Different Rules for Different People

There is something about NBC News' reporter Andrea Mitchell that really gets my goat. OK, I don't have a goat - but if I did - she (Andrea) would definitely have it by now. Andrea Mitchell has been seen yucking it up all weekend and on Joe today. Her focus of yucks was none other than Sarah Palin. On Saturday, Sarah Palin had glanced at her palm during a question and answer session at the first National Tea Party Convention in Nashville, TN. The Huffington Post produced a photographic close-up, which showed her hand contained the words "Energy", "Tax" and "Lift American Spirits." The phrase "Budget cuts" was also there, though the word "Budget" had been crossed out. Below is a snippet of Andrea on Morning Joe this morning. This was not the first time she had done her - "hold up my hand to show that I wrote on my palm" act. She had done the same shpiel last weekend:

What is it about Andrea Mitchell that really bothers me? Well, I think that a big part of it is her whole, "holier than thou" attitude. Let me get this straight, I am not a supporter of Sarah Palin; I never have been and never will be. But the idea of Andrea Mitchell mocking a person for having talking points on his/her hand - considering that news reporters use prompters - as well as our current President being quite "prompter-friendly," is hypocritical. And ironically, that is the focus of Mitchell's reports - that Palin gets away with things that others would not get away with. That she has, "different rules."

Andrea Mitchell seemed to have "different rules" when reporting on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's run for office in 2008, as well. My view of Andrea Mitchell is that she was much more tough on Hillary Clinton than she ever was on then primary campaigner - now President Obama. I think that many reporters - particularly female news people - had this slant.

Lastly, although biased on my part, I can't ever get over the fact that Andrea Mitchell is married to former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan. When I see Andrea on screen, part of me wants to yell, "your husband had much to do with the 2008 market meltdown and the current state of our economy!!" But, of course, fellow news reporters and political analysts would never say that to Mitchell. If she were not a reporter, they probably would; but, as Mitchell pointed out herself - there are different rules for different people.

I know this is childish - but my favorite "snippet" of video with Andrea Mitchell is connected with balloons and the 2008 Republican Convention. Enjoy:

Warm and fuzzy...not so much.

Lions and tigers and demonic sheep - Oh my! What do demonic sheep have to do with anything? I knew you would ask. Well, they are part of Carly Fiorina's campaign in running for the Senate of California. The ad goes after Republican California Congressman Tom Campbell. The main point of the video ad is that Campbell is a fiscal conservative in name only. Here is what Jason Linkins had to say about it in the Huffington Post:

In this THREE-AND-A-HALF MINUTE LONG video, the Fiorina campaign goes after former California Congressman Tom Campbell, who leads the Republican field in the primary race to unseat incumbent Senator Barbara Boxer. The Fiorina campaign's main point is that Campbell is a "Fiscal Conservative In Name Only." It's a fairly standard issue claim -- or at least it would be, if the video that presented the argument didn't play like Terry Gilliam and Ingmar Bergman collaborated on a campaign-year sequel to "The Wicker Man".

I am attaching the video below:

So, when did the use of "shock value" campaign ads really start? Well, the most famous one - shown only one time in 1964, was called the "Daisy Girl." This is what the Living Room Candidate website has to say about the President Johnson advertisement:

The most famous of all campaign commercials, known as the “Daisy Girl” ad, ran only once as a paid advertisement, during an NBC broadcast of Monday Night at the Movies on September 7, 1964. Without any explanatory words, the ad uses a simple and powerful cinematic device, juxtaposing a scene of a little girl happily picking petals off of a flower (actually a black-eyed Susan), and an ominous countdown to a nuclear explosion. The ad was created by the innovative agency Doyle Dane Bernbach, known for its conceptual, minimal, and modern approach to advertising. The memorable soundtrack was created by Tony Schwartz, an advertising pioneer famous for his work with sound, including anthropological recordings of audio from cultures around the world. The frightening ad was instantly perceived as a portrayal of Barry Goldwater as an extremist. In fact, the Republican National Committee spelled this out by saying, “This ad implies that Senator Goldwater is a reckless man and Lyndon Johnson is a careful man.” This was precisely the intent; in a memo to President Johnson on September 13, Bill Moyers wrote, “The idea was not to let him get away with building a moderate image and to put him on the defensive before the campaign is old.” The ad was replayed in its entirety on ABC’s and CBS’s nightly news shows, amplifying its impact.

Here is the video below. No demonic sheep are portrayed: