organized chaos

some thoughts on the infomercial

Since I didn’t watch it, I will leave it to others to analyze the content.  I would just like to point out that no one does political infomercials like Ross Perot.  The accent, the big ears, and the pie charts were very entertaining, and that’s where the American people got the real Straight Talk before McCain came along — from a Texas billionaire with nothing to lose.  That’s the only way any of us will ever get complete honesty from a politician running for president.  What was the effect of Perot’s effort?  Did it switch the race in his favor?  Hardly.  But at least he has a lifetime guest spot on Larry King Live, so the presidential bid wasn’t a total loss.

Barack Obama is a great salesman, at least to his sheep followers and the media (but I repeat myself there). To this point, he has convinced the American people that he will only raise taxes on the rich (now defined down to $200,000 a year) and big oil.  His ads lie about how McCain’s health care plan works, and he gets away with it because McCain doesn’t have the ad budget to dispute his ad-a-minute promotional blitz.  When all the ads you see are Obama ads talking about how great his health care plan is and how much he cares about the middle class, it’s hard for the average person to resist this narrative unless they have an compelling alternative argument.  Surrender is the word I would use to describe the reaction to Obama’s ad blitz.  McCain should have done more to present that alternative vision before now, but even with all the mistakes he has made, this is still a close race.