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Good News, Bad News, No News

BFF: Paris, Britney, Barack

Bill Radke

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Britney Spears, Barack Obama, and Paris Hilton
(Getty Images)

1. John McCain aired a TV ad comparing Barack Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. ("He's the biggest celebrity in the world, but is he ready to lead?") Is this campaign tactic Good News, Bad News or No News?

2. Very reputable researchers at the Salk Institute report they've found drugs that trick muscles into thinking they've been working out furiously. In mice, these drugs burn fat and significantly boost athletic endurance. One of the researchers said, "This is not just a free lunch." He called the drug "pharmacological exercise." Is that Good News, Bad News or No News?

3. A California referendum would ban factory farms from raising chickens, calves or hogs in small pens or cages. Livestock farmers say they want their animals to be healthy and happy so they produce more, but they're not pets. Would this farm reform be Good News, Bad News or No News?

  • Music Bridge:
    Misdirection
    Artist: Elephant9
    CD: Dodovoodoo (Rune Grammofon)
More stories from our Good News, Bad News, No News series

Comments

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  • By J. Gregory Twain

    From Portland, OR, 08/02/2008

    - Are you folks nuts? That anti-Obama "celebrity" ad is SO sleazy on so many levels it's staggering. You can smell Swiftboat and Karl Rove all over it, subliminally playing to all the worst in White America's prejudices.
    - What's the first thing most people think of with Paris Hilton - internet sex tape or brainless spoiled brat doing jail time.
    - What's the first thing people think of with Brittany Spears - an irresponsible erratic spoiled brat endangering her children, drug use, and bizarre behavior.
    - The ad hopes to subliminally link Obama with unsavory bimbos - the worst, most frivolous and decadent type of celebrity there is. They didn't try to link Obama's image with activists and humanitarian celebrities like Susan Sarandon, Angelina Jolie or George Clooney for a reason. They VERY consciously were going for an association with smut, sluts and sleaze.
    _ Finally, they were going for a subliminal link with the often unspoken racist fears of black men and "loose" white women. I wish I were wrong about this one, but I'm sure I'm not.
    - Overall, this ad would earn the admiration of Joseph Goebels for the number of ugly buttons it pushes on a subconscious and subliminal level. That ad is only "Good News" if the Press and Progressives call it out for what it is in ALL of its slimy complexity.
    - For the record, I am a white 63 year old male.

    By Mary O'

    08/02/2008

    Can you tell me why every media outlet, in the guise of analyzing this ad (and the others) feels it has to replay the very ad they're discussin, in full?
    Gratis to the McCain campaign - or to whomever's campaign.
    How about if you all stop dignifying these tactics and start asking them about issues and policies?

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