Jake Tapper joins the McCain-ads-are-racist chorus:
How many young white women professing adoration for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, can you count in this anti-Obama web video that the campaign of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, was sending out yesterday?
One…two…three…four…sure are a lot of young white women in this thing….
Why do you think they put so many young white women professing their love for Obama in what is clearly an anti-Obama video? What would possibly be negative about young white women liking Sen. Obama?
When asked, the McCain campaign says they took the video from local news packages, but of course that doesn’t explain anything.
– jpt
UPDATE: McCain campaign senior adviser Mark Salter writes to say: “All we are suggesting is ‘the kids think he’s dreamy. But should he be president?’”
Some other images Tapper missed…
The first photo in the ad is of London’s Big Ben, which is another use of phallic imagery. (I think it’s Big Ben — I have an e-mail into Bob Herbert asking him to clarify.) Another image is of a young, white woman working at Taco Bell. Obviously a nod to anti-immigrant cons, with the added benefit of making Obama look foreign. Finally, one of a young, white woman who looks . . . well, stoned. Obviously, a subtle, yet devastating comment on Senator Obama’s past drug use.
Or, more likely, everyone should just lighten up. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, as they say. (Not a comment on Monica Lewinsky or Senator Obama’s battle to kick cigarettes.)