“The Rick Scott is perfect”

October 1, 2014 7:32 PM

Democrats are like a bad wedding dress. College Republicans make "Say Yes To The Dress" themed ads for governor races across the country. Because, you know, it's culturally relevant.
posted by selfmedicating (47 comments total)

So, wait, young people aren't supposed to honor and respect the wisdom of their elders? Daughters aren't supposed to obey their parents?


Something tells me that's not a typical GOP message.
posted by oddman at 7:41 PM on October 1, 2014 [2 favorites]

Nearly interchangeable poufy white candidates dresses? Seems a little on the nose for the Grand Old Party, but then again it's true that weddings, like elections, involve an insane ton of money, signing documents, and mostly importantly: health care.
posted by jetlagaddict at 7:43 PM on October 1, 2014 [18 favorites]

Like marriage, farce.
posted by Mblue at 7:45 PM on October 1, 2014 [2 favorites]

I dunno, it's an incredibly dumb ad, namely for the forced "coolness", but as political ads go it's actually nice to see one not completely drenched in negativity, outright lies, and poisonous ideas. Of course, the Republicans can't resist harping on "OMG the debt!", but even though it's completely untrue* they give a flip about the debt, at least this ad didn't make me want to body slam my laptop.

*Actually I haven't read up on Charlie Crist and the debt he's allegedly caused, but it's a pretty safe bet that's just a Republican talking point.
posted by zardoz at 7:52 PM on October 1, 2014

It concerns me a bit how much this video seems to have gone viral, and the fact that it is being used in the campaigns of republican governors in 6 or 7 states. Is it being shared because people think it is really dumb and offensive? Hope so, but suspect possibly not.
posted by likeatoaster at 7:53 PM on October 1, 2014

They couldn't be doing a better job of targeting the audience of Reality TV if they used endorsements from Honey BooBoo and a Kardashian.
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:02 PM on October 1, 2014 [3 favorites]

It's so fucking... VAPID. Like the Republicans are some old guy that come up to you and says "OH-EM-GEE YOU LIKE YES TO THE DRESS TOO? YOU SHOULD TOTALLY VOTE REPUBLICAN, RIGHT?"

It's like their #iamrepublican hashtag which immediately got hijacked by masses upon masses of snarky liberal Twitter users so the only message that comes out is "Republicans look like even more out of touch retards that have no idea how social media actually works".
posted by Talez at 8:28 PM on October 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

So the analogy is, voting for a candidate is like picking a wedding dress, because in both cases you're making a symbolic commitment to someone who will screw you for years to come.
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:29 PM on October 1, 2014 [54 favorites]

"Is it being shared because people think it is really dumb and offensive? Hope so, but suspect possibly not."

I read a lot of state political coverage (in Illinois, which is getting hit with a version of it), from both sides of the spectrum, including a state politics blog that covers and rates all political ads, and literally nobody in the state punditocracy today had anything positive to say about it ("creepy and degrading to women"). It was universally mocked ("so out of touch it's embarrassing"). In the comment sections, democrats were gleeful ("total collapse in the making") and republicans were pained ("there is a difference between laughing with someone and laughing at someone," saying the ad is mocking women for being superficial and that female voters aren't stupid). On the ad-qua-political-ads, lots of comments about it being a national ad not adequately tailored to a local race (more below); it being a typical college Party misfire; and that Rauner needs suburban moms, not young women, and the choice of target audience is mystifying and more likely to offend Rauner's core constituencies than earn him any young female voters.

Some people thought it was amusing -- but not very effective. Almost nobody thought it would be effective at connecting with young women. (I personally find it lightly amusing as a "generic political ad" because, hey, I am a person who reads a blog all about state political ads and this one is at least different! But as a political ad aimed at me as a younger female voter .... WOW. NO.) This was the best comment I saw on the blogs today about it, from user "Regina George": "Stop trying to make Rauner happen!"

The Illinois version also suffers from the fact that it proclaims Bruce Rauner a "trusted brand" which his press for the last two-three weeks has been all about federal criminal investigations into shady and illegal dealings into companies he owned, and a federal trial that has just started, and the Rauner camp is avoiding the word "trust" and trying to focus on "competence" because claiming Rauner is "trustworthy" get you an immediate visceral reaction of NO HE ISN'T and the current news cycle is hammering the shit out of that and Rauner's been falling in the polls as a result. (Not that Pat Quinn necessarily is trustworthy -- but Rauner's not running on being trustworthy, he's running on being "better at money than the current guy.") And the last thing Rauner wants to talk about right now is the income tax because a) he just flip-flopped on it and b) he just agreed to the necessity of an income tax increase. There was also a MUCH FUNNIER viral ad featuring a fancy dress and champagne from the IEA (I think it was) a couple weeks ago, where caricatures of "rich" people talked about why they were voting for Rauner, and it's reminded a lot of people of that ad.

It may play better in other states, but the script definitely wasn't optimized to Rauner's talking points.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 8:29 PM on October 1, 2014 [21 favorites]

Stung by increased scrutiny of their democracy-hating attempts to depress voter turnout, Republicans desperately try to bait Democrats into making "some people are too dumb to be voting" comments.
posted by straight at 8:31 PM on October 1, 2014 [5 favorites]

Democrats could mock that ad by making one about the wedding night that disappoints.
posted by Brian B. at 8:33 PM on October 1, 2014 [12 favorites]

That is so surreal it's almost appealing.
posted by Chitownfats at 8:43 PM on October 1, 2014

Is there anything in the world sadder than a college republican?
posted by octothorpe at 8:52 PM on October 1, 2014 [58 favorites]

I like the Demon Sheep commercial better.
posted by happyroach at 8:57 PM on October 1, 2014 [2 favorites]

Is there anything in the world sadder than a college republican?
posted by octothorpe at 12:52 PM on October 2 [1 favorite +] [!]

A grown-ass adult Libertarian?
posted by DoctorFedora at 9:02 PM on October 1, 2014 [90 favorites]

Reminds me of that really embarassing Better Together ad.
posted by Pope Guilty at 9:04 PM on October 1, 2014 [3 favorites]

I went to a college with a somewhat large for its size percentage of rich conservatives that got into the school based on money. So there were college republicans active on our campus more than a lot of schools. It's kinda funny looking back, but they just seemed to be angry 19 year olds being mad at liberals because their parents had to pay taxes. It was a taught thing. Not based on anything they themselves experienced. But they were diehard conservatives because they're whole lives they were told that "social policies reward the poor for our family's work" and so on. I like to think a lot of them grew out of it once they graduated and got jobs, but looking at the new batch of young GOP recruits I'm not so sure.
posted by downtohisturtles at 9:14 PM on October 1, 2014 [9 favorites]

It's just a piece of paper, nothing actually changes.
posted by fullerine at 11:29 PM on October 1, 2014 [3 favorites]

So, wait, young people aren't supposed to honor and respect the wisdom of their elders? Daughters aren't supposed to obey their parents?

Well, if the elders are a bunch of pinko Baby Boomer/GenXer hippies who spent their youth smoking pot in hot tubs and stuff, you have a problem.
posted by acb at 1:25 AM on October 2, 2014

"mom, i'm not shopping for a wedding dress anymore - my fiance's employer moved to china and we've decided that we just aren't going to make it when we're both working minimum wage at walmart"
posted by pyramid termite at 2:27 AM on October 2, 2014 [10 favorites]

Surely there's also a point to be made here about superficiality and the symbolic focus on the fleeting spectacle and froth of the wedding, which is, perhaps, meant to suggest an election, whereas the real work in any partnership happens after the exciting "event".

A flashy wedding does not a marriage make, and getting a representative elected based on their "brand" does not guarantee they won't be a colossal fuckup during their term.
posted by kcds at 3:44 AM on October 2, 2014

Keep laughing folks, but they're about to control both houses of the US Congress because we're too busy arguing about Nintendo.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:02 AM on October 2, 2014 [6 favorites]

Hear that? It is the sound of white guys patting themselves on the back.
posted by nickggully at 6:07 AM on October 2, 2014

I am a registered Democrat, and I kind of like Say Yes To The Dress.

Not these *ads*, which are demented and sad. But the show is okay.
posted by Chrysostom at 6:10 AM on October 2, 2014

I am a registered Democrat, and I kind of like Say Yes To The Dress.

Woman Takes Short Half-Hour Break From Being Feminist To Enjoy "Say Yes to the Dress"
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 6:16 AM on October 2, 2014 [6 favorites]

Keep laughing folks, but they're about to control both houses of the US Congress because we're too busy arguing about Nintendo.

As long as we can agree that the Ds aren't losing control of both houses because of these ads, I'm happy.
posted by Going To Maine at 6:24 AM on October 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

If we gave more money to the Dems they could make stupid viral ads too maybe? Idk I'm feeling not great about things at the mo.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:39 AM on October 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Republicans win elections in this country because they know how abjectly stupid the American public is and cater to that in their advertising. Democrats think people have brains, vision and care about someone other than themselves. The amount of liberals that I've met with those qualifications in barely in the double digits. After 2008 Democrats had a talking point they could have used for the next 2 generations - with actual proof of how Republican policies can bring a country to its knees in less than a decade and for some reason they've all but abandoned it. Republicans used Jimmy Carter successfully for 20 years and I can't remember the last time a Democrat used George Bush - and why? Because the Republicans - basically days after the election - started using an effective lock-step campaign to cow Democrats away from using Bush as an excuse for "their" failure - and the fucking stupid Democrats bought it. So now they - and Obama - basically own all of Bush's policy failures. Just incredible.
posted by any major dude at 7:34 AM on October 2, 2014 [8 favorites]

So now they - and Obama - basically own all of Bush's policy failures.

I completely dispute this, and would say that the 2012 election is pretty good evidence of that.
posted by Going To Maine at 7:43 AM on October 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Agreed, any major dude. Somehow, the Dems let Bush's budget nightmare become a Democrat albatross. And our elected High Politician of Castle White is spending money left and right on more bombs in the middle east, instead of doing the hard work of making Republicans recognize and fix our own failing infrastructure.

We're just fucked, and I don't even know how to begin climbing out of this morass. I did my part to help get the Dems in power, and they wasted it. Just wasted it. Sure, they were still a better option than McCain/Palin and Rompy and Co, but jesus that's a low damn bar.

This ad will play well to the demographic it's aimed at...young voters who rebel against their parents. (Although Crist is NOT a liberal.). That said, I doubt the youth vote on the conservative side will be any bigger than it has been since the decline of the Reagan youth, so...meh.

TLDR - We're doomed.
posted by dejah420 at 7:47 AM on October 2, 2014

I completely dispute this, and would say that the 2012 election is pretty good evidence of that.

Going to Maine, I said two generations, not two election cycles
posted by any major dude at 8:01 AM on October 2, 2014

I think what is less believeable than a young Republican woman comparing voting to the only other thing she finds gives her value as a person (marriage) is that she has a black bestie.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 8:03 AM on October 2, 2014 [5 favorites]

Really?
posted by kat518 at 8:50 AM on October 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

I have to admit, I pulled up the video going "it can't be that bad." I need a bath now.
posted by joycehealy at 8:55 AM on October 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Keep laughing folks, but they're about to control both houses of the US Congress because we're too busy arguing about Nintendo.

Ice been predicting this for the last STyx months, but the response had always been "No way, not going to happen." But now we're going to have two years where Confess is going to be busy repealing ObamaCare and impeaching the president. And I am going to folliw up with my prediction that the Republicans will use this to take the Presidency and pack the Supreme court. And the response right now is for people to run around like headless chickens screaming "We are fucked!"

But hey, enjoy the stupid commercial.
posted by happyroach at 9:14 AM on October 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

Ice been predicting this for the last STyx months, but the response had always been "No way, not going to happen." But now we're going to have two years where Confess is going to be busy repealing ObamaCare and impeaching the president. And I am going to folliw up with my prediction that the Republicans will use this to take the Presidency and pack the Supreme court. And the response right now is for people to run around like headless chickens screaming "We are fucked!"

I agree that if the GOP takes both houses, the next two years will be pretty bad. But I think that pretty much guarantees a Democratic victory in the Presidential race in 2016.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 9:23 AM on October 2, 2014

"Is it being shared because people think it is really dumb and offensive? Hope so, but suspect possibly not."

I read a lot of state political coverage (in Illinois, which is getting hit with a version of it), from both sides of the spectrum, including a state politics blog that covers and rates all political ads, and literally nobody in the state punditocracy today had anything positive to say about it ("creepy and degrading to women"). It was universally mocked ("so out of touch it's embarrassing").

I wonder whether an unintended consequence of Citizens United and the abolition of limits on campaign spending is that we're going to see a lot more tone-deaf Republican ads. Under previous pre-Citizens United conditions of relative scarcity, I could imagine that hard-nosed, pragmatic Republican political operatives would have more power to veto a wrongheaded, tone-deaf political ad. But when you have an unlimited spigot of money from the Kochs and every crazypants billionaire guy under the sun, you're going to have a lot more really, really rich people getting involved that you cannot say No to when it comes to vetoing a really colossally stupid political ad.
posted by jonp72 at 9:28 AM on October 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

And I am going to folliw up with my prediction that the Republicans will use this to take the Presidency and pack the Supreme court.

You mean the Supreme Court isn't already packed? Coulda fooled me.
posted by blucevalo at 9:54 AM on October 2, 2014

I wonder how many hours they spent looking for something that women put a lot of thought into that is universally white.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 9:57 AM on October 2, 2014 [3 favorites]

holy cats, jonp72, what a way to make lemonade from lemons! What a lovely outcome that would be--unfettered money running amok and ruining the political parties it's purporting to help. One can only hope.
posted by crush-onastick at 10:07 AM on October 2, 2014

So far the predictions are the R's take the Senate in 2014 and then the D's take the Senate and the Presidency in 2016. Followed by the House in 2020 because it's about as gerrymandered as it can get and even at that the demographic change is still catching up to the R's.

I'd like to hope we can avoid the interregnum of sanity that the R's taking the Senate in 2014 would bring, of course they'd try to impeach Obama but also if you think we've had a do nothing Congress so far wait until 2015 when the work of Congress becomes 100% passing insane Republican bills and Obama's job gets turned into nothing but a veto rubber stamp. I don't even slightly think the D's will have the whatittakes to use the filibuster as much as the R's have been which leaves it all up to Obama (and if that doesn't scare you, nothing will).

As for the ad in question, I think it's an almost perfect encapsulation of the desperate, and failing, attempts to be hip that both fundamentalist Christians and Republicans are prone to. They found something that was popular a few years ago, made a **bad** imitation with a political message as subtle as a giant flashing neon sign saying "THIS IS OUR POLITICAL MESSAGE!" and then they seem so proud, like they've actually engaged in a creative exercise that will connect with those pesky kids who won't get off their lawn.

What continues to puzzle me is that they've got a metric shitton of money, thanks to Citizen's United they can spend it with fewer restrictions than ever before, and yet they still can't seem to hire a creative team worth their pay. I know that there aren't many conservatives who get into the creative fields, but I know there are plenty of politically neutral or just plain liberal and mercenary designers, writers, directors, actors, etc who could be bought. And yet the R's and the Christian far right seems unwilling to just buy the talent that they lack.

Is it Dunning/Kruger at work? Are they so unaware of good design and good production that they simply don't recognize that their efforts are not merely bad but laughable?
posted by sotonohito at 10:15 AM on October 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

I don't even slightly think the D's will have the whatittakes to use the filibuster as much as the R's have been which leaves it all up to Obama (and if that doesn't scare you, nothing will).

I'm not even sure they should if they could. They can take the high road and let everything go to an up-or-down vote, knowing that Obama will veto anything crazy. Let a GOP-led Senate pass a bunch of go-nowhere unpopular bills, and the Dems can use all of that against them in 2016.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 10:25 AM on October 2, 2014

Rick Scott - the bare-shouldered, billowy-bosomed candidate!
"It's all about the garter".
posted by Chitownfats at 11:02 AM on October 2, 2014

joycehealy: "I have to admit, I pulled up the video going "it can't be that bad." I need a bath now."

Imagine living here in Florida and enduring a constant bombardment of video shit from the Rick Scott campaign. I keep the remote close to be able to mute this garbage. I don't know for sure if Charlie Crist is that much better than Scott. But his political ads certainly are.
posted by Splunge at 11:19 AM on October 2, 2014

yet they still can't seem to hire a creative team worth their pay.[...]Are they so unaware of good design and good production that they simply don't recognize that their efforts are not merely bad but laughable?

I think it must be something similar to why movies and video games have astonishingly great visual art but terrible writing and stories. People usually know when they have no talent for the visual arts, but everybody thinks they have good ideas and can write and that they have a good sense of humor.
posted by straight at 4:16 PM on October 2, 2014 [3 favorites]

A grown-ass adult Libertarian?

Why do I feel like I hear more shit talked on the Left about Libertarians than straight up traditional conservatives who believe pretty much the same things plus other worse things. Is it because they're so oversaturated on the internet? Higher standards for people who *sort of* agree about some stuff? I'll take a gun nut over a combined gun nut/anti-abortion nut/war nut any day.
posted by atoxyl at 5:32 PM on October 2, 2014

Eyebrows McGee's analysis had me so cheerful that this ad was a flop in all directions but now i'm all bummed out about how dismal these election results are going to be. *sob*
posted by ghostbikes at 2:28 PM on October 3, 2014