If you do not want to watch the new Rick Perry ad (link attached to the title) that is causing a considerable amount of outrage, here's a quick little summary.
Perry, dressed as a good ol' country boy, stands in a pretty little patch of trees, staring earnestly into the camera. If he could just have kept his mouth shut, the image alone could have garnered him some much needed support. Instead, Perry decides to say that, "You know there's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas." He also uses the phrases "Obama's war on religion" and "liberal attacks on our religious heritage." Oh yeah, the ad is also titled "Strong." Wanna know why? Because faith is what is needed to make America "strong again."
Now, I personally thought the ad was a joke when I first saw it. But its not. I agree that the U.S. can be overly PC sometimes (like how Aragon High School in California faced controversy due to the religious connotation behind the Christmas tree is set up in its center court), but every statement made in this ad was incredibly offensive. There is a lot that I could say about why this ad makes me hate Perry, but I think the main reason is that every word he says is so very genuine. He truly believes in what is saying. Why else would he commit political suicide by using this ad?
Do you agree that this ad could be his downfall?
Friday, December 9, 2011
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21 comments:
I absolutely agree with you Simone. When I first saw the video I was shocked. Would someone openly attack gays by saying the country has gone downhill since the repeal of DADT? Personally, I think Perry has lost any chance of winning the Presidential candidacy (or at least hope he doesn't have a chance). His views are way too radical and may have lost a lot of support. However, on second thought, with the way people are so divided these days, he may have just gained a lot of support by being the complete opposite of Obama.
Perry said that he wanted to bring America back to its religious heritage. This reminds me of our class discussion on whether America was founded as a Christian nation. Yes, the founding fathers were Christian, as were a majority of people writing our Constitution. But, if the founding fathers wanted a Christian nation, they wouldn't of added things like the Establishment Clause, which prevents the government from choosing a specific religion. They wanted to keep the church and state separate.
All in all, I also feel that it was scary (and sad) that Perry was so genuine in the commercial. He truly believed what he was saying. It is awful to think that some people truly don't believe in equality.
Does Perry not understand the meaning of "separation of church and state?" And I think Perry forgets that some people don't celebrate Christmas for that matter, but celebrate Chinese New Year and Hanukkah instead. His words imply that Christmas seems to be the universal holiday, and basically highlights his bias and narrow-minded idealism. If Perry wants to bring America back to its "Christian roots," does that mean he wants to dispose of all traces of other important religions that have influenced America's founding? If Perry keeps insulting people the way he does, we'll gladly see him go like Herman Cain.
After browsing around some other blogs and news articles, it's generally agreed that Perry's ad has surely cost him. It was even noted that his ad has around 400,000 "dislikes" on YouTube, being compared to Rebecca Black's "Friday," the most disliked music video ever. Even some of his staff are divided over the content of his ad, thus, costing him a lot of support.
There is no doubt that this is going to cost him support. Now, answering the question of why, I do not believe the Perry thought this entire thing through. Now only is what he is advocating for not allowed due to the seperation of church and state, but they are not 'major' issues that requires a ultimatum like that. Will this cost him the presidency, if he had a chance? Probably not, considering this has probably attracted a lot of Christian support for him. But I still think it's ludicrious for him to put an ad like this on the air.
My initial thoughts to watching the Rick Perry ad regarding gays to be able to openly serve in the military after the repealing of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” last year is wondering why it sounds like Perry is launching a verbal attack on gay people, particularly those in the military.
I feel like Perry is rallying those who oppose Obama, or at least his war on religion, in a attempt to regain support after support for him dropped after the Republican presidential debate in November. But, after looking at the likes and dislikes of his “Strong” video on Youtube, like Ari said, it has well over 400,000 dislikes (it’s actually almost 560,000 now). Although that may not be the most accurate or reliable method of determining his popularity, the last time a video got almost this many dislikes was (again from Ari’s post) Rebecca Black’s Friday, the “worst music video in history”.
Shortly after the ad was put up, numerous parodies were made, such as one in a Colbert Report (link).
here is the link for the colbert report parody (it's in the middle of the video) http://www.colbertnation.com/
I highly doubt this add could lead to his downfall, if anything he’s taking a risk with saying what other republican candidates want to but can’t say. Perry’s views may seem radical to Californians however I’m sure in the Southern states his opposition to gays in the military and “Obama’s war on religion” were well received. It’s Perry’s choice to run this add credit goes to him for expressing his views whether people agree with him or not, he probably didn’t have many gay voters supporting him in the first place so now he’s just getting the fundamentalist Christians on his side by going more right wing with his messages.
Regarding what Will said, it MAY help him in conservative-evangelical states when the caucuses come along, but he will have to work really hard to wipe this from his image if he does some how manage become the Republican candidate for President. This ad was a Hail Mary pass as the January 3 Iowa caucus approaches. If he does poorly there, people voting in the following primaries (other than some solidly evangelical-conservative ones) may not want to vote for someone who doesn't look like a winner.
Regardless of whatever half-baked plot Perry was trying to employ in his commercial, it was blatantly insensitive and inappropriate. It makes no sense to say that "something's wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military" when the words "All men are created equal" are imprinted in the Declaration of Independence, the document that began the United States of America. There is no denying that he is an asinine bigot who should start praying that he will have even an inkling of a chance to get the Republican nomination.
I found it funny how commenting was disabled for the ad on Youtube. I think that he knew what he was getting himself into when he was planning this ad. Besides trying to gain support from radical Republicans like Will stated, I feel that it was partly intended to gain recognition. This reminded me of how Lady Gaga's controversial wardrobe and behavior always keeps her in the limelight. Perry's doing the same thing with his ad. Why wouldn't he want to bring attention to himself right now, especially when he has been lagging in the polls? I find it rather sad how his desperation has resulted in this ad, but it definitely got people to remember who he was. His blatant manner of stating his beliefs was probably to give off an honest, no B.S. persona, something that also sticks in people's heads when it comes to politicians.
In addition to what Simone has said, Perry doesn't seem to realize that drawing attention to a politician does not grant the same success as drawing attention to a celebrity. Celebrities thrive on attention-- the perfect example is Rebecca Black. She is infamous for her song "Friday," but regardless, the negative attention has only contributed to the millions of dollars she made off of it. And with Lady GaGa: Even though she has some questionable outfits, she is good at what she does, and people appreciate that. Perry has yet to prove himself a competent politician, and negative attention at this point will only bring him down.
Perry may be gaining the support of extremely conservative audiences, but it means nothing if he's going to lose everyone else.
Amy, I would liken this attempt to gaining attention as one like Kim Kardashian's failed wedding attempt at getting sympathy. She had all this hype, just as Perry does. Perry effectively shot himself in the foot by blowing his cover and revealing his true ideals, just as Kim did. In my mind, Perry has the same equivalence of a reality television bimbo. Perry definitely has the criticism of online social media ready to fire at him.
It's saddening to think that in certain parts of the country, there are humans who just as vehemently opposed the repeal of DADT, among other acts under the Obama administration. I'm not saying that either party is correct in their views, but that it's remarkable how such a divisive country continues to function. Unfortunately, neither party understands the ideals of cooperation and compromise; instead, we have resorted to attacking each other's beliefs in an effort to win support, a vile result of the political polarization that continues to plague our nation.
I would just like to play a bit of devils advocate and state that while we live in a very open and socially liberal part of the U.S., DADT is a serious issue in other parts of the country. Even in Iowa which has legal gay marriage, according to a Public Policy Poll, only 46% of the residents support gay marriage. 45% of the residents do not support gay marriage, and 9% are unsure.
Clearly, Perry is trying to appeal to the Christian constituency. I don't see an issue with that. Politically speaking, the LGBT community is much smaller than the Christian community. Moreover, the LGBT community consistently votes overwhelmingly in favor of the Democratic candidate. Therefore, I don't think its surprising that Perry sent out this ad.
Agreeing with previous speakers, however, I do agree that Perry has lost his chance to be the Republican nominee. The biggest issue is that by targeting the Christian community, Perry has placed himself in the extreme right. Understanding the Republican electorate, one would recognize that the deciding vote for the Republican primaries is not the extremely conservative constituency. Rather it is the more dis-positional Repubican constituency. By straying too far to the right, Perry has likely alienated many moderate Republicans and thus become less and less electable.
I think that the full effect of this video are as of yet uncertain. Its clear that Perry was not trying to appeal to a broad American audience. Many people are mad at what he said in the video, but how may of those people supported him before he made it? I don't think he will lose a lot of support by making it, just make people who are on the fence decide they don't like him. And there are people who agree with what he says and will probably support him now. Not to say that he should be president, just that I think there is some overreaction to the impact that this video will have.
I agree with everyone on this thread thusfar. This ad is highly inappropriate and offensive, and although I'm sure Perry secured himself many conservative Christian votes, this ad is very likely to cost him his presidential nomination.
However, I would like to take a moment to consider perspective. Coming from the Bay, many of us were raised on/exposed to liberal values, and most if not all of us have been exposed to more liberal views than people in places like the Sunbelt area of the U.S. I'm sure New York is just as outraged as we are at this ridiculous and controversial ad, but how do you think old-school Christian folks in the deep south reacted to this ad? believe it or not, I've met a few people who would openly support ads such as this. (Conservative Christians are out there.) I'm fairly certain that a few old-fashioned Christians greeted this ad with rousing cheers.
And yet, this ad is so radical that I doubt even the majority of Christian community will side with Perry. I myself am a liberal Christian, and I am still appalled at this advertisement. Maybe if the ad was less radical and less of an *attack on the LGBT community it would have been less detrimental to his campaign.
Although it is Perry's right to voice his opinions, (Bill of Rights), I don't think he should have voiced them in such an offensive way. As Alice said, Perry essentially shot himself in the foot with this ad.
I am one who would not tolerate this kind of behavior for a presidential candidate. Like most of you have already stated, his insensitive and inappropriate behavior will cost him, and cost him big. But like Keaton said, most of us were born and raised in the Bay Area where we accept anyone despite religion or sexuality. Take a stroll down through the southern states and see how they react. I'm most certain they would be delighted to have a presidential candidate like Perry. As you may all sit here hating on Perry thinking he wouldn't even have a chance at being president, think about the entire nation. We only make up a small portion of the country and although we may think what Perry did was wrong, others may think otherwise. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a supporter of Perry, but think about the country as a whole. Perry might actually hold a chance at election.
I agree with all of the above comments; this ad won't get the support of anyone except for those who already like Perry. It sort of makes me wonder who told him this would be a good idea. Isn't that presidential candidate 101 - not to make such incredibly polarizing comments? I suppose I respect that he said exactly what he believes, which is more than we can say for every other candidate. But it does just come across as a desperate publicity stunt, because there is absolutely no way that his camp would have told him that this was going to make him more popular. Even if you're bigoted, you can certainly still be self-aware/smart enough to know that what you're saying is offensive and that it's not something to broadcast.
P.S.-Interesting that Perry would call it "Obama's war on religion," when he seems to be davaluing/disregarding and, thus, attacking any religion other than Christianity with this ad.
I have to ask who on his staff could have possibly thought this ad was a good idea? There is no doubt that this ad will cost him his election as all my previous peers have stated, but I have to wonder if Perry had ANY idea of how awful he sounds in this ad? Comparing gays working in the military to children not being able to celebrate Christmas during school? How are those two topics even equivalent? Also, America's "heritage"? Aren't we supposed to be the "melting pot" country? I mean I know we had a discussion how its not necessarily true, but many people still believe it is. I just don't even understand what political tactic Perry was trying to pull in this ad. If someone, anyone can explain this to me, please speak now.
When so many of my fellow commenters have tallied up the score of popularity for Perry, I couldn't help but think we are in the middle of candidate-centered politics. He picked his battle, his support could go either way, and voters will keep it in mind. That's all. Yet, this may not be quite the trigger he should want a favorable outcome from, no matter how many people in this nation consider themselves Christian.
As to Jennifer's question to how the repeal of DADT and children not allowed to "celebrate Christmas openly or pray in school" are related. I think he wants to connect that anti-gay sentiments are a part of the Christian community's messages, and that the U.S. supports the LGBT community more than the Christian community. I agree that the comparison was a little broad and without context so it made itself hard to take seriously.
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