You knew this was coming. For most Americans, this latest advertisement from McCain attacking Obama will be seen as deep irony, morphing Obama's political celebrity into a matter of audacious vanity and narcissism. But for many Evangelicals, there is probably a second meaning to this ad. Indeed, the signal is not just one of vanity, but one playing on the theme of Obama as anti-Christ. Not only is he not one of us, but his coming should invoke Biblical fear. See for yourself above.
Framing Science
What's Next in Public Engagement?
Search
Profile
Matthew C. Nisbet, Ph.D, is Associate Professor in the School of Communication at American University where his research focuses on the intersections among science, media, and society. E-MAIL: nisbetmc@gmail.com
Comment Policy
-
Keep it substantive, serious minded, on topic, and respectful.
Upcoming Talks
- 09.21.10 CNRS, Paris, France
- 08.23.10 Aldo Leopold Institute, Univ. of Minnesota
- 06.23.10 Aldo Leopold Institute, Stanford University
- 05.20.10 University Research Magazine Association,DC
- 05.12.10 Science Media Forum, Madrid, Spain
- 04.28.10 Science, Social Controversy, & Art, Banff, Canada
Spotlight on Research & Commentary
- Opinion leaders and climate change
- New directions in science communication
- Best practices in digital journalism
- Science media roles & responsibilities
- The framing of science debates
- Framing and the intelligent design controversy
- Public engagement on climate change
- Young Americans on climate change
- Reframing climate change as a public health issue: An exploratory study
- Covering the health risks of climate change: A news agenda-building analysis
- Time to chill out on ClimateGate
Sci-Comm Journals
Science News Agenda-Setters
- A. Revkin (Dot Earth)
- J. Broder (NYT)
- J. Eilperin(WPost)
- WPost Post Carbon blog
- C. Brainard (CJR)
- D. Samuelsohn (ClimateWire)
- C. Petit (MIT Tracker)
- S. Vedantam (WPost)
- N. Wade (NYT)
- R. Harris (NPR)
- J. Rovner (NPR)
- D. Vergano (USAT)
- R. Stein (WPost)
- S. Vedantum (WPost)
- E. Rosenthal(NYT)
- G. Kolata (NYT)
- J. Palca (NPR)
- C. Dean (NYT)
- A. Pollack (NYT)
- A. Aubrey (NPR)
- W. Broad (NYT)
- J. Tierney (NYT)
- S. Borenstein(AP)
- Yale Environment 360
- The Scientist
- Nature News
UK, Canada, & Australia
- BBC Science
- Guardian Science
- Guardian Environ
- Times UK Science
- CP: Science
- Globe & Mail: Science
- Toronto Star: Science
- TheAustralian: Sci & Nature
- Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Science
News Wires
Social Media to Watch
- NYTimes Green Inc.
- Science Insider
- Scheufele's NanoPublic
- Fleck's InkStain
- Maynard's 2020 Science
- Pielke Jr.'s Blog
- Blum's Speakeasy Science
- AGU's Plain Spoken Scientist
- Breakthrough Institute
- Real Climate
- Die Klimazwiebel
- AJOB's Bioethics.net
- Yale Media & Climate Change
- CU CEJournal
- Olson's The Benshi
- Science and Entertainment Media Exchange
- P. Camil's Global Change
- Lehrer's Frontal Cortex
- M&K's The Intersection
- Times'UK Eureka Zone
- Pew's Climate Compass
- Center for Social Media's Blog
Podcasts on Science, Society, and Communication
- CFI's Point of Inquiry
- Grothe's For Good Reason
- CBC: How to Think About Science
- NPR Science Friday
- CBC: The Age of Persuasion
Research Centers: Science & Society
- Center for Climate Change Communication
- Yale Project on Climate Change
- Science Policy, Colorado
- Institute for Science & Society (UK)
- Belfer Center, Harvard
- Loka Institute
- Public Engagement, Wellcome
- CSPO @ AZState
- NYAS Science & Society
- Communication @ Cornell University
- LSC @ University of Wisconsin
- Science Communication Observatory @ Universitat Pompeu Fabra
- Observa: Science & Society
- People, Science, & Policy (UK)
- STS @ Harvard
- Cultural Cognition Project
Research Centers: Media, Politics, Society
- SoC @ American U.
- Center for Social Media
- Investigative Reporting Workshop
- Shorenstein Center, Harvard
- Annenberg Policy Center
- Frameworks Institute
- Demos UK
- Spitfire Strategies
- Public Agenda
- Pew Excellence in Journalism
- Pew People & Press
- Pew Internet & Public Life
- Pew Religion & Public Life
Media & Culture
- PBS' Current Mag
- Philip Kennicott
- Douglas Rushkoff
- Howard Kurtz's Media Notes
- WNYC On the Media
- B. Garfield @ Advertising Age
- CJR Daily
- Jay Rosen's Press Think
- Romenesko's Daily Fix
- Jarvis' Buzz Machine
- Campbell's Media Myths
« Framing Science Climbs to #14 Among Science Blogs | Main | For UW-Madison Readers: Talk on Framing and the Marketing Problem in Science »
New McCain Ad Portrays Obama as the Anti-Christ
Category: 2008 Election
Posted on: August 1, 2008 2:39 PM, by Matthew C. Nisbet
Find more posts in: 
Politics
Environment
PoliticsEnvironmentTrackBacks
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://scienceblogs.com/mt/pings/77871
Comments
Cheese's crust got all muddy!
The last we heard, Obama was a drunken blonde girl with a Brazilian wax. And now he's Jebus Crisp, or else the Andy Crisp?
Flip-flop, flip-flop, they can't even hold onto a theme for one week.
Obama must really be getting their goat. In the next for months, I hope they get bleeding ulcers, coronaries, and strokes. And boils.
Posted by: Malocchio | August 1, 2008 3:52 PM
Okay, if you say so.
Posted by: Brian | August 1, 2008 3:54 PM
What McCain's team seems to be counting on is that journalists will feature in their news stories whatever they are saying in their ads. McCain's people are finding they can control the media agenda this way -- one provocative ad after another.
I doubt McCain's Paris Hilton ad and this one are even getting much paid airtime anywhere -- my guess is that they are produced and then shown a few times in a few places to get the attention of journalists. They are designed to get a lot more viewership embedded in the news, cable news and talk shows, and others who do political commentary.
Why do media allow themselves to be used in this way? They may feel a certain rough justice since Obama's overseas trip dominated much of the news last week.
Posted by: Jerry Kosicki | August 1, 2008 4:09 PM
I would have seen that as mocking Obama's supposed presumption...taking quotes out of context of course. But you're right, for evangelicals that probably would make them think of Revelation.
Posted by: andythebrit | August 1, 2008 4:12 PM
What a ridiculous ad. Almost makes me wish for more "3AM" ads.
Posted by: Doubting Foo | August 1, 2008 4:20 PM
Yup. The righties will see it as a warning, or at least as having strong undertones of prophecy. What's bizarre about that is it should actually convince them to vote Obama, since they (the righties) in general want to hasten Armageddon so their sky papa will come for them.
Posted by: Warren | August 1, 2008 4:21 PM
Obama worship should really worry you. It worries me.
Posted by: Joel | August 1, 2008 6:12 PM
... but it doesn't have the, "My name is John McCain and I approve this message" bit at the end. (Plus at a running time of 1:13 seconds, it will likely cost him a lot of money to run... Yay?)
Posted by: Umlud | August 1, 2008 9:28 PM
*sigh* Election commercials are always so dirty.
Posted by: raiko | August 2, 2008 5:38 AM
Reason why this country is screwed? Obama +antichrist in google: 630,000 hits from crazy, no-nothing religious wackos!
Posted by: iRobot | August 2, 2008 8:13 AM
The line "We are the ones we've been waiting for" is a well-known quote by poet/activist June Jordan.
http://www.junejordan.com/byjune
Posted by: RfP | August 2, 2008 8:49 AM
My partner had a good point. This post needs a bit more explanation in light of the title, because a lot of people (your average christian, for example) are not going to understand why you think it means what you say it means. If a visitor reading this post is not aware of the "Left Behind" series and fundie nuttiness, it may well look simply like a sarcastic attack on Obama's supposed arrogance. The typical reader of this blog probably will get it straightaway, but your audience is not limited to them and this post would benefit everyone if it was more informative.
Posted by: Moody834 | August 2, 2008 3:10 PM
I particularly like the world horizon in the first scene, right out of the covers of the "Left Behind" series.
For those who don't know, "Left Behind" was/is an incredibly popular series of fiction books about the rapture; a mythological disappearance of all good christians into heaven.
In the series the antichrist, Nicolae Carpathia seizes control of the UN cures the world of famine, brings a promise of peace, and then becomes the iron fist of Satan.
The image in the first scene of this commercial was literally used as the cover to one of these books.
Posted by: Rodrigo Neely | August 3, 2008 9:22 AM