The Blog @ Spolitics

An Answer for the NY Times’ Bob Herbert

Bob Herbert of the New York Times offers a ridiculous interpretation of McCain’s Celeb ad: that there are two phallic symbols — the Washington Monument and the Leaning Tower of Pisa — inserted to insinuate a sexual relationship between Britney, Paris and Barack. He asks repeatedly: why else would they be there?

As stupid as his interpretation was, it’s perhaps more embarrassing that neither Joe nor Pat could knock it down.

So here we go: First, there’s only one phallic symbol in the ad and it’s neither the Washington Monument nor the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It’s the Victory Column in Berlin — the site of Barack Obama’s Berlin speech. Herbert should be embarrassed that he doesn’t know what the Washington Monument looks look. All of the footage of Obama in the Celeb ad comes from his Berlin rally and since Barack was speaking in front of the Victory Tower, it appears in the ad (duh). Perhaps the question Herbert should be asking himself, is why did Obama decide to give his speech in front of a giant phallus? But what Herbert really ought to be asking is why did Obama hold a rally in Berlin in the first place. That is, after all, a question that the ad actually raises.

It just goes to show that when you start with the point you want to make and then try to find evidence to support it, and then just look hard enough, you can miss the obvious while finding all sorts of “hidden messages” regardless of whether or not they are really there… kind of like Bob Herbert’s Washington Monument and Leaning Tower of Pisa sitings.

Update: Say stupid things and people will laugh at you: