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John McCain's "Mum" Ad

By Jeralyn, Section Elections 2008
Posted on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 01:17:23 AM EST
Tags: John McCain, 2008 (all tags)
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This ad came on my tv during Saturday Night Live. Check it out. There's one person accused of wrong doing in the ad -- with a caption under him referring to CEO rip-offs. He's also, besides Obama, the only African -American in the ad.

The "victim" in the ad is a white woman with white hair. Her caption reads "Protect your savings and pensions."

Is he playing to perceived prejudices of elderly white women? Seemed like it to me. When I think of CEO's who rip off the public or their own companies, I think of Ken Lay, Jeff Skilling, Bernie Ebbers and a few others. Why did McCain pick this guy? (And no, I have no idea who he is, which leads me to believe the average voter doesn't either.)

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    John McCain's "Mum" Ad | 28 comments (28 topical)

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    Well, there is the minor problem of Obama taking (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by BrassTacks on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 03:51:32 AM EST
    MOney from Freddie and Fannie and personally from Raines.

    historically, (5.00 / 1) (#9)
    by cpinva on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 04:11:28 AM EST
    the ceo's infamous for plundering their company's cash boxes, and ripping off their shareholders & customers have all been whiter-than-pale old caucasion guys. were they any whiter, they'd be nearly transparent.

    mr. raines stands out from this group like a raisin in a bowl of refined sugar. and yes, of course this was intentional. what, you think they put pictures of all of them on a board, and threw a dart?

    give mccain credit: every time i think his campaign couldn't possibly get any lower, sleazier or dumber, they rise to the challenge and prove me wrong!

    of course, sen. mccain was a POW, something he really doesn't like to talk about.

    The profile in the WashPost on Raines was recent (none / 0) (#11)
    by andrys on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 07:57:46 AM EST
    July 2008.  In it, Raines apparently mentioned Obama campaign calling him for advice.
    ...more recently, taken calls from Barack Obama's presidential campaign seeking his advice on mortgage and housing policy matters.

    By the way, Jim Johnson, mentioned above, and who is mentioned in the 2nd ad made at the same time, was Chairman and CEO of Fannie Mae way back (1991), but in his case they underreported his compensation as $6 million and a report in 2006 said it was actually $21 million.  MY thought at the time he was asked to lead the search for a VP nominee was that he had performed this same task for Mondale long ago when Mondale lost.  Obama looks to be doing much better at this point than Mondale.

    Parent

    Obama calling a guy in a $90 million scandal (2.00 / 0) (#16)
    by Cream City on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 10:49:05 AM EST
    was unwise, it would seem -- setting up himself.

    Imagine if McCain still was calling Keating. . . .

    Parent

    "Race" for the Whitehouse (5.00 / 0) (#20)
    by AdamA on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 11:17:24 AM EST
    Could be institutional racism at its best (or worst). Subtle and negative ... but not dishonest .  Insidious.   Just anohter example really.  Of the millions watching, how many really know who Raines is?   "Stop CEO Rip-offs" under the black guy.  "Protect yourself" under the white woman.  Millions of tired viewers sucking in the images, late at night, from their little glowing boxes ...  

    thanks, that's the point (5.00 / 0) (#22)
    by Jeralyn on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 12:02:33 PM EST
    I was trying to make. That's just the impression I got from watching the ad, having no idea who the guy was.

    Parent
    Its clearly sexist (none / 0) (#24)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 03:08:13 PM EST

    Two male malefactors and one female victim.  It is obviously sexist.  

    Parent
    missing the point (5.00 / 0) (#25)
    by txpublicdefender on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 05:02:16 PM EST
    That ad is not about Raines.  That ad is about reinforcing negative images about race--with the greedy CEO being a black man, and the victim who needs to protect her pension being a white woman.  Of all the greedy CEOs out there, the honest ones and the crooks, what percentage of them are African-American?  And yet, that is who the ad portrays as a greedy CEO.  The racism is obvious.

    Benefit of the doubt (5.00 / 0) (#27)
    by thentro on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 10:51:37 PM EST
    I gave the McCain campaign the benefit of the doubt with their double Raines/Jim Johnson spots, even if Obama's connection to Raines is hardy there (the source for the original quote is supposed to be Raines himself!).

    But to now have that sinister photo of Raines appear again, with another white victim, makes it obvious what images they are trying to set in here. But in the end, weak sauce. It must stink to be forced to use the race card and still not have any impact!


    Raines is fair game (3.00 / 2) (#13)
    by CRAsucks on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 09:16:21 AM EST
    Why would the color of his skin exempt him from criticism?

    I would be happy to see white guys like Chris Dodd and Barney Frank called out for their HUGE parts in this mess, along with Bill Clinton.

    Barney Frank has absolutely huge cojones to blame this on Gearge Bush. When Bush wanted more regulation Of Fannie and Freddie, Frank said there was no problem and increased regulation would make housing less affordable.

    He could not have been more wrong. The housing bubble, and subsequent meltdown, was largely created by the CRA (Carter and Clinton) and the indiscriminate lending to people who could not afford to make their payments.

    NOBODY has said Raines is exempt (5.00 / 0) (#14)
    by robrecht on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 10:24:51 AM EST
    because of the color of his skin!  The point is Raines is not an advisor to Obama, at least not an important one.  Even if Raines might have tried to exaggerate his importance in the past, he has corrected the record and the Republicans know it.  If anyone is using the AA heritage of Raines, it is the McCain campaign.

    Parent
    Why even mention the color of his skin? (none / 0) (#18)
    by CRAsucks on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 11:04:28 AM EST
    He should be locked up along with all the rest of the crooks.

    Parent
    IF you can point to a single person here (none / 0) (#19)
    by robrecht on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 11:12:20 AM EST
    who has said Raines should be exempt from criticism because of the color of his skin, I will answer your question.  Otherwise, I will continue to consider you to be intentionaly misrepresenting the views of others and unworthy of my time.

    Parent
    Obvious troll is obvious (5.00 / 0) (#15)
    by Faust on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 10:45:14 AM EST


    Parent
    boy, can't you trolls even get basic facts right? (none / 0) (#17)
    by cpinva on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 11:03:18 AM EST
    He could not have been more wrong. The housing bubble, and subsequent meltdown, was largely created by the CRA (Carter and Clinton) and the indiscriminate lending to people who could not afford to make their payments.

    the facts are, the CRA (Community Reinvestment Act) has little, if anything to do with the current sub-prime mess. those banks required to operate under its provisions are among the few actually NOT suffering material writedowns and losses, from bad loans.

    because its rules and regulation require the same basic data for lending, as those banks not subject to it, and there are mechanisms already in place to help those who find themselves with repayment problems, loans made under CRA have, historically, had a LOWER default rate than regular commercial paper.

    it wasn't until the bush administration busted the regulators, and the investment houses and originators colluded to slice and dice paper, without benefit of real due diligence, that the normally sedate area of home mortgages became the wild, wild west.

    Parent

    Bush (none / 0) (#21)
    by CRAsucks on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 11:34:28 AM EST
    Bush tried to pass legislation to furthere regulate Fannie and Freddie in 2003. This is what Barnie Frank had to say:

    ''These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis,'' said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ''The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.''

    Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed.

    ''I don't see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing,'' Mr. Watt said.

    Parent

    I think it's the former Fannie Mae CEO who (none / 0) (#1)
    by Teresa on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 01:29:16 AM EST
    is associated with Obama in some way.

    And the association is tenuous at best (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by andgarden on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 01:32:20 AM EST


    Parent
    Washington Post article on (none / 0) (#2)
    by Teresa on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 01:31:20 AM EST
    Raines

    Parent
    Yup (5.00 / 1) (#3)
    by andgarden on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 01:32:03 AM EST


    Parent
    this one is better (5.00 / 0) (#6)
    by Jeralyn on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 01:43:08 AM EST
    it critiques the ad and discusses the claim that Raines and Obama are tied.

    Parent
    I just read that. They obviously exaggerated (none / 0) (#7)
    by Teresa on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 01:50:17 AM EST
    the relationship which consisted of a couple of phone calls from who knows who connected to the campaign. That's if Raines, himself, wasn't exaggerating.

    Parent
    It is (none / 0) (#5)
    by Jeralyn on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 01:34:21 AM EST
    and he stepped down from Fannie Mae four years ago.

    Parent
    Washington Post was the source used for (none / 0) (#10)
    by andrys on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 07:44:10 AM EST
    the Raines info, as far as giving Obama campaign advice.  The WP did report this and defintely was the source they used (cited).  I had read that in the last week.
      Here's Howard Kurtz's column about it.  The one with the most detail is from Real Clear Politics.  Politico links to the WashPost profile that started all this.

    The day after this came out, there was yet another ad (as mentioned by RCP), this time on Jim Johnson, another Chairman of Fannie Mae, this time chosen by Obama to head up the team to vet his future VP nominee - which Obama did not consider a job in his campaign   because he was doing it for free, as a friend of Obama, it says.  

      However, because of his ties with Countrywide and apparently favorable terms he received on his own mortgage, there was an uproar over his role in choosing the VP nominee, and he left the position.

    Parent

    Right (none / 0) (#23)
    by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 03:04:21 PM EST

    And the junk securities he jumped into the system are a big part of the problem.

    Parent
    James Robertson (none / 0) (#12)
    by jarober on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 08:43:25 AM EST
    As other people have pointed out, it's Raines - who was part of the problem at Fannie Mae.  It's a pretty clear effort to point out a tie from Obama to Raines, and from there to the financial mess.

    One thing is clear though: just as paranoid people in the 50's saw a communist behind every liberal idea, today's liberal sees a racist behind everything that has black people in it.

    Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar.

    and then you have a large group (none / 0) (#26)
    by of1000Kings on Sun Sep 28, 2008 at 06:13:51 PM EST
    of people, mostly white, like those on Faux News, who have said on more than one occasion that America is past race...

    ...and they say that while 1 in 9 black males is behind bars...is 1 in 9 white males behind bars?

    Parent

    A very (none / 0) (#29)
    by lentinel on Wed Apr 16, 2014 at 01:23:37 PM EST
    nice comment from a trollerini.

    John McCain's "Mum" Ad | 28 comments (28 topical)

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