I Love The Smell Of Panic In The Morning

He'd be running for the Senate.

 

Or governor...

 

I have a number of friends in Nashville who'll see through that ad in a minute.

Of course, the ad is designed to incite a certain segment of the population who will
take extreme umbrage at the thought of a black man (see: Ford) having relations
with a white woman.

I'd like to think the ad wasn't effective.

Unfortunately, in certain broad sections of that state, I'm quite certain it was.

Just Willie Horton, in another key.

Classless Rove-style pandering to peoples' worst instincts.

I'm not at all crazy about Ford. He's running a fine line, and I'll be surprised if he wins.

But he's infinitely superior to the blowhard he's running against.

 

What I like best about the ads against Ford is how insulting they are to Corker.
If the subtext is "Ford's an oversexed black man", then by extension, the opposite holds true. Corker's an undersexed white man.
Vote for Corker. He's No Good in Bed Either!

 

The anti-Ford ad didn't really strike me as racist, just stupid. The idea that he exercised poor judgment by going to a party sponsored by Playboy is fair game, although it is pretty marginal. I'm not sure what point the ad wanted to make with respect to the Playboy issue. That slutty looking women are attracted to him?

 

Playing on intolerant rednecks' fears of black guys firehosing "our little white girls" was the aim.

It is a racist aim.

 

Exactly who were the racist good ole boys that were going to vote for Ford prior to seeing the ad?

It was a tacky, trashy, ham-handed ad to be sure. It reflects badly on Corker, who did a far better job as Chattanooga mayor than he is as a Senate candidate. But it wasn't exactly D.W. Griffith remaking The Birth of a Nation. The faux bunny (who I could almost swear I've seen playing a similar role in an attack ad from a different cycle) wasn't exactly presented as a delicate flower of white Southern womanhood. If anything, the stereotype in play seemed to be "trailer park floozy."

 

Here is my question: Would any of you have had a problem with the ad if they had used a black woman as the Playmate?

 

Again -- Fuck Bob Corker.

And not just for this one ad, but for the complete body of ads he's run since Ford closed the gap. Corker has absolutely no basis to attack Ford politically, so he comes after his family -- playing on the whole, "he went to prep school in D.C., I'm just a good ole boy from UT" mentality.

He's run exactly one ad touting his own record -- using a bunch of Chattanooga residents saying how much he improved their lives during his tenure as mayor (the only problem was that several people in the ad weren't from Chattanooga) -- the rest of his ads have been pure attack, punctuated as always with, "I'm Bob Corker, and I approved this message."

Ford is handling it exactly the right way -- by not responding in kind. I can't wait for the news of Corker's illegal land deal (which he settled out of court to avoid giving a deposition) to get more play.

 

It elevates itself to a simply dumb ad.

 

So its okay for a black playmate to ask Ford to call her but not a white playmate?

I'm sorry, who's being racist again?