By Martin Bosworth
Ok, I doubt this is happening, but you wouldn’t know it to read Sam’s screed down there. While I bemoan the lack of taste this choice for a campaign song shows me, is this really a deal-breaker when it comes to the campaign? Put more simply, who’s running for election here–a vapid and too-skinny Canadian MOR celeb or Hillary “I’m the Juggernaut, bitch” Clinton?
Sam’s point to me was that if this is just a background issue, then it’s not something to be concerned with–but when you put the issue right front and center, then it’s something to worry about–but what ARE we worrying about? That Hillary’s taste in music sucks? That she picked the blandest of a series of undoubtedly bland choices? That this is some kind of subtly placed “fuck you” to her supporters? That this is some fundamental case of brand misalignment?
Or, could it be that we may just be worried over a silly little aside for a campaign that, so far, shows no signs of slowing down and is apparently crushing all that stands before it like the aforementioned Cain Marko?
Sam is a marketing guy, and he is seriously smart when it comes to issues of branding–and most of the S&R elders take their music very seriously, as they should. So do I–though my tastes run a little more to the White Zombie than the White Album–but again, that’s not going to make me choose to plant my flag in a territory or not. While I think this may cause people who already were against Hillary to roll their eyes, and I doubt it will suddenly convince people who are on the fence to jump it, it’s really not going to decide the day.
And if it does–if someone actually decides not to pull the lever for Clinton because of her bad taste in election themes–that says more about how shallow and image-driven our political mindset is, that we’ll support a candidate because he has a deep voice, or oppose him for a $400 haircut, or decide who is going to be the leader of the free world because “I just feel like I could have a beer with him.”
Celine Dion’s screechy pipes may deafen a few kittens, but reducing your views of candidates to trivial matters absolutely kills them deader than Bill Frist. Please, when you’re deciding who to support in this election, think of the kittens, and don’t just give it away for a song.
P.S. And in terms of marketing, if a video like this doesn’t make you chuckle, then the brand has failed. C’mon–“No onion rings?” and Vince “Johnny Sack” Curatola? That’s money in the bank right there.
Categories: Politics/Law/Government
Progressive Culture | Scholars & Rogues 
1: Who you calling “elder,” skippy?
2: Obviously the issue isn’t the thing itself, but what we have to infer FROM the thing. One can reach a lot of conclusions from this episode, and none of them are really good.
3: I wouldn’t encourage you to vote against Clinton because of the song. I’d encourage you to consider the event in context and ask what it tells us.
4: The $400 haircut is a fake GOP frame. They have to shut the entire shop down for a few hours for security reasons, and somebody has to pay for that.
5: I freakin’ LOVED White Zombie. If she’d chosen “More Human Than Human” I’d head for the polls to start camping out right now.
Sam,
Probably the only point we disagree on here is that the conclusions aren’t good. I just don’t view this decision with the same level of importance that I do Clinton’s admission that she would keep us in Iraq, for instance. Maybe both decisions represent bad taste, but the matter of scale can’t be ignored. π
As far as your taste in music, my respect for you has increased a thousandfold. Nothing gets me on the dancefloor like “More Human Than Human,” and if there was ever a song suitable for Hillary, that’d be it. π Can’t you just see her throttling Bill and saying “I want more life…fucker!!!!”
I’ve just been a student of leadership and organizational behavior for so long that I pay incredible attention to subtleties and I routinely harvest useful information from things others ignore. I HAVE to. So I see in this a lot more than maybe I ought to – I wouldn’t argue your points on policy for a second. It’s just that I see these things as far more related than others might.
I’d also have Hillary overdub the orgasm at the beginning of the track to make it more personal.
Martin,
I do hold this against her. I’m sorry, but the American people are ignorant enough, and to pass off Celine Dion as a suitable song for a run for the American presidency is just unconscionable. π I mean, first Bill gives us Fleetwood Mac, now this….
Besides, I’m an Edwards boy….anybody who’s got the hair for $400 haircuts rocks in my book. Besides which his progressive platform speaks to a Southern son of the textile industry pretty eloquently….
Sam,
I think you answered your own question there. Sometimes a wack campaign song is just a wack campaign song. π
Jim,
I’m an Edwards guy too, remember? Even with Mudcat and his nonsense, the boy from NC just speaks truth on the right issues. But that doesn’t mean I don’t respect the opposition. π