March 11, 2008

Exclusive! John McCain's "3 AM Red Phone" TV spot

Below is John McCain's upcoming response to Hillary Clinton's TV ad about the Red Phone in the President's bedroom ringing at 3 AM. It reassuringly details exactly what would happen if the U.S. military were ever to make The Call to Commander-in-Chief McCain's White House bedroom.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

You notice how McCain won't go after Spitzer or even snicker at a joke about Bill Clinton's flings. He immediately calls for an honorable campaign. Do you wonder exactly how many extra-marital affairs or possible lobbyist flings could be behind that on McCain's part? He is playing by the media rules that if he doesn't comment on such things then they cannot be brought up against him. The half-hearted NYT's piece being as far as it can go, for now. If he faces Hillary, and she is losing, you can guarantee that stuff will come out. It could be the same with Obama, but one guesses democrat's operatives would do it for the Black White Knight so as to keep his hands clean. This is all just speculation. I know Im crazy for not thinking that all that time he spent with a pretty lobbyist was exchanging cookie recipes and asking about her family. His campain better be coming up with a battle plan.
king S.

Anonymous said...

We might not have the luxury of waiting until the election to know how the McCainiac will react now that Fallon has "resigned."
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080311/NATION/299297752/1001&template=nextpage

BTW, love all the Strangelove clips, but especially the ones in the war room with the Russkies around.

Mein Fuhrer! I can walk!

Luke Lea said...

God, that was a fabulous movie! My favorite of Kubrick's.

Anonymous said...

This is a bit off base. McCain would enter the presidency at 72 yrs of age.

George C. Scott was born in 1927. Dr. Strangeglove was released in 1964 and probably shot in 1963 meaning Scott was a 36yr old actor in the flim clip.

Granted, Scott was probably playing a young air force general about 10yrs older than the actor (somewhere in his 40s).

Still, almost 3 decades of wear turns an stubborn old alpha coot's fancy from diddling his secretary towards things verbally berating anyone who dare call his illegal alien amnesty program "amnesty".

Dennis Dale said...

Turgidson:

Mr. President, I'm not saying we wouldn't get our hair mussed. But I do say... no more than ten to twenty million killed, tops. Uh... depended on the breaks.

Muffley:

I will not go down in history as the greatest mass murderer since Adolph Hitler!

Turgidson:

Perhaps it might be better, Mr. President, if you were more concerned with the American people, than with your image in the history books.

Anonymous said...

McCain won't go after Spitzer or joke about Clinton's flings because he figures it's "unmanly." McCain's greatest strength and weakness is his unswerving belief that he's both right and the leader of an outnumbered and abused band of brothers. It explains his "bipartisanship" aka raging RINO behavior. For him, Clinton and Spitzer are distant cellmates in the eternal Hanoi Hilton.

Whatever you can say about the man, he took the hard way, repeatedly, when it really mattered, and not the soft way.

He's joked about Hillary though.

Hillary throw out accusations about a McCain affair? The NYT piece has inoculated him against it, with shoddy reporting and no sourcing. At this point few would believe it (most polls showed something like 75% of voters backing McCain vs. Times). Moreover it would backfire -- leading people to think about Bill chasing interns around the WH again. McCain has been discreet AND actually did suffer for his country. So people are likely to give him a break.

As for Strangelove, it's as dead as the USSR. Gone for 17 years now. Dated, from a bygone era that we won't ever see again. NOW we have Pakistan and North Korea with nukes, soon to be joined by Iran and eventually everyone else.

Our danger is not some lunatic in the Air Force starting WWIII that destroys the world, but some barely literate Major or Colonel giving his cousin a nuke to attack America to keep peace in the tribe/clan. And the world won't be destroyed but they're be much dying. Some of it ours, most of it theirs (eventually).

Kubric's film is what? 50 years old at this point? Pretty dated. Not much different than Casablanca or Gone with the Wind. A long-gone era.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous (evil neocon?) thinks that Dr. Strangelove is out of date because this time the crazies will just massacre a hundred million Muslims, and our losses will be comparatively light. Maybe a city or two. Not like when the Soviets had ICBMs. Nice to see such confidence.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous wrote "He is playing by the media rules that if he doesn't comment on such things then they cannot be brought up against him"

I laughed so hard at this comment that I couldn't read any further ... to see if you were joking.

mnuez said...

Steve, it's only because I hold you to pretty much the highest standard that I could hold a blogger that I've got to say that I don't see the connection between this clip and anything to do with McCain. Again, were you ANYONE else the thought of the disconnect in the humor would not even occur to me, one doesn't expect much from blogs. From yours however I've learnt to expect some pretty awesome things. In fact I'm only mentioning my disappointment in the joke as a means of demonstrating what illogically amazing standards I expect from you.

More to the point, I'm pleased that you brought in Strangelove, relevant or not. I only saw the film a few months ago and was shocked at how much I could appreciate a black and white film. Aside for the endless boring scenes (from my HD perspective) of an airplane cut-out being shuffled through black and white footage of something that was supposed to be Siberian expanse, the film was fantastic. It was intelligent, realistic, maturely funny, damn serious and impressively deep on some Big Questions. I disagree with those who lack the imagination to see beyond the cold-war central casting of the film to realize that it's still relevant. Animal Farm is a relevant and important book even if you happen to live in a country without talking horses.

For the record, Sellers' Strangelove has got to be one of the most memorable characters in all of movie history - despite the fact that he owns just a few minutes of the film. I mean, seriously, practically every syllable and inflection of that character perks your absolute attention. What a fuckin brilliant actor, what a fuckin brilliant script and all "heil!" Kubrick.

Speaking of Kubrick though, I'd heard of A Clockwork Orange some years back and have come across references to it every six months or so since. I'd always kept some vague mental note to see it when I had the chance. Well, recently I was looking up Sellers to see if I could find video of his piece (again as a German, though as a psychiatrist this time - and a fake German at that) in Kubrick's Lolita. I saw part of the film on TV and (again) was surprised that a black and white movie could be that powerful (though far far far far less than Strangelove, but really my prejudice against monochrome appears to leave a pretty low bar :-) - but I particularly loved - and laughed out loud at - Sellers' exuberance with Humphrey (or whatever the guy's name is). Yah, so in looking it up (and not finding it btw) I again saw ACOrange being worshipped and first learned that it was a work of Kubrick's. So I looked it up online, watched it and... am quite let down. The movie was striking for a million and one reasons but it can not count me among its fans. Am I supposed to wish I could emulate the main character (I won't call him by any name, he "exists" too much as it is)? Am I supposed to see that government officials are corrupt? Am I supposed to gain a repulsion for Beethoven? Am I supposed to become Socialist? Am I supposed to become a tough-on-crime Conservative? Or am I simply meant to be repulsed and disgusted like at Two Girls One Cup?

Yeah, I don't see it. Revolutionary? Maybe. But if there's some real Message here, the author/director didn't do a good enough job of it for me to see it.

Considering how it is a classic though, I would love the opportunity to be able to reference it wisely within witty interlocution, so if you DO happen to believe that it has some obvious and awesome message (rather than being a shockingly ugly canvass within which anyone can see whatever they would like to see) kinely enlighten me!

mnuez
www.mnuez.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Anon, You are correct it was shoddy reporting, but I'd bet the house it was true.

As for thekidd laughing at the media rules, those are the rules if you are in the club. Unless the media is forced to hang out your dirty laundry, which can happen in various ways.
McCain is in the club -- at least, for now.

k

Anonymous said...

McCain -- it's like life imitating comedy. What a crazy man he is.

Anonymous said...

I didn't get this clip either.

Anonymous said...

"mnuez said...

I only saw the film a few months ago and was shocked at how much I could appreciate a black and white film........It was intelligent, realistic, maturely funny, damn serious and impressively deep on some Big Questions."

Yes, as strange as it may seem, mnuez, there actually was something of value in the world, before you entered the scene. You may find that quite a lot of old black and white movies are better than the insipid crap that is turned out by people of.....well, of YOUR generation.

Most movies made today (there are some rare exceptions) are loud, expensive, and stupid, and have all the depth and visual appeal of a video game watched on a 1024x768 monitor. And what really pisses me off, is that for all they spend on CGI effects, and given how much they often build the whole movie around them, they're just not very good - they still mostly look like cheesy graphics from a video game. The actors all look like models (can't we have a few actors who just look like regular people, rather than looking like they spend every available spare minute in the gym), and have the acting range of cardboard. The writing is mostly cliched and bland, the direction is mostly undistinguished. And of course, as so many directors now are film-school grads, movies now are increasingly derivative and self-referential.

Anonymous said...

If you cannot access the video through this site, go directly to You Tube:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6VOvIxmNvc

Anonymous said...

mnuez,

Your post is boring, so I ass-ume your blog is likewise.

Anonymous said...

Strangelove remains relevant because the mentality of the movie's protagonists remains the same, whether the bogeyman is the Rooskies or the Ay-rabs. And when (not if) non-state elements finally get their hands on NBC weapons technology, it will be a distinction without a difference.

McCain is a lunatic. He'll go into a screaming meltdown at some point in the general campaign and we'll get to endure eight years of "Hail to da Cheef" set to a gospel or R&B beat.

Anonymous said...

I didn't get this clip either.

All questions of sexual escapades aside, the Buck Turgidson character was based on the very real Gen. Curtis LeMay, a man with a lust for war equal to that of John McCain. if you understand the broader context (and just treat the Bimbo Question as an amusing but fundamentally irrelevant side issue) you'll get it.

Anonymous said...

"Oh, only commie stooges, eh?" is another great line that springs to mind. And the intramural rivalry "my boys'll be able to brush 'em aside without too much resistance" was good too. Okay I'd better stop now.

"Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff."

And the mine-shaft harem fantasy...

Okay, OKAY, I'm done.

Anonymous said...

svigor,

It's NEVER done!

"Well I, uh, I first became aware of it Mandrake during the physical act of love. Yes, a sudden feeling of emptiness, a sense of fatigue followed. Luckily I was able to interpret these feelings correctly: loss of essence.

I do not avoid the company of women, Mandrake. But I do deny them my essence."

Anonymous said...

"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room."

Has this one made it into Bartlett's yet?