Hahn's Homeboyz

June 15, 2011 7:06 PM

In CA-36, Democrat Calls For Blanket Condemnation Of Stunning New Web Ad. Initially, businessman Craig Huey, a tea party Republican, did not respond to a request for comment. Neither did the Los Angeles County GOP. Eventually, Huey's campaign manager stated, "If I could wave a magic wand and take it down, I would. The video was created by Turn Right USA PAC.
posted by black rainbows (150 comments total)

HOLY FUCKING HELL!!!
posted by wherever, whatever at 7:13 PM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]

Well trolled.
posted by b1tr0t at 7:13 PM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]

That can't be real.
posted by purephase at 7:16 PM on June 15, 2011

This can't be real. Right? The blood red font? The Thriller eyes at the end? Please tell me this is fake.
posted by Uppity Pigeon #2 at 7:16 PM on June 15, 2011 [7 favorites]

Damn you, purephase.
posted by Uppity Pigeon #2 at 7:17 PM on June 15, 2011

black rainbows: "Eventually, Huey's campaign manager stated, "If I could wave a magic wand and take it down, I would. "

With no limits on advertising expenditures from "Super PACs" and no mechanism to reveal exactly who's funding them, we'll be seeing more and more outrageous ads along these lines in the coming months and a passel of candidates able to wash their hands of any involvement.

It's shit like this, Supreme Court.
posted by Rhaomi at 7:17 PM on June 15, 2011 [63 favorites]

If you just shuffle the words a bit you'll realize that Craig Huey is just an anagram for Dave Chapelle.... or Rage Icy Uh.
posted by En0rm0 at 7:19 PM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]

I like the part where they say "so we can get out the beat" and totally go out of synch with the shitty drum track.

Can we start making similar ads about the Supreme Court members and hiding their financial backers behind Super PACs? That kind of thing may be the only way we'll get them to rescind the decisions they've made which lead to this kind of thing.
posted by hippybear at 7:21 PM on June 15, 2011 [14 favorites]

If the candidate supports this ad he needs Thorazine, not a job governing.

It seems like the hardcore right in this country has an average mental age of 6, sometimes.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 7:21 PM on June 15, 2011 [3 favorites]

oh god that is awful. I could not stop laughing.
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 7:22 PM on June 15, 2011 [6 favorites]

Mark my words: this is going to be looked back as calm and tasteful compared the shit coming out for the Presidential race. When Fox can talk about the White Hizzy and nobody bats an eye, it's going to be a long nightmare.

This is the face of the conservative movement. Monsters from the id.
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 7:23 PM on June 15, 2011 [40 favorites]

I might be slow on the uptake but... Is this real...?
All signs point to yes, but...
posted by Enigmark at 7:24 PM on June 15, 2011

See those Negroid animals with their giant Negroid penises are going to violate that blonde whore who is forced to dance for them to get the government cheese (that's Negroid lingo for "taxpayer money") given to the Negroids by that liberal race-traitor Councilwoman.

I don't really see the problem with this ad; it pretty accurately exemplifies what the Tea Party is thinking, without sidetracking us with misleading euphemisms like "socialist". There's something to be said for the honesty of pure, unvarnished race-hate.
posted by orthogonality at 7:25 PM on June 15, 2011 [39 favorites]

I liked the scenes where she seemed to be giving the guy a blow job because it reminded me of the relative peace and prosperity we enjoyed during the Clinton administration.
posted by twoleftfeet at 7:25 PM on June 15, 2011 [36 favorites]

Wait, was that a still from Brazil amongst all the congressional pictures!?
posted by LastOfHisKind at 7:25 PM on June 15, 2011 [3 favorites]

When Fox can talk about the White Hizzy and nobody bats an eye

Yes, even aside from the fact that all right-thinking people know it's hizzouse, ffs.
posted by elizardbits at 7:28 PM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]

Wait, was that a still from Brazil amongst all the congressional pictures!?

I counted two stills from Brazil. And Che Guevara
posted by Flashman at 7:30 PM on June 15, 2011 [3 favorites]

That was pretty catchy.
posted by klangklangston at 7:31 PM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]

This is from the Onion, right? right? No, really, come on...

Holy Fucking Shit.
posted by pointystick at 7:34 PM on June 15, 2011

I take that back -- according to the classification on their page (which is now down, apparently), their type of organization *does* have to disclose donors to the FEC, though their spending is still unconstrained. 501(c)(4)'s are the ones with undisclosed donors. Here's their (blank) FEC page for reference.

Still, the tone of this ad is a harbinger for 2012.
posted by Rhaomi at 7:37 PM on June 15, 2011

Yes, even aside from the fact that all right-thinking people know it's hizzouse, ffs.

Flippity-floppity-floop.
posted by kafziel at 7:40 PM on June 15, 2011 [3 favorites]

If the goal of this ad is to get Hahn elected, nice work.
posted by fungible at 7:41 PM on June 15, 2011

I always knew there'd be a post on Metafilter where I wouldn't click. This is now that one time.

Because I know, somehow, that after viewing this video, just from the comments, that I'd have to go out somewhere quiet and perform trepanning on myself to relieve the pressure in my skull after having seen it.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 7:42 PM on June 15, 2011 [4 favorites]

I'm shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you, that our American boy-loving tea-drinking GOP faithful would air such an ad.
No, wait, I'm not.
posted by Old'n'Busted at 7:43 PM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]

So the horrible rappers...do they have no pride? I can't imagine they are Tea Party faithful. I'm all for cashing the paycheck, but not if I have to be a soulless manipulative talentless bastard to do so. Well, to be honest I guess it depends on the size of said check.
posted by cjorgensen at 7:44 PM on June 15, 2011 [4 favorites]

Today I learned that Eric Wareheim has started to make political ads.
posted by piratebowling at 7:46 PM on June 15, 2011 [17 favorites]

Here's the comments page for the video; the PAC's account ("RightTurnUSA" on YouTube) left a bunch of responses.
posted by Rhaomi at 7:50 PM on June 15, 2011

I just really don't know what to think. Either there are democrat party strategists smart enough to pull off this brilliant fake out ad or there are Republicans so fucking dumb to spend money and actually execute this without one single person involved saying "um, you know this might just be a tad off color."

Either way, I'm delighted.

I really hope it's that republicans are this dumb, because, man, republicans sure are some dumb, dumb fucking people.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 7:50 PM on June 15, 2011 [10 favorites]

I saw this on Twitter - the tweet was something like "Wow, most racist ad I've ever seen" and I thought of the most racist ad I could imagine someone making, and it still wasn't half as bad as the actual video.
posted by desjardins at 7:52 PM on June 15, 2011 [3 favorites]

In all seriousness, I would welcome Herman Cain's input on this topic.
posted by SPrintF at 7:52 PM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]

A classy insertion of theAFL-CIO logo plastered on a strippers butt next to the Cuban and Nigerien(?) flags. What does that even mean? These PACs don't even live in the real world. Fact is, this ad isn't even meant to persuade anyone. It is far right wank material that is intended to raise money from people in the flock with poor taste and few scruples.
posted by Winnemac at 7:52 PM on June 15, 2011 [3 favorites]

Benny Andajetz: "It seems like the hardcore right in this country has an average mental age of 6, sometimes."

Sometimes?
posted by octothorpe at 7:53 PM on June 15, 2011 [2 favorites]

In all seriousness, I would welcome Herman Cain's input on this topic.

Why does his web site not have a single visibly black supporter on it?
posted by desjardins at 7:55 PM on June 15, 2011

without one single person involved saying "um, you know this might just be a tad off color."

"Off color"? Oh, that ad's all about color.
posted by orthogonality at 7:56 PM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]

desjardins: "Why does his web site not have a single visibly black supporter on it?"

Probably because his campaign doesn't have many visible black supporters on it.
posted by Rhaomi at 7:58 PM on June 15, 2011 [2 favorites]

If I ignore the fact that this is (allegedly) real and ignore all of the racist and sexist implications, that was the funniest thing ever.
posted by kiltedtaco at 8:00 PM on June 15, 2011 [2 favorites]

Are we sure that Daniel Tosh isn't behind this? Seems like his sort of schtick.

<sub>Earlier today, I (as Washingtonians frequently do) ran into a group of protesters outside of a government building. This time, they had two huge signs reading "LOWER FOOD PRICES" and "LOWER RENT." Given the outrageous cost of living in the DC area, I happily concurred with both of these messages -- for once a protest group I agree with....until I saw the third sign: "LaRouche 2012."

I turned around and ran, and kept running until I was sure that they couldn't see me. What's with those guys anyway? They've got such an enduring and consistent brand of crazy -- how do they manage to find so many like-minded supporters?</sub>
posted by schmod at 8:02 PM on June 15, 2011 [2 favorites]

Tim and Eric have gone TOO FAR!
posted by hellojed at 8:05 PM on June 15, 2011 [6 favorites]

On the one hand, it would seem that ads like this ensure the Democrat's win. On the other hand, I die.

It's almost too ridiculous to even condemn. But maybe that's what those zany, unpredictable Republicans are banking on: The Tracy Morgan effect [pre- recent insane homophobic assholery].
posted by black rainbows at 8:07 PM on June 15, 2011

Hey, I found the original drafts of that ad!

Here's a member of the vile lower race all over a fallen blonde whore. The caption says, “She belongs to the church, she belongs to Satan. Both are lost to the German race.”

And here, one of them take sone of our women to see a porno, preparatory to violating her.

And here, one of them uses his stolen riches to make a blonde woman into a street whore.
posted by orthogonality at 8:08 PM on June 15, 2011 [2 favorites]

I wonder how much money it takes to get people to star in a video like this.

schmod- Oh god, every Thursday last summer the LaRouche jerks would show up on Wall St. and Broadway with their folding table and giant signs. I'd get annoyed that they were in the way, but then feel bad, because seeing a group of older men clad in floppy hats, shorts, pulled-up sweatsocks, and velcro shoes just kind of makes me feel sad.
posted by evidenceofabsence at 8:09 PM on June 15, 2011 [2 favorites]

This is like a reverse Willie Horton.
posted by drezdn at 8:10 PM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]

Today I learned that Eric Wareheim has started to make political ads.

I think that's Eric Cartman.

Motherfuckers should be forced to set up a projector and show that ad on a supermarket wall . . . in Compton. Fuck, *I* would put a cap in their sorry asses.
posted by fourcheesemac at 8:12 PM on June 15, 2011

(Oh, but now prepare for the swiftboat process: every tv news program will show this ad over and over again while laughing and tsk tsking it.)
posted by fourcheesemac at 8:13 PM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]

schmod - they are simply a cult. There was a great City Paper article about them a few years ago...
posted by stratastar at 8:15 PM on June 15, 2011

Here's the filmaker's website.

And here's his blog post on the ad.
posted by dirigibleman at 8:20 PM on June 15, 2011

The LaRouchies are "older men" now? Crap, I do feel old.

I remember when they were all very earnest grad students, unironically explaining that Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas Queen, Defender of the Faith, is the dark mastermind behind the international narcotics trade.
posted by orthogonality at 8:20 PM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]

This is going to backfire horribly. I hope republicans pour a ton of cash into this bullshit and go broke doing it.
posted by humanfont at 8:24 PM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]

I come from the school of Peckinpah and Welles. Which means: I'm not afraid to come out swinging.

Ok, that shit is hilarious.
posted by craichead at 8:26 PM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]

I stand for everything they taped to the woman's buttocks.
posted by elektrotechnicus at 8:27 PM on June 15, 2011 [6 favorites]

Fucking California, man. What the fuck. You've got half the nation's liberals but your conservatives make up for it by stoking the hate so hot Arizona gets jealous.
posted by edheil at 8:27 PM on June 15, 2011 [2 favorites]

This is going to backfire horribly.

I'm sure good responsible liberals assured themselves of the same thing about Der Sturmer from 1923 on. And by 1945, they were right!
posted by orthogonality at 8:28 PM on June 15, 2011 [14 favorites]

!!!
posted by serazin at 8:29 PM on June 15, 2011

Damn, Negros! Y'all scary!
posted by BitterOldPunk at 8:30 PM on June 15, 2011 [5 favorites]

The additional links dirigibleman provided cut my chortles short. I can see how they'll fashion this into their narrative: politically incorrect [because only pansy liberals are that], unrepentant "fun metaphor" employers, and unafraid to come out swinging. Mavericky 2.0.

They could have dozens of these shitstain operatives, making despicable videos that leaders then easily distance themselves from, after their lobotomized base takes their cues.
posted by black rainbows at 8:37 PM on June 15, 2011

Today I learned that Eric Wareheim has started to make political ads.

Tim and Eric could literally insert that into one of their shows and I wouldn't blink. At all.

The ad is fucking hilarious on about eight levels. Great job!
posted by Bookhouse at 8:40 PM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]

Has a PAC ever released an awful, reprehensible ad in support of "their" candidate in order to secretly sabotage someone? Alternately, has a candidate that claimed "It wasn't us!" ever end up being directly connected to their PAC's shitty ad?
posted by evidenceofabsence at 8:42 PM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]

Can we get back to trying to figure out why there are stills from Terry Gilliam's Brazil in this "ad"?
posted by ennui.bz at 8:55 PM on June 15, 2011 [2 favorites]

I thought that was supposed to represent Pelosi.
posted by Bookhouse at 9:02 PM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]

Odd that they put Hahn's face on the stripper. You'd think she would be a pimp and the upstanding taxpayer would be the one being violated with the barrel of an Ak-47. Let's have some coherence in our sociopathic metaphors, please.
posted by Horselover Phattie at 9:07 PM on June 15, 2011 [2 favorites]

I found out about this from Frank Conniff, aka TVs Frank, who had this to say:
"On MST3K, I never saw a piece of filmmaking even close to being as vile & putrid as this."

So true.

What strikes me though, is no matter how racist, homophobic, etc, people still back the Republican party candidates who do these types of things, because of "money". Where is their limit? How down right evil does someone have to be? Do i really want to know the answer to that?
posted by usagizero at 9:11 PM on June 15, 2011 [6 favorites]

Can we get back to trying to figure out why there are stills from Terry Gilliam's Brazil in this "ad"?

Duh, because liberals are nazis and fascists that want to control everything and everyone. :P
(secretly hoping this gets their asses sued to the ground for putting them in there.)
posted by usagizero at 9:13 PM on June 15, 2011

black rainbows I think that's about how this will work out.
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 9:14 PM on June 15, 2011

I thought that was supposed to represent Pelosi.

It is. It's her face imposed on Katherine Helmond's.

Note the poster at 0:51—

From Wisconsin to Libya
Workers of the
World Unite!
Fight for
Communism

First: it doesn't even rhyme.

Second: Unions=Libya=Communism? Please draw me that Venn diagram, you gibbering morons.
posted by dogrose at 9:14 PM on June 15, 2011 [3 favorites]

I can never unwatch that.

That. Happened.
posted by andreaazure at 9:16 PM on June 15, 2011 [2 favorites]

This is who Republicans are.
posted by bardic at 9:21 PM on June 15, 2011 [2 favorites]

THIS IS WHAT REPUBLICANS ACTUALLY BELIEVE
posted by Rhaomi at 9:26 PM on June 15, 2011 [57 favorites]

Dum dum dum dum dum.
posted by orthogonality at 9:27 PM on June 15, 2011 [3 favorites]

Someone took their "more bizarre than an ICP music video" challenge a little too seriously.

It's so surreal it doesn't even read as offensive to me. Like when you watch the super racist scenes in Birth of a Nation and they can't even be parsed as racist in the modern context of what that means to us now.
posted by haveanicesummer at 9:31 PM on June 15, 2011

Also you have to give them credit for flashing an assault rifle on screen while saying "Let's keep her OUT of congress homies!" in post-Giffords America. That takes some serious wtf chutzpah.
posted by haveanicesummer at 9:35 PM on June 15, 2011 [5 favorites]

That was the funniest thing I have ever seen! Satan just spit his drink all over the screen when I played it for him.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 9:36 PM on June 15, 2011

Fucking California, man. What the fuck. You've got half the nation's liberals but your conservatives make up for it by stoking the hate so hot Arizona gets jealous.

Nah. Arizona still has Jan "Old Headless" Brewer, Sheriff Joe "Corruption" Arpaio, State Senator Russell "SB 1070" Pearce and just elected Dan Quayle's little kid, Ben "Skippy Silverspoon" Quayle to US Congress. That's not even getting into Kyl and McCain and the myriad other right-wing nutjobs in office out here.

AZ got nothing to be jealous of there, man. We're in a league of our own.
posted by darkstar at 9:43 PM on June 15, 2011 [4 favorites]

So the horrible rappers...do they have no pride?

Maybe the rappers are Democrats and knew this was going to end badly, probably not though.
posted by dibblda at 9:46 PM on June 15, 2011

Also, they flashed Tokyo Rose on the fine young lady's buttocks. What was that about?
posted by dibblda at 9:49 PM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]

Note the poster at 0:51— From Wisconsin to Libya Workers of the World Unite! Fight for Communism

First: it doesn't even rhyme. Second: Unions=Libya=Communism? Please draw me that Venn diagram, you gibbering morons.

I hate to be that guy, but this is actually a poster supporting the Revolutionary Communist Progressive Labor Party, which is a real organization. Original photo from this RW blog. PLP's May day 2010 photo gallery. The PLP is a bunch of simpleminded loons, but it suits people on the right to photograph them at some generic leftie protest along with representatives of the SEIU or whoever, and conflate them as being all the same. This is why I don't go on marches or public demonstrations: I have no wish to keep company with nutcases like the PLP, any more than I would with a bunch of KKKers.
posted by anigbrowl at 10:09 PM on June 15, 2011 [3 favorites]

I'm on Team Can't Be Real, because they actually would have had to talk to the black dudes who star.

Also, why is the song so catchy? I'm sure I'll offend someone tomorrow by singing it on accident. I should Stay away from the bank.
posted by sugarfish at 10:31 PM on June 15, 2011

I caught the Pelosi photoshopped still at the end but what was the other Brazil image used?
posted by Bwithh at 10:38 PM on June 15, 2011

THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE
posted by flotson at 11:20 PM on June 15, 2011

It's real, but I doubt that this is actually meant to influence the CA-36 race (where a Democratic win was and still is pretty much a foregone conclusion.) Nor do I think this was ever intended for television.

I suspect that the ad -- filmed by the same people who did those Alabama Ag Commisionner ads that went viral last year -- is just donation bait. It certainly got sent around the web in a hurry, but I'm not sure that the PAC got much mileage out of it. I really can't imagine even the most hardened GOP partisan being convinced to open their wallet for this.

Democrats, on the other hand, are probably going to make a bundle. I got on email from Hahn herself about the ad, and one from the DCCC, which was also trying to convince readers about how direly they need money for this race (A Tea Party Republican winning in LA? In that district? Against a Hahn? Ha, you get nothing Steve Israel!)
posted by Weebot at 11:31 PM on June 15, 2011

sugarfish: I wouldn't be surprised if the rappers and the strippers were told that this was a parody to get them to play along.
posted by Weebot at 11:39 PM on June 15, 2011

Hahahhaha


hahahahah


oh man


hahah


democracy i <3 u
posted by TwelveTwo at 11:41 PM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]

Man, imagine having this on your resume.

2011: Shaked butt in shockingly racist political ad.
posted by dirigibleman at 11:49 PM on June 15, 2011 [2 favorites]

HO






LEE






SHIT.


What strikes me though, is no matter how racist, homophobic, etc, people still back the Republican party candidates who do these types of things, because of "money". Where is their limit? How down right evil does someone have to be? Do i really want to know the answer to that?

I do want to know the answer to that. At what point is the inconvenience of paying your fucking taxes overwhelmed by the horrors that are wrought in the name of "old fashioned American conservative values?" Really. Because it's really getting awful. But every time I think, "OK how can y'all possibly argue that this is OK?" I watch people tie themselves in ever more tortuous rhetorical knots to justify this shit.
posted by louche mustachio at 12:23 AM on June 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

This is how democracy dies. To thunderous booty-clapping.
posted by ShutterBun at 12:31 AM on June 16, 2011 [4 favorites]

I come from the school of Peckinpah and Welles.

i never knew they operated a kindergarten
posted by pyramid termite at 12:31 AM on June 16, 2011 [6 favorites]

Yeah, this is just nuts on so many levels. The L.A. gangsters from those cited intervention programs? Primarily Hispanic, but I guess the filmmaker prefers rap to norteño. Mainly, though, I'm shocked anyone cares this much about Janice Hahn, and for pure amusement am hoping this is the wave of the future for L.A. political advertising.
posted by Scram at 12:35 AM on June 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

Glamour shot of a young Joseph Stalin scrolling across at the one-minute mark. No lie.
posted by decagon at 12:36 AM on June 16, 2011

Is this the thing that Frank Conniff tweeted about, saying "On MST3K, I never saw a piece of filmmaking even close to being as vile & putrid as this"?
posted by JHarris at 12:57 AM on June 16, 2011

Amusing reaction from a Huey campaign spokesman to an earlier Hahn ad, which compared Huey to Sarah Palin: "We think it's a shame that she chose to launch her campaign here in the runoff election with a negative ad that tries to smear her opponent," Gilliard said. "It really insults the intelligence of the voters in the 36th District."
posted by ShutterBun at 2:00 AM on June 16, 2011

Ah, YouTube comments. Always on the way down, never quite hitting bottom.

I wish liberals would get this upset when real rap videos came out.
posted by running order squabble fest at 2:43 AM on June 16, 2011 [4 favorites]

The best part about that ad is that it lays bare the psyche of your average teapartier. The fact that it's all crazy ass Glen Beck style montages of random pictures? That is how those people have been trained to think. Dog whistles and all that other Pavlovian shit.

No joke, I hundred percent hope people start registering fake PACS and coming up with awesome ads like this for the candidate they don't want to see elected. Want to see people accuse their own candidate of truly ridiculous shit.

"[Democrat] is a 33rd degree free mason!" *90 seconds of epilepsy inducing history of Free Masonry, end shot of [Democrat] with glowing red eyes, fangs, and features subtly altered to resemble a lizardman* "[Democrat] can't prove they aren't half Reptiloid until we see the birth video. Where's the video [insanely racist slur / deeply out of touch slang usage (dawg, droog, esse, hombre, etc. etc. etc.)]?!"
posted by Peztopiary at 2:46 AM on June 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

Who are the two guys 'rapping' ? Names, I want names, people.
posted by likeso at 3:20 AM on June 16, 2011

Strike that. I already know. Uncle Tom and Stepin Fetchit.
posted by likeso at 3:24 AM on June 16, 2011 [3 favorites]

Yeah, the creator of that piece of trash didn't like it when I tweeted my disgust back at him.

In all honesty I thought about making a post then but I didn't want to give him the eyeballs.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 3:44 AM on June 16, 2011 [3 favorites]

THIS IS WHAT REPUBLICANS ACTUALLY BELIEVE

Those black men are all Atlas and they have shrugged.
posted by srboisvert at 4:11 AM on June 16, 2011

I'm pretty surprised they used actual black people and not just a couple of assholes in blackface, now that I ponder it.
posted by elizardbits at 4:25 AM on June 16, 2011 [3 favorites]

democracy i <3 u

I know that "<3" is supposed to be a heart and mean love but whenever I see that symbol I see those plastic/rubber things that rednecks hang off the bumpers of their pickup trucks thinking it is the very height of cleverness. You know. Balls.

So...it is kind of appropriate that democracy gets teabagged.
posted by srboisvert at 4:28 AM on June 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

I'm laughing so hard I can barely type (and, yes, that damn song is echoing in my head-- I'll probably be mentally humming it all day.) I'm not going to try second guessing how other people will react, we'll just have to wait on the election results, however this does give me pause for the next presidential elections. How far over-the-top can a campaign go before it topples over?
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 4:28 AM on June 16, 2011

So the strategy is for the Republican's to field such bat-shit insane candidates that the democrats will continue to happily elect center-right pro-business candidates.
posted by psycho-alchemy at 4:38 AM on June 16, 2011 [3 favorites]

As reprehensible as the ad is, if events play-out as they usually do in the conservative echo chamber, the real horror show has yet to begin. It will come as the spin machine gears-up. First step is to completely ignore the ad itself and immediately launch into a 24/7 "Why won't Hahn answer her critics? What is she hiding?" drumbeat.

This is usually how the playbook works. Make outrageous attack. Get noticed. Treat the criticism as "avoiding the issue".
posted by Thorzdad at 4:55 AM on June 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

Also you have to give them credit for flashing an assault rifle on screen while saying "Let's keep her OUT of congress homies!" in post-Giffords America. That takes some serious wtf chutzpah.

It's way beyond chutzpah at this point, seeing as it's unclear whether Rep. Giffords will ever fully recover from... what was it again? Oh right, a bullet to the head! And! She's considered a lucky miracle in that incident. Any post-Giffords ad that airs a rifle next to exhortations to keep representatives out of their Congress should justify an overrule of Super PAC privacy protections.
posted by zoomorphic at 4:56 AM on June 16, 2011

Not seeing the Doctor Who connection.
posted by Eideteker at 5:06 AM on June 16, 2011

The person responsible for the ad is Ladd Ehlinger Jr., a "filmmaker" (you can Google him if you care to) who says on his website, "I come from the school of Peckinpah and Welles. Which means: I'm not afraid to come out swinging." He appears to fantasize about being some sort of nascent Andrew Breitbart. He is clearly looking for attention independent of any effect on the race, and it doesn't matter to him what attention he gets, as long as it leads to connections with people who will give him money and encouragement, of whom there will be plenty in Southern California. As noted above by Weebot, this is a reliably Democratic district that last went Republican in 1998, and Craig Huey's chances of coming anywhere close to winning it were about nil even before the video. And he's probably right about the ad -- in this political climate, it'll inspire more like it to get made even if by some chance it gets yanked or disappeared.
posted by blucevalo at 5:25 AM on June 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

Conservatives these days are so convinced they're right and so convinced that the opposing side's beliefs are invalid that they dismiss he other side's right to even influence the debate. They won't compromise. That is how they rationalize these kind of tactics. "I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." They have a pretty convoluted understanding of the concepts of liberty and justice.
posted by Daddy-O at 5:31 AM on June 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

I come from the school of Peckinpah and Welles.

...although I did have to repeat senior year a couple of times.
posted by running order squabble fest at 5:31 AM on June 16, 2011

This is the face of the conservative movement. Monsters from the id.

FreeRepublic made a token effort to address the ad. (Trigger warning: it's FreeRepublic)

Of the dozen or so meager comments mustered out over the ad (there are over a hundred on one post about Shirley Sherrod alone), about a half-dozen immediately stated they think it's "a Soros-funded trick to make conservatives look bad." Four said it was actually funny. Two complained that the media doesn't highlight how liberals are the real racists.


It's not just that they're racist; it's that they want to be allowed to be racist and are offended they're not.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 5:32 AM on June 16, 2011 [12 favorites]

Further proof of a pet theory of mine: Right Wingers SUCK at graphics.
posted by Scoo at 5:46 AM on June 16, 2011 [4 favorites]

I had to watch this without sound (being at work and all), and I'm pretty convinced they're just trying to hypnotize the viewer into becoming a teabagger using the mildly vibrating spandex kickpants.
posted by Mooseli at 5:48 AM on June 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

It's like they just grafted a campaign ad onto a deleted scene from Bamboozled (NSFW).
posted by Beardman at 6:02 AM on June 16, 2011

Do you all travel around the country? This is not how democracy dies. This is where we find out that the big flaw in democracy is that if the majority of the country are lowbrow, racist, brain-dead shitheads, then that becomes public policy. Spend a lot of time anywhere but the coasts and you start to feel outnumbered. Really, really, really outnumbered.

You think this is going to backfire just because it's vile and deceitful and indecent on several levels? It's already working. For every three MeFis snarking on this, there are 10 'good citizens' sagely nodding their approval with thin, humorless, stretched gray lips. Ain't a joke to them. It's a warning of a possible horrifying future. That they must organize to fight and put a stop to.

The greatest weapon they have is that we make fun of what they earnestly desire, and so do not take it seriously enough. We laugh at what they do. But in the end, we're just laughing, and they're doing the doing. Who was the guy on Jon Stewart who told him something like, 'Keep laughing. Keep making fun of us. That's what we want you to do. All it does is help us.'
posted by umberto at 6:12 AM on June 16, 2011 [9 favorites]

if the majority of the country are lowbrow, racist, brain-dead shitheads, then that becomes public policy.

that is a mighty, mighty big "if." The vast majority of this country are people who just don't feel that passionate about government and are letting the squeaky wheels turn the cart towards the right. There have been times when the squeaky wheels have been on the left: see abortion, birth control, unions, gay rights, women's rights, et. al.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 6:22 AM on June 16, 2011 [5 favorites]

Umberto NAILED it (though I don't agree that this is the majority of the country--geographically maybe, but not population-wise). Please don't just snark and assume this kind of thing will backfire. We want to believe that, but we're wrong. I don't know and don't care whether this kind of outrage is a deliberate strategy or not; if it lulls us into a false sense of security, we're screwed. Just get out the f-ing vote and make sure the people who think this way are left powerless.
posted by dust of the stars at 6:23 AM on June 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

What's the thought behind this? I mean there must be some process?
How much does this cost to make and then get onto all your friendly rightwing and presumably not so right wing blogs? Why is it against a politician who has a clear mandate?. If they are just going to piss their money away let them do so. I mean is anyone really going to be persuaded to vote by this crock of shit. I know there are some stupid people in So Cal. but really are they that stupid? (please don't tell me the answer is yes)
posted by adamvasco at 6:30 AM on June 16, 2011

Oh please, umberto, stop using this to justify your own (geographic, cultural) bigotry. Saying that the problem with democracy is that rednecks get to vote is just hateful bullshit.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 6:37 AM on June 16, 2011 [9 favorites]

I'm unreasonably annoyed that there's a photo of Charles Manson mixed in there. Manson was heavily, expressly, emphatically racist.

I don't know why this bugs me so much. Maybe there's so much crazy on display that my brain is screaming to find just one discrete wrong thing here, as opposed to this technicolor display of nuts.
posted by Sticherbeast at 6:38 AM on June 16, 2011

orthogonality: "See those Negroid animals with their giant Negroid penises are going to violate that blonde whore who is forced to dance for them to get the government cheese (that's Negroid lingo for "taxpayer money") given to the Negroids by that liberal race-traitor Councilwoman..."


Wait - Gov't Cheese is a euphemism? Here I thought it was that shitty nasty cheese I had to eat when growing up, the kind that came in a big long plain brown cardboard box and looked like Velveeta after it was shit out of a constipated Ronald Reagan's ass.
posted by symbioid at 6:48 AM on June 16, 2011

They, that's a tame rip-off of a much more offensive of a 2 Live Crew song, "Shake that ass".
posted by fuq at 7:14 AM on June 16, 2011

Wait, that means that these republicans are familiar with 2 Live Crew songs to find one they could properly switch the lyrics on.
posted by fuq at 7:16 AM on June 16, 2011

I think all Tea Party members have to be big 2 Live Crew fans, in order to spite Tipper Gore. I know, strange bedfellows and all that.
posted by running order squabble fest at 7:17 AM on June 16, 2011

I personally know people who would find this video hilarious and not in an ironic way. Even if they lived in this candidate's district, they weren't going to vote for her anyway so the ad wasn't going to sway them, but what it does is reinforces and normalizes their views. I agree with umberto. There are lots of these people, and they vote. We should be very scared and we should be out there getting people to the polls.
posted by desjardins at 7:26 AM on June 16, 2011

adamvasco: I know there are some stupid people in So Cal. but really are they that stupid? (please don't tell me the answer is yes)

If you've ever been to, lived in, or grew up in Southern California, the answer is a resounding yes. But "stupid" is the wrong word. To them it's truth, or a version of the truth.

Bulgaroktonos: Oh please, umberto, stop using this to justify your own (geographic, cultural) bigotry. Saying that the problem with democracy is that rednecks get to vote is just hateful bullshit.

I don't think that's what he's saying at all, but it's true that you can find many rednecks on "the coasts," including Southern California.

fuq: They, that's a tame rip-off of a much more offensive of a 2 Live Crew song, "Shake that ass".

I was wondering about that. The whole feel of the video seemed like a big ripoff of Luther Campbell to me and a big middle finger to him all in one.
posted by blucevalo at 7:40 AM on June 16, 2011

brucevalo - I lived on and off in San Diego for two years - must have met the wrong people.
Though I was confused when I was walking around one day and said "Good Day" to someone and they replied "What you doing?" and I said "Walking" to which they said "Why?"
posted by adamvasco at 8:13 AM on June 16, 2011

"What's the thought behind this? I mean there must be some process"

Does it piss off liberals? Then do it.

That's about as far as it goes.
posted by fungible at 8:15 AM on June 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

fuq: They, that's a tame rip-off of a much more offensive of a 2 Live Crew song, "Shake that ass".

It's Splack Pack. Not 2 Live Crew.

I went to high school with a couple of them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz3CLtFypPs
posted by synthetik at 8:19 AM on June 16, 2011

What caught my attention was that those were dollar bills - singles - tucked into the booty shakin' waistband. WTF? Is it all about the Washingtons now?

I consider that as evidence that it was produced by right wing bigots with both a poor understanding of cash obsessed hip hop culture and a limited budget. Come on, they could have just photocopied one Benjamin.
posted by Xoebe at 8:37 AM on June 16, 2011

THIS IS WHAT REPUBLICANS ACTUALLY BELIEVE

I'm digging on the idea of a They Live kind of scene where a Young Republican puts on a pair of sunglasses he finds and the only thing he can see is a constant loop of this video running over and over.

Because if I don't try to make it funny in my head, I'll get really angry about what I just saw.
posted by quin at 8:55 AM on June 16, 2011

The rappers in the video are Splack Pack. Link goes to the original version of their song (NSFW if your work doesn't approve of songs titled "Shake That Ass").
posted by dirigibleman at 9:05 AM on June 16, 2011

And yes, I know a bunch of people back home who took Michael Richards' "side" in his n-bomb meltdown. They're probably chuckling at this video right now.
posted by dirigibleman at 9:10 AM on June 16, 2011

I think it'd be interesting to intersperse bits of this video with Lee Atwater's Southern Strategy speech.

30 seconds of this, 30 seconds of "You start out in 1954 by saying, "Nigger, nigger, nigger." By 1968 you can't say "nigger"—that hurts you. Backfires." 30 seconds of this, 30 seconds of "You're getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites." and so on.

Can anyone do a good Lee Atwater impression?
posted by boo_radley at 9:52 AM on June 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

Can anyone do a good Lee Atwater impression?

Rush Limbaugh.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 9:54 AM on June 16, 2011

Will he work for scale?
posted by boo_radley at 9:56 AM on June 16, 2011

I came in to say that this looks to be on par with 2 Live Crew's actual work, but it appears I've been beaten to it.
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 9:57 AM on June 16, 2011

NRCC blames Hahn for the ad, says it makes a good point.
posted by dirigibleman at 10:44 AM on June 16, 2011

"Sure, it's racist, sexist and disgusting, but it raises a lot of good points about the dangers of miscegenation."
posted by klangklangston at 10:58 AM on June 16, 2011

CPUSA?

Really?

I wish there was a CPUSA worth a damn.
posted by dunkadunc at 10:59 AM on June 16, 2011

NRCC blames Hahn for the ad, says it makes a good point.

WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVEN
posted by happyroach at 11:40 AM on June 16, 2011

NRCC blames Hahn for the ad, says it makes a good point.
Told you...
posted by Thorzdad at 12:01 PM on June 16, 2011 [3 favorites]

The Tea Party is really ruining things for satirists.
posted by Mister_A at 12:55 PM on June 16, 2011 [2 favorites]

Long Beach Press Telegram:

The Fox 11 story was largely based on the allegations of two Los Angeles police officers who contended that Hahn, a city councilwoman, pressured the department to remove them from their beats in Watts after residents complained about their aggressive tactics.

A Daily Breeze article in the aftermath of the televised report showed that gang intervention workers identified in the story had not received city funding. Additionally, a convicted rapist was misidentified as a gang intervention worker, and Hahn was mistakenly accused of providing funds directly to gang workers.

The two police officers eventually lost a federal lawsuit claiming they were taken off a gang detail for criticizing the department.

posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 1:13 PM on June 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

what

There really is a race to the bottom going on in American politics. Those YouTube comments made a bigger impact on me than the actual video, by virtue of the fact that a lot of them thought this was a great political ad that represented their position.
posted by notashroom at 3:01 PM on June 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

There have been times when the squeaky wheels have been on the left

You might it interesting to cross-reference left-right political trends with demographic data. I think Republicans are a bit better at adapting their tactics and messaging to changing trends in this area than Democrats are.

The rappers in the video are Splack Pack. Link goes to the original version of their song (NSFW if your work doesn't approve of songs titled "Shake That Ass").

Well, it's kind of hard to say they've gone downmarket. I'm a hypocrite though, in that I like 2 Live Crew, Sir Mixalot and other rappers with varying degrees of misogyny. I hate to admit it, but the main thing that differentiates this stupid campaign ad from normal rap (besides the astounding poor quality of the video) is the unsuccessful mixture of booty and gangster rap.
posted by anigbrowl at 4:19 PM on June 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

I can't believe you all fell for that. My politics don't gel with the majority here so maybe that's why I can see right through it. It is so over the the top it has to be satire. It hit every stereotype so ham-handed that I was laughing at it. And knowing what it's doing to the blood pressure of the more delicate folks on the left made it even funnier. Kind of like Johnathan Swift, but with big black guys and AK-47's instead of serving Irish kids as breakfast.
posted by JohntheContrarian at 7:06 PM on June 16, 2011

Wait, in what ways was it like Swift, outside of exaggeration?

I hear this satire defense a lot… What do you think is the kernel of truth that they're lampooning?
posted by klangklangston at 7:46 PM on June 16, 2011

It is so over the the top it has to be satire. It hit every stereotype so ham-handed that I was laughing at it.

I thought so too until the guy turned out to also be doing real campaign commercials. have a look around his website, especially his Hive Mind project. I think he really is that stupid.

This is satire - from the last election, same congressional district. Even though it's a GOP commercial and blatantly panders to the large orthodox Jewish population in LA, it's still rather funny. This Mattie Fein person isn't running in the current race, oddly.
posted by anigbrowl at 8:09 PM on June 16, 2011

There really is a race to the bottom going on in American politics.

I wouldn't really call it much of a race. It's no competition, really.
posted by Flunkie at 8:30 PM on June 16, 2011

I am a day or so late to this conversation, but i just wanted to say.
I moved away from California recently, for Louisiana.

The main thing I noticed was the ass-shaking quality, state to state.

This is the best low budget ass shaking that can be found in California.

We have better Asses.

I still can not move my ass very good.

but I don't know.

politics?
posted by St. Sorryass at 12:47 AM on June 17, 2011

Spend a lot of time anywhere but the coasts and you start to feel outnumbered. Really, really, really outnumbered.

Hardly true. The East Coast is just as racist as the Midwest and Plains States. ;)

And the Southeast and Texas. ... OK, yeah, in West Texas I felt outnumbered.

But in Minnesota, Kentucky, Nebraska, Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, Kansas, um, Wisconsin, etc. etc. there are scads of progressives. Just scads. Enough to scare Ladd Ehlinger Jr. silly.

All teenage boys are reactionary conservatives (or nihilists). Most of us grow out of it sooner or later.

"I didn't kill anyone. I didn't even enable anyone to kill anyone....The ad's funny. It makes me laugh. So if, for some reason, it's pulled by YouTube, a thousand will be launched in its place."

posted by mrgrimm at 7:24 AM on June 17, 2011 [1 favorite]

Spend a lot of time anywhere but the coasts and you start to feel outnumbered. Really, really, really outnumbered.

Yeah, don't buy into this propaganda. Remember it only takes a county to have a voting record of 51% on the non-progressive side for that county to show up RED on an election map.

There are scads of progressives everywhere. EVERYWHERE. Even in a county which went 75% for the Republicans in the last election, that means that odds are one out of every four people you meet will have voted the other way.

That is sort of the opposite of "really really outnumbered".

On the other hand, even ever-liberal Massachusetts still has a sizable percentage of their electorate which isn't liberal at all. Look at the election results from 2010. Most races have the Rs getting a portion of the vote which isn't really that far behind the Ds.

So, yeah, stop viewing the country as Blue Coastal States vs. Red Flyover States. It's an untrue assessment of the true character of the country and is vastly unfair to all your potential allies who are living in parts of the country you're dismissing.
posted by hippybear at 4:21 PM on June 17, 2011 [8 favorites]

It's done. Hahn won 54.6% to 45.4%
posted by rdr at 1:55 AM on July 13, 2011 [1 favorite]

One can only thank Heaven that apparently it didn't work.
posted by running order squabble fest at 8:17 AM on July 13, 2011