Through the looking glass: surreal campaign ads

First, this laugably bad ad. It appears that the McCain campaign’s latest attack is “Obama wants to Photoshop his face onto Mount Rushmore and the Statue of Liberty”. Incredibly juvenile, but it would work if your average McCain voter knew what a Photoshop was.

Secondly, there’s this video, “The One”.

Twist ending : “Paid for by John McCain 2008″. Really? Are… are you sure, official McCain Youtube channel and JohnMcCain.com?

I see two possible messages McCain could be trying to get out here.

He might be trying to say “Vote for Obama”, which is bizarre and likely not a winning strategy for McCain. Then again, his campaign, his party, and a good portion of the news media appear to be under the influence of hallucinogenic substances.

At this point I wouldn’t be that surprised if Bush went on a puppy-kicking spree only to have McCain come out and defend him, blame it on Obama and the Liberal Media, and say that this type of situation shows he’s “ready to lead” and his opponent is “naïve”. Somehow, it would probably even work, and the media would spend the next two days asking questions like “Voting for McCain : good idea, or great idea?” and “The Liberal Media’s biased reporting: should we stop favoring Obama?”.

Anyways. The other message, the one McCain is more likely trying to push with the world-leader imagery and the glorification of his opponent, is something along the lines of “Obama is the Antichrist”. That might make sense in the mind of Americans who consider reading forwarded emails to be ‘research’, but those people already have lists of contradictory reasons why they’re afraid of him.

In any case, I’m pretty sure the Antichrist is actually supposed to get elected. If McCain was a good Christian and he really believed what he’s trying to scare people into believing, he’d have to make sure the Antichrist won the election or he’d be standing in the way of Prophecy.

On the other hand, if he was a good Christian he probably wouldn’t be ridiculing Moses to make a political attack.

Why not talk to the police? It can never help you. Ever. Especially if you’re innocent.

The Innocence Project : In more than 25% of cases where people were convicted and later exonerated by DNA evidence, innocent defendants made incriminating statements, delivered outright confessions or pled guilty.

Innocent people admit guilt all the time. Don’t be one of them. Don’t talk to the police. If you really are guilty, sufficient evidence should be found in due time. There really is no need for you to provide the rope to hang yourself.

Cory Doctorow posted these two videos of a law professor and a cop explaining exactly why you shouldn’t ever talk to the police without a lawyer present. To sum it up briefly, everything you say can and will be held against you, and it will never help you. Ever.

I’ve only watched the first one so far, but this is a lesson I’ve learned from personal experience. You do not want to learn this lesson from personal experience. Learn it the easy way while these experts are offering to teach you.