Rick Perry launches his campaign with a sinister ad

[Zostrianos]

Rick Perry kickstarts his campaign with a creepy ad, with obvious Christian theocratic overtones, condemning Obama's "war on religion"...
mX9NZjOYfO4

[cb9's_unity]

The guy is getting desperate. Evangelicals are gonna have a hard time swallowing Romney or Gingrich, so he's just trying to make his move.

He's just a buffoon preaching to his small minded choir.

[The Young Pioneer]

Mmm, Jonestown-y.

[Veovis]

Mmm, Jonestown-y.

Let's hope he drinks the Kool-Aid sooner rather than later.

[Commissar Rykov]

He should have been wearing robes while rubbing his hands together while talking about people's children I think it would have really gotten his message across a lot better.

[socialistjustin]

He is losing his as right now and is desperate to say anything. We shouldn't be surprised that he would say such things as Iowa is dominated by the social conservatives, at least the Caucus is.

[the last donut of the night]

as of yesterday, the "strong" ad video had 533 views, but over 61,000 dislikes. lol

[Sam_b]

As of now: 3,481 likes, 157,679 dislike.

[Geiseric]

My life would be complete if I could make fun of rick perry un interrupted to his face. What a piece of shit...

[Metacomet]

Reported it to Youtube for hate speech targeting a specific sexual orientation.

[Sinister Cultural Marxist]

You all know, I'm guessing, what they say about Rick Perry down in Texas? They may be on to something ... methinks the Fundamentalist doth protest too much. From the looks of it, the guy's a regular Ted Haggard.

It is creepy that Christian quasi-fascism is becoming so blatant in the Republican party though.

[socialistjustin]

Is this a new development though? I would say no. In 2004 we went through the same stuff and the only reason 2008 didn't see a return to that strategy is because the economy sucked. The economy still sucks, but the republicans know they can't win that issue so of course they will go back to the tried and true strategy of bashing gays, reproductive rights etc.

[Demogorgon]

Perry shot his campaign hard in the foot with that disastrous debate performance, not that it was going anywhere anyway. What concerns me more than this rubbish is the fact that many of the other candidates will soon be trying to play the theocratic card too.

[MattShizzle]

It's now to over 200,000 dislikes and less than 5000 likes. Like lots of videos made by big time assholes, comments are disabled.

eta not this exact video but the one actually put up on YouTube by his campaign (same video but this one was by the comments put up with the video reuploaded by someone who doesn't support him)

[GPDP]

Is this a new development though? I would say no. In 2004 we went through the same stuff and the only reason 2008 didn't see a return to that strategy is because the economy sucked. The economy still sucks, but the republicans know they can't win that issue so of course they will go back to the tried and true strategy of bashing gays, reproductive rights etc.

Exactly. Workers are concerned about the economy, but Republicans will not fool any but the most brainwashed reactionary of their lot, most of whom are situated in rural areas. This is nothing more than pandering to their hardline base, which is mainly composed of the petit-bourgeois and the aforementioned rural reactionaries and evangelicals, people who either are not as affected by the economic downturn, or are sufficiently propagandized so as to look past it because EWW GAYS ARE YUCKY.

If anything, what this tells me is the Republicans have effectively and openly drawn the line in the sand. They've pretty much given up on trying to win the working class in general over to their side. All that's left to do is for the working class to do the same, but to the Democrats.

[RedZero]

Stumbled across this parody of Perry's ad:

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[Sasha]

http://i.imgur.com/TuQkM.jpg

Rick Perry: "Why can't I quit oops!?"
Update Sam Stein at Huffington Post got a huge scoop on the Iowa ad. Apparently it has divided Perry's top staff (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/08/rick-perry-anti-gay-iowa-ad-divides-top-staff_n_1136587.html).
But not everyone was comfortable with the script. When the ad was being crafted several weeks ago, Perry's top pollster, Tony Fabrizio, called it "nuts," according to an email sent from Fabrizio to the ad's main creator, longtime GOP operative Nelson Warfield. In a separate email to The Huffington Post, Warfield confirmed that the ad was made over Fabrizio's objections.

"Tony was against it from the get-go," Warfield wrote. "It was the source of some extended conversation in the campaign. To be very clear: That spot was mine from writing the poll question to test[ing] it to drafting the script to overseeing production."


source: http://elections.americablog.com/2011/12/perrys-jacket-in-anti-gay-ad-heath.html

[Os Cangaceiros]

Is that a Carhartt jacket?

If so, good taste Rick Perry, good taste. I approve of his choice in apparel.

[ed miliband]

Is that a Carhartt jacket?

If so, good taste Rick Perry, good taste. I approve of his choice in apparel.

lol if it is Carhartt he's in good company: you, MF Doom, Dr Dre...

[Sasha]

brokeback mountain

[Os Cangaceiros]

The camel-colored work jacket is common as mud in rural areas, so the Brokeback Mountain connection is kind of weird. Unless Rick Perry really is trying to portray himself not as a god fearin' rural stumpfarmer but as a gay cowboy. I don't know, I guess it's possible.

[Bronco]

Ah remember when this guy was the favourite? He really is his own worst enemy, this will just be the final nail in the coffin of his campaign

[NewLeft]

Oh that's just Rick Perry, he likes to hang around in public restroom. Cool guy.

[KurtFF8]

An obvious appeal to the religious Right, although I think he is overestimating their importance in the upcoming election.

Granted this is one of those cycles where the opposition party knows that its chances of winning aren't as likely as next election: so the more "serious candidates" aren't really throwing their hat into the race which is why (at least probably in part) that we're seeing all of these absurd candidates coming from the GOP this year.

[Os Cangaceiros]

I actually think that the GOP could have a pretty good chance of capturing the presidency if they had the right candidate in the race.

I don't think they're going to win with any of the idiots currently running, though.

[Veovis]

I made a retort to this video and posted it on youtube. Since it shows my face I won't be linking it, but here's what I said in it:

"I'm not ashamed to admit I'm an atheist, but you don't have to be particularly well-read to know that something is wrong with this country when a bigoted homophobic asshole can openly run for public office while our kids can't celebrate Christmas because there's no room for the fucking tree with forty kids packed into a classroom."

"As president, my first official act will be to put on a pair of stiletto heels and step on Rick Perry's face."

"I'm a godless commie queer, and I approve this message."

[Zostrianos]

Don't worry, there's a fair chance that Perry is actually in the closet, and one day he may be exposed (like other notorious Christian homophobes, like Ted Haggard and George Rekers) for his hypocrisy. We can only hope

[the last donut of the night]

although no doubt this was an extremely homophobic campaign ad, i feel like the huge liberal backlash to it is a bit skewed and, well, liberal. rick perry's greatest mistake was aiming for the gays serving in the military -- an honored and respected institution in american bourgeois political discourse. i feel like if he had said something about working class gays, about "gays in our schools" or something of the like, it wouldn't have had gotten the huge reponse this ad got. why? liberals will go out to defend "equality", but only to a certain extent: once this "equality" begins to threaten their own idea of bourgeois social stability, then they will undoubtedly join the right-wing in their own hatred.

i'm not saying we should downplay this ad and the reaction to it (which i'm glad has been so widespread, because it shows how americans have really changed their views on gay people), but that we should recognize how it works and how it is limited.

[Os Cangaceiros]

although no doubt this was an extremely homophobic campaign ad, i feel like the huge liberal backlash to it is a bit skewed and, well, liberal. rick perry's greatest mistake was aiming for the gays serving in the military -- an honored and respected institution in american bourgeois political discourse. i feel like if he had said something about working class gays, about "gays in our schools" or something of the like, it wouldn't have had gotten the huge reponse this ad got. why? liberals will go out to defend "equality", but only to a certain extent: once this "equality" begins to threaten their own idea of bourgeois social stability, then they will undoubtedly join the right-wing in their own hatred.

i'm not saying we should downplay this ad and the reaction to it (which i'm glad has been so widespread, because it shows how americans have really changed their views on gay people), but that we should recognize how it works and how it is limited.

Yeah but "don't ask don't tell" is a relatively timely issue to bring up, "gays in our schools" would just sound really weird.

I don't think he could win either way. The main thing is that voters in the USA aren't really going to vote for a candidate based on that candidate's scapegoating of "teh gayz". Most Americans are somewhat homophobic (to varying degrees) but it's not something they base a vote for president on. I think that even goes for Republican primary voters in the south and midwest primary states, which is clearly the target of this ad.

[GPDP]

Yeah but "don't ask don't tell" is a relatively timely issue to bring up, "gays in our schools" would just sound really weird.

I don't think he could win either way. The main thing is that voters in the USA aren't really going to vote for a candidate based on that candidate's scapegoating of "teh gayz". Most Americans are somewhat homophobic (to varying degrees) but it's not something they base a vote for president on. I think that even goes for Republican primary voters in the south and midwest primary states, which is clearly the target of this ad.

Yet what else can Republicans possibly campaign on as of now? They know they can't win the fight on the economy, because only their hardcore base could possibly buy their line on it.

My guess is they're gonna sideline that by just blaming it on Obama, and put the real brunt of their campaign rhetoric on scapegoating, a practice they have honed to a T. Normally, I would say they still won't stand a chance, but given how demoralized the Democratic base is at the moment and widespread disillusionment with Obama, they might still have a shot due to sheer lack of liberal voter turnout. At least when it comes to either party's bases, the Republicans know they can count on their hardliners far more reliably than the Democrats can. It's basic political science. Republican voters are far more likely to turn out and vote.

In other words, expect Republicans to amp up the reactionary conservative drivel on gays and abortion and such, while Democrats give half-assed endorsements of Obama based on lesser-evilism and more empty promises that will fall deaf on the ears of voters who would otherwise vote Democrat. If the Republicans win, it'll be due to their base coming out in stronger numbers, while liberals will opt to stay home.

[Sasha]

http://chzdailywhat.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/d084c58f-73ce-45f4-a061-87c05602aeb5.jpg

Important Internet Milestone of the Day: It’s official: Rick Perry’s homophobic campaign ad (http://thedailywh.at/2011/12/07/political-ad-of-the-day/) has more dislikes than Rebecca Black’s “Friday (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfVsfOSbJY0)” (embiggen (http://i.imgur.com/lKDGP.jpg)), making it the most hated video in YouTube history.
Congrats, Rick. No one has ever deserved anything more than you deserve this.
[youtube (http://www.youtube.com/).]

[MattShizzle]

Last I checked it was over 600,000 dislikes.