickle down from on high to the rest of the Democratic Party. Obama doesn’t have “years”, plus he is not doing nearly enough of it.
I wish that his State of the Union address had been so direct that even the rote Dem hand clappers like Nancy Pelosi would have been frozen to their chairs in terror.
But NOOOOoooooo….
He’s too careful to do that.
Which could be his undoing as well as the characteristic that got him where he is today.
Live by the sword, die by the sword?
Yes.
Of course.
Live by compromise die by compromise as well.
As the samurai master…was it Miyamoto Musashi?…answered when asked about his success as a swordfighter…”Cut, cut and then cut some more.”
Sometimes it’s live by the sword, continue to live by the sword.
I believe that now is one of those times.
We shall see…
“Now’s The time” said Bird 60+ years ago. Listen to it and hear some truth.
Yup.
Now is still the time, if only jazz listener Obama would get up on the stand and play it from the heart.
What’s that you say?
Bird died young from the stress of alla that truthfulness?
Yup.
But…man!!!
Was it worth it?
I think so.
I guess it’s up to everybody how much of their mortal coil they are willing to spring for.
Go get ’em, brother Obama.
Go get ’em.
Sorry to wish this on you, sir. But ain’t nobody else in position to do it, and it’s gotta get done. Next time the Rats come to power here is “the fire next time.”
Bet on it.
Later…
AG
As you wish.
As you must.
Later…
AG
OH I beg to differ with your assessment of this ad. The theme was primarily name calling and reminded me of the behavior of seven and eight year old kids as they play at name calling and sticking out their tongues at one another. The guy in the worn out sheep suit with the glowing-red eyeballs was so far removed from the photo shopped frolicking sheep that it was beyond plausibility. Maybe the romper room crowd will find something to talk about in this ad, but for this adult it was a total waste of money. Too goofy to be cute, and too simple minded to be remembered!
I’ve forgotten it already. Actually, I never did make it through to the end. I couldn’t take it.
Preaching to the choir loses.
Of course you’ve forgotten it already. It wasn”t aimed at you.
But how about Wheat Smith and Doggoned Olsen in Temicula, CA?
Nope.
AG
” name calling and reminded me of the behavior of seven and eight year old kids as they play at name calling and sticking out their tongues at one another.”
Well that’s Republican for ya’. That’s how they win. And that;s the point of the diary. I don’t often agree with Gilroy, but this time he is right. The problem is, does he really expect the Democrats to engage in the same crap? Dr. Dean won’t have it, and neither will I. What’s the choice then? That’s wher Gilroy falls down. All he has is a Charlie Parker tune to throw at it, and that’s not enough.
Shergald wrote:
And I wrote:
“…unless the left finds some morally acceptable tactic to counter this sort of work…you know, like standing up in public and telling the truth with real passion?…then there are two choices left. 1-Become the same as the right…or 2-Lose like a motherfucker. “
What?
Didja miss that part in your rush to judgement?
Seems like…
AG
P.S. If “Dr. Dean” had a clue about this sort of thing…good man that he undoubtedly is…he would have won in the Kerry debacle, trounced George Butch II in the election and we wouldn’t be in our current pickle in the first place.
Howard Dean understood the necessity of truth telling…he just didn’t know how to do it effectively.
Oscar Levant once said “There is a thin line between genius and madness. I have erased that line.”
Well…there is also a thin line between empty hype and effective truth-telling. The “demon sheep” routine…and its maker, “Republican media consultant Fred Davis”…are simply a part of the ongoing squabble among Ratpublican assholes for the dubious honor of being the dominant part of the reactionary movement against Barack Obama which will regain right-wing power in the U.S. and continue hurling us towards the financial and nuclear abysses towards which the right have been driving since Nixon won the presidency.
And as I so learly stated in my piece, “unless the left finds some morally acceptable tactic to counter this sort of work,” said left will continue to lose at about a 7 to 3 ratio. That means that for every 1 step the nation takes in the correct direction it will take 2.33 steps bacwards towards the tarpits of hstory.
This is not a good set of movements, Shergald, and so-called “purists” like yourself, Booman and most of the rest of the Dem intelligentsia are as culpable…although admittedly for more honorable reasons…as are the worst of the right-wingers for he continuation of this state of affairs.
The only Dem today with any kind of national profile whatsoever who seems to have found a route into being able to effectively compete with the right’s hypemasters without becoming a crypto-Ratpub himself appears to be Florida congressman Alan Grayson.
I don’t see him getting much play here on Booman Alley.
Hmmmm…
I wonder why not?
Too…”crude?”
Or is that just another term for “effective” amongst the habitual losers of the left?
Hmmmmmm…???
AG
Alan Grayson, who?
Okay so the Dems aren’t going to get it, the 60 votes. Ergo, the sheep wins. So who actually voted for the 60 vote supermajority? It’s a double-bind. Republicans are so strong that they can get Dems to cross over out of gear, but Dems can’t get Republicans to do the same. Hence, the 60 vote supermajority will never be overthrown, and forever, the Dems will be screwed.
Forget liberal-socialism. It’s passe. Viva la wealthy. Be free forget poor eat McDonalds, the new Dem slogan.
You really don’t know?
Hmmmm…
Here.
Check his act out.
He is the closest thing that we have to the wonderful Brit MP George Galloway in the unalloyed truth-telling department
Oh.
Did you miss Galloway, too?
Here.
George Galloway talks to the U.S.Senate.
Nice.
More of that, less wallowing around in the results of badly taken polls.
Please.
AG
Okay okay. So know I know Grayson, or at least his five minute speech to Congress. Thanks for the intro.
As far as Galloway is concerned, you just don’t read shergald diaries which covered his Viva Palestina org into Egypt and Gaza, or else, you are spending too much time over at that piddly site, myleftwing, which is now too embarrassed to host a site meter. Not many go there any more.
No problem, however. We can always learn from each other.
The so-called “romper room crowd” is potentially the deciding fucking vote in America today. …and the disdain that you transparently show for them is the single most important reason why it’s 7 to 3 against that the Dems will win again.
Just as it’s always been. Since Nixon won, anyway.
Elitism doesn’t play what in the U.S., even when it is (somewhat) deserved.
AG
…not surprising from a group of blindered leftiness libs who cannot even look full-on at why they lose so much, so badly and so often…just a little more.
From Slate:
My reaction exactly.
An attention getter.
The blindered leftiness view.
The “call me anything but call me often” reaction. A desired reaction.
And there it is.
Watch.
Who wants to take a bet against a Fiorina primary win?
As long as she continues to give Davis room to create…in LaLaLand California particularly…I’m giving good odds.
Anybody?
(ZZZZzzzzz…the silence of the leftiness sheeple…)
AG
(I am not letting this idea go. It’s too important. Unless the Dems begin to understand what is happening here and effectively counter it, the U.S. is headed straight down again. Watch.)
From The Daily Beast
Yup.
Watch.
AG
because it’s always good to have to explain your ad.
It is ” always good to have to explain your ad” if you only have to explain it to those towards which it was not aimed.
It gets you even more coverage. (See “spell my name right” above for more on that idea.)
And the the real targets of that ad?
Man…they don’t need no egghead motherfuckers to ‘splain that ad to them. It goes right directly into their medullae oblongatae and riles ’em up real good!!!
Which is ‘zackly what it was s’pose to do.
Very deep.
That you miss the whole thrust of what I am saying.
Deep.
AG
i just disagree. The Paris Hilton ad? I’d agree. Demonsheep? No one gets it even on a subliminal level. Other than ‘Campbell bad.’ nothing else of value is conveyed.
That’s what it’s supposed to do, Booman.
Good advertising is what works.
What sells the product.
Nothing more and nothing less.
No matter if it’s the cleverest ad in the world or a shove right down the throat of the viewer. Ain’t about that.
It’s about selling to the chosen demographic.
The people who are being sold by that ad?
They buy Sham Wows and Insta-Peelers and shit.
Bet on it.
The Rats know.
We’ve gotta figure out how to reach people who maybe are not so blessed with a certain kind of intelligence as are your average dedicated Dems. Figure it out without descending to the lowest common denominator.
Hard to do, but it must be done.
Or else.
Or else what?
Or else this.
Sorry to harp on the obvious, but there it is.
The Rats will fuck up and fuck up and then fuck up some more. All the while effectively selling to a demographic that provides them w/a working majority. And maybe cheating a little if they don’t quite get there, of course.
And eventually…
Their fuckups will kill us all.
Bet on that as well.
Station WTFU signing off yet once again.
Wake the fuck…ahhhh…you know!!!
Later…
AG
But any Californian with a pulse won’t soon forget how Carly Fiorina brought H/P to its knees. H/P remains one of the state’s largest employers. Spying on other corporate officers at the expense of the company. It ought to make for some good ads against her.
Carly’s ad likely won’t change things much. Californians know all too well about the state’s woes.
AG’s right.
Some will talk about how great the ad is.
Some will talk about how horrible it is.
Some will talk about how it only cost $15,000 to make.
Some will talk about how it went viral on the internet and got coverage on everything from Glenn Beck to Rachel Maddow.
But in the end, people talked about it. People not even in California now know who Carly Fiorina is.
And as long as the low-information voter’s vote counts as much as the most informed politico in the country, Demon Sheep is 100% win. Fiorina’s ad boys know how to play the game. “What’s next after Demon Sheep, Carly?”
Nuff respect due. They know exactly what level this game is played at.
Yup.
Precisely.
Thanks.
AG
The target audience comes through very clearly.
Usually ads don’t give such a vivid image of their audience.
That is part of its brilliance.
AG