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Imperial Blaster, Similar to what Joe Manchin will autograph for you (from Bolt of Blue on Flickr)
There was a point where I felt like it was beating a dead horse by continuously posting diaries about the West Virginia Senate race. Joe Manchin’s newest ad campaigns proves that point moot. It’s hard to genuinely do this wackiness justice by way of just words, however I will wholeheartedly do my best.
It’s that time of the year again, election season, and the cooky ads are nearly as populous as the amount of money poured into financing them. We’ve seen some intentionally ridiculous ones, Republican Dan Fenelli’s videos that use skin tone to determine what a terrorist looks like particularly strikes my memory, and we’ve seen some that were unintentionally… well… hilarious. Our hats go off to Christine O’Donnell’s “I’m not a witch, I’m you” videos. Though not necessarily a perennial political powerhouse, she seems to have a budding career as a comedienne if she keeps this up.
When you think of funny ads, generally West Virginia is not the first place you look. This, however, will clearly be the case no longer. . . .
John Raese (R-WV) has been pretty mild with his ads, proclaiming himself to not be a rubber-stamp for Barack Obama. Well that is, with the minor exception of his “hicky blue-collar” ads that were quickly pulled off the air.
Joe Manchin (D-WV) is a different story entirely. We first saw Manchin’s cooky ads sense with him literally shooting the cap and trade bill with his rifle. This hit well with the folks back home and he’s seen a rise in popularity ever sense. Coming into the home stretch, Manchin has officially unleashed the crazy with a slew of new ads targeting Raese’s remarks about lasers and how we need to put “thousands” in the skies.
These videos are all part of the Manchin Campaign’s “John Raese’s Crazy Ideas” spoof series. I have to admit, as cheesy as they are with the lack of production quality involved, they are still pretty damn hilarious. I would have to call this a successful ad campaign simply because its something people remember. Manchin has never been a typical candidate, and these ads only perpetuate that aspect even more.
Manchin isn’t a bonafide liberal progressive Democrat, that is obvious. His shooting of the cap and trade bill, lackluster Environmental policy, and NRA endorsement are just a few indicators. I’ll be the first to admit that less than a month ago, I would be casting my vote for Jesse Johnson (Mountain Party Senate Candidate). I changed my mind. Joe Manchin is a blue-dog, and I disagree with him on several of his stances. A vote for Jesse Johnson, at this point in the tight race, could essentially be a vote for John Raese, the batshit crazy plutocratic robber baron who spends more time in Florida than West Virginia. Joe Manchin has represented West Virginia, and although has had some screw-ups along the way, genuinely cares about the state. Although I disagree with him on more things than I’d like, I have casted my vote assured that he will represent West Virginia to the best of his ability.
Did I mention you can vote online for your favorite Crazy Raese video and received an autographed laser blaster courtesy of Governor Joe? Yeah, you can’t make this stuff up.
8 Comments
Thanks, and it’s good to see you’ve made a solid choice for your own vote as well. Too many crazies are going to be in the next Congress because of voters who chose a non-viable candidate to vote for.
So…..vote for the lesser of two evils, cuz, fear fear fear??? Thinking the days of go along to get along and everyone vote Dem regardless because of the alternatives are ending. Nothing is going to change until the Party of Lesser Evil gets a serious wake up call. Maybe then, they’ll start representing their constituents, but I doubt it. Money talks, and bullshit elects. Seems to be the new improved Dem motto. A vote for a corporate Dem is still a vote for a corporate Rethug.
“Money talks, and bullshit elects.” Jefferson and Madison both realized the undue influence of monied interests on the political process and tried to address it. Citizens United is the modern day equal to Dred Scott vs Sanford. We are all screwed by this disgusting decision as was Dred Scott! “Asselelphants”
I know a few who threw away their votes in 2000 and have never forgiven themselves for voting for Nader, who lied to them that he would not campaign anywhere it made a difference. But he did. In Florida, that 2% of the vote could have made it impossible for the Supremes to give us our first unelected president.
Thank Ruth. I’ll be honest, it was the hardest voting decision I’ve ever made but I believe I made the right choice.
History repeats itself.
Meek could never win. Obama’s election convinced him that the electoral dynamics among a broader swath of Florida demographics had changed. That was naive. Once he was in the race, pride kept him there.
Meek was in a power position. If he had been a true partisan, he could have stayed in the race long enough to encourage Crist and Rubio to tear each other apart in the primary battle(easily done),
waited until Crist’s numbers began to drop(predictable), extracted a documented promise from Crist to caucus with the Democrats (smart), and earned the gratitude of the party machine by delivering what might have been the 60th vote.
Instead he is irrelevant and Rubio is on the national stage.
Where are the politicians of yesteryear?
I think you’ve done right too Chuckie, I’m voting the same. Here’s an excerpt from a much more complex issue in general politic…
“Manchin obliged everyone’s desire for superhero to worship with his star wars thingy on youtube. I don’t believe for a minute he’s that full of himself. He’d rather not go there but people are conditioned to only hear theatrics of good vs evil. Yes he will put that clothespin on his nose as did Byrd, and hopefully when enough statesmen have enough clothespins on their noses they’ll commit themselves to eradicating the dysfunction in the system unanimously. Too hilarious, I’d give him a ^5 if he came to the west side. I’m hearing outside critics missing the 5 birds he killed with one shot complaining about it’s low tech appearance star wars theme. I’d say cheez-wiz ‘non food’ sold as food, further devaluing military personnel by throwing billions at an auto pilot machine (god bless our industrial complex?), was the poetic license point. Another message I heard loud and clear was– ‘Raese brand of GOP wants hicky, I’ve got hick for you’. I’m proud of him taking that rifle off his wall.”
Just in case y’all are curious about the reference… http://www.city-data.com/forum/west-virginia/1115215-governor-called-me.html#post16409662
Feel free to respond in that forum too.