DOG WHISTLES….Newsday’s John Riley, after watching John McCain’s latest ad montage linking Barack Obama to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, is perplexed by his choice of celebrities:
Anyone with even a vague sense of pop culture knows that Britney and Paris are yesterday’s news. Here’s a link to Forbes’ Celebrity 100. Paris and Britney don’t even make the list any more. Instead, the top 10, in order: Oprah Winfrey, Tiger Woods, Angelina Jolie, Beyonce Knowles, David Beckham, Johnny Depp, Jay-Z, The Police, JK Rowling, Brad Pitt.
So, they didn’t pick other big celebrities, who were either men, or black, or married. What they picked was two sexually available white women.
But it must have been a coincidence, because we know John McCain wants to run an elevated campaign focusing on the serious issues that America faces.
Meanwhile, Adam Serwer acidly notes the Obama campaign’s ritual denunciation of rapper Ludacris for writing some offensive lyrics about John McCain and Hillary Clinton:
I hear that one of the goals of the transition team is plans for a new federal agency that will deal exclusively with issuing apologies on behalf of Barack Obama for anything black people do that offends you.
Indeed. Gonna be a long campaign.
