Subliminal messages and other stupid candidate tricks

By Jeffrey R. DeRego
HippoPress.com

Every time I see Al Gore I see rats, and it is all George Bush’s fault.

For those of you who were unaware, the George W. Bush campaign upped the ante in the race to produce a reprehensible attack add last week with the discovery of a subliminal message planted in his most recent batch of sound bite campaigning. The message in question was a flashing “Rats” following a statement about Al Gore’s love of bureaucracy.

Didn’t the Senate Subcommittee meetings of 1986 determine that subliminal messages have no bearing on human behavior?

Let me refresh your memories...1986, Tipper Gore and a host of other Washington wives took it upon themselves to secure hearings as to the content of certain record albums. After a week of national embarrassment, the Recording Industry of America agreed to self regulate and sticker so called offensive music with the now familiar “Tipper Sticker,” which reads; Parental Advisory, Explicit Lyrics.

Jump ahead to 2000, and the argument over media violence and accountability is in the spotlight again. Machine Gun Joe Lieberman has taken it upon himself to police every media outlet in the United States to prevent impressionable children from exposure to violence, sex, and swear words.

He showed no such concern when, at the tender hour of midnight on the Conan O'Brian Show, he assaulted the American public (some of which were children) with a horrifying rendition of “My Way.” This, of course, was meant to showcase Lieberman’s fun side, the side that isn’t consumed with parenting each and every one of America’s children, and what better example to set than that of a drunken Karaoke singer?

The scabs on my eardrums are beginning to itch...

Speaking of embrarrasing public appearances, Tipper terrified the crowd at this year's Farm Aid by spasming to the tunes of Willie Nelson and several other musical acts. I am sure the family farmers who have lost everything to gigantic agribusiness firms like Archer Daniels Midland were thrilled to have her in attendance. I was somewhat disappointed that none of the farmers in attendance chose to chase her down with an about-to-be-repossessed combine.

Now back to the Republicans...

George W. Bush, meanwhile, admits that he has battled dyslexia for his entire life. This is supposed to prevent we media savvy types from commenting on the moronic statements that fall from his mouth like so many loose teeth. At least he can spell potato, even if he writes the “p” backwards. Perhaps we are lucky that the subliminal message in his campaign ad wasn’t ARTS or STAR or TSAR instead of RATS.

Does anyone not yet know that George W. Bush is an idiot?

Dick Cheney launched himself into the violence in media argument this week with his condemnation of teen-sensation and one-trick-pony rapper Eminem. Our V.P. to be described Eminem’s lyrics as despicable. Of course, he too calls for the imposition of a uniform, stifling rating system to insure that children have no access to things he deems offensive. I suppose I should be thankful that he didn’t choose to sing the lyrics in question...

Maybe Dick Cheney is waiting for Joe Lieberman to break the Karaoke ice...

If I was a parent, I think all of this “concern” would piss me off. The assumption that I am unable to guide and nurture my children in the right direction is more offensive than anything Eminem can record, or Hollywood can market. The fundamental problems lay not with the media organizations and artists that produce material that some people are too stupid to ignore. They lay in politicians' inability to identify anything of substance upon which to campaign.

I am more interested in issues like abolishing the death penalty, ending the failed drug war, improving America’s schools, and bringing up everyone’s median income so that all Americans can enjoy the fruits of this stock market driven economy.

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