I hear that Certain Readers are a little cranky at picking up the Kansas City Star day after day and having the fresh-scrubbed face of "American Idol" David Cook and/or his fans, friends, family, former teachers and other acolytes stare out at them on page one.
Hey, leave the kid alone! At least he's putting KC on the national map in a good way. It could be worse. Kansas City could be known solely as the home for Campaign 2008's Stupidest Attack Ad:
This amazingly tawdry spot comes out of Missouri's 6th District, where the former mayor of Kansas City, Mo., is challenging the four-term congressman Sam Graves. I'm told this ad was only running in St. Joseph, a mostly-rural market adjacent to the Kansas City DMA.
But then the Star noticed. And so did the TV news stations in town. As did the national media.
"Worst Political Ad Of the Year," wrote TNR Politics, a blog run by The New Republic, which most righties think of as a lefty rag but generally speaking is about as left-wing as a contra reunion. The blogger added the weasel phrase "...so far," but something tells me this one's got legs all the way to awards season.
The Washington Post's Chris Cilizza not only spotted the ad, but decided to use it to launch a new feature on The Fix, his popular website, called "Ad Wars." Cilizza also quoted a GOP operative who said, "If this is the best hit they have then Sam Graves is in real trouble."
Talking Points Memo featured it as a "Wacky GOP Attack Ad" (and linked to the Barnes rebuttal ad). And I'm sure it's only a matter of time before Politico, Huffington Post, CNN and the rest of the blogosphere pile on.
In defense of the ad, though, it's got a great beat you can dance to! I give it an 83.
There's been some attempt by Graves operatives to limit the damage by focusing on one station's coverage of the ad. Apparently a local radio talk show screamer spent much of his program on this today. It was the least he could do, seeing as how he used to work for the congressman who placed the ad. (Hopefully he wasn't paid to spell-check Sam's speeches.)
Well, good luck crucifying one station while your story is going viral. Basically, every political junkie who loves to rubberneck a good old-fashioned train wreck will be slowing down to click on that ad in the coming weeks, and LOL at the cut-outs of Kay Barnes and a leading liberal Democrat superimposed over video of gays of color dancing (and we all know what dancing leads to).
Only time will tell if such bottom barrel communications are more effective for Sam Graves than they were for Greg Davis. But I have a feeling we're going to see this ad again on Election Night, as the cable news pundits use it as either a vivid demonstration of why the GOP campaigns were so successful ... or why they crashed and burned so spectacularly.
Full disclosure: I don't give a crap who wins the 6th District, or any congressional district for that matter. So please don't mail me your "tips" (unless, of course, you know when "The Shield" is coming back).
