To Be Fair, Mondale Was Wearing A Big Gold Medallion and an Earring In the Original

Jesse Walker | March 13, 2008

Camille Paglia has the best take yet on Hillary Clinton's red phone ad:

If it's 3 a.m., why is the male-seeming mother fully dressed as she comes in to check on her sleeping children? Is she a bar crawler or insomniac? An obsessive-compulsive housecleaner, like Joan Crawford in "Mommie Dearest"? And why is Hillary sitting at her desk in full drag and jewelry at that ungodly hour? A president should not be a monomaniac incapable of rest and perched on guard all night like Poe's baleful raven.

Comments

|3.13.08 @ 10:37AM|#

Wow. Only Paglia could pull "male-seeming mother" out of that ad.

|3.13.08 @ 10:43AM|#

Only Paglia could pull "male-seeming mother" out of that ad.

I just watched it again and saw a small chested, short haired, pants and dress shirt (with a t-shirt underneath no less!) wearing "mother". Seems like Paglia was dead on.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

robc|3.13.08 @ 10:44AM|#

She does have some good questions. Shouldnt the ad show her popping out of bed (while Bill remains asleep) and running to the Oval Office in a nightgown to take the call? Cant we get realism in our political ads?

Okay, I used "realism" and "Bill in the same bed" in the same thought. Nevermind.

|3.13.08 @ 10:44AM|#

The best take on the 3 am ad is this

http://www.coudal.com/3am.php

Merkin Muffley in 08. He will be as sorry as you are.

stephen the goldberger|3.13.08 @ 10:46AM|#

umm, over-analysis much?

|3.13.08 @ 10:46AM|#

And that scare ad was produced with amazing ineptitude.

Yup. First, the use of the stock footage. Second, the weird jump, from a cozy interior shot to the exterior of the White House. Where's the phone ringing?

That ad feels like it was written by a committee.

dhex|3.13.08 @ 10:48AM|#

that ad is plain bewildering. who is that strange night prowler answering phones?

Episiarch|3.13.08 @ 10:50AM|#

You fools! That ad was produced by Obama's people to make her look like an idiot. Think about it--it was immediately parodied on SNL, The Daily Show, Colbert, etc. It's brilliant!

|3.13.08 @ 10:52AM|#

But, but, it rated very highly with the focus groups!

Christopher Monnier|3.13.08 @ 10:56AM|#

McCain should run that ad in the general election (if he's running against Hillary) and at the end say, "Now who would you REALLY want answering that phone?"

Not that I think McCain is better, but I think that the demographic to which that ad appeals would perceive McCain as the best person to answer that phone.

|3.13.08 @ 10:56AM|#

Put on those high heels and dance for me, Camille.

|3.13.08 @ 10:59AM|#

You guys have it all wrong. Hildamort was going for the suburban lesbian-couple-with-children demographic.

Kyle Reese|3.13.08 @ 11:07AM|#

And why is Hillary sitting at her desk in full drag and jewelry at that ungodly hour?

Because it can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.

|3.13.08 @ 11:28AM|#

And why is Hillary sitting at her desk in full drag and jewelry at that ungodly hour?

Because it can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.

Kyle wins the thread!

Ben|3.13.08 @ 11:55AM|#

Shouldn't the ad feature Bill sneaking into the bedroom at 3AM and getting caught because the ringing phone wakes Hillary?

|3.13.08 @ 11:57AM|#

Here's my choice for the best take on the red phone ad -- the current cover of the New Yorker magazine:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine

|3.13.08 @ 11:58AM|#

If Hillary ever had to answer a 3AM phone call, it was probably to bail out Bill while he sat pants-less in some police station.

|3.13.08 @ 12:00PM|#

I just watched it again and saw a small chested, short haired, pants and dress shirt (with a t-shirt underneath no less!) wearing "mother". Seems like Paglia was dead on.

I don't intend to watch it again to get a closer look, but all I got out of my viewing was that it was a pretty normal-looking mother character. I think that, per usual, Camille is reading way too much into it.

|3.13.08 @ 12:04PM|#

Kyle wins the thread

If Hillary ever had to answer a 3AM phone call, it was probably to bail out Bill while he sat pants-less in some police station.

joe's coming up strong down the post.

Bhamba|3.13.08 @ 12:24PM|#

the scariest thing in that article was the story Pagila links to

http://tinyurl.com/2bnulg

|3.13.08 @ 12:45PM|#

No Joe,

Bill always had the Arkansas State Troopers for that. Actually that reminds me of one of the greatest SNL skits ever. The one where it is "Cops Little Rock" and they answer a domestic dispute call at the governers mansion and Hillary has beaten the hell out of Bill. God that was funny.

|3.13.08 @ 1:10PM|#

I liked the one where the Arkansas statie shoots himself to distract Hillary Clinton from asking where Bill is, and then the announcer says "Trooper Warren Christopher was later appointed Secretary of State."

the fez|3.13.08 @ 3:14PM|#

Francesca, that is indeed excellent.

Happy Jack|3.13.08 @ 3:22PM|#

who is that strange night prowler answering phones?

When I think of "male-seeming mother" and night prowler, I think Bon Scott.

Paul|3.13.08 @ 3:36PM|#

That ad feels like it was written by a committee.

It was.

|3.13.08 @ 4:22PM|#

You know what's so cool about having been a Republican in the 1990s?

Now I get to tell all my Obama-supporting friends: "I hated Hilary before it was cool to hate Hilary, man."

|3.14.08 @ 5:09AM|#

"And why is Hillary sitting at her desk in full drag and jewelry at that ungodly hour?

Because it can't be bargained with. It can't be reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dead.
"

OK, Kyle Reese, that made me laugh.

|3.15.08 @ 11:35AM|#

Keith wrote: "You know what's so cool about having been a Republican in the 1990s?

"Now I get to tell all my Obama-supporting friends: "I hated Hilary before it was cool to hate Hilary, man."

|3.15.08 @ 11:36AM|#

Oops, the page burped, let me try again:

Keith wrote: "You know what's so cool about having been a Republican in the 1990s?

"Now I get to tell all my Obama-supporting friends: "I hated Hilary before it was cool to hate Hilary, man."

Keith, I became a (big-L) Libertarian in 1989, after realizing that the Republican Party had left me. I got to say the same thing about Hitlary AND about King George!