When Republicans Attack

The latest McCain ad, “Disrespectful,” gives new meaning to the phrase “negative campaign ad.” Several transitions segue into photos of Barack Obama and Joseph Biden from (literally) negative images. Notice also how frequently the shots cut off part of Obama’s and Biden’s heads.

Frame 82 5.455 seconds

Frame 83 5.521 seconds

Frame 86 5.721 seconds

Frame 88 5.854 seconds

Frame 114 7.584 seconds

Frame 121 8.050 seconds

Frame 144 9.580 seconds

Frame 151 10.45 seconds

Frame 194 12.906 seconds

Frame 199 13.239 seconds

Frame 248 16.499 seconds

Frame 254 16.898 seconds

Negative  Language:
The phrase “How disrespectful,” spoken by a chiding female narrator, recalls the old stereotype of the uppity Black man (see frame 121) dissing the white woman. The commercial also uses negative terms like “celebrity” (i.e. a superficial attention getter); “star is fading”; “lashed out”; “desperately”; “wrong.”

Misrepresentation:
The ad implies that Obama “dismissed” Palin as good looking (frame 121), when in fact the remark came from Biden, and in a humorous, self-deprecating way, with the audience about his own looks, (see Jake Tapper’s ABC blog entry and Andrew Romano’s Newsweek commentary).