Carly Fiorina's bizarre political ad: Tom Campbell as demon sheep
(Read article summary)Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett Packard CEO who's running for a US Senate seat in California, released an attack ad this week, implying Republican primary rival Tom Campbell is like a demon sheep.
Demon sheep. A Greek column from which a demon sheep falls. Threatening weather, badly rendered. An inexplicable acronym. Music? More of a music-like hum.
This week Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and John McCain adviser who’s running for a US Senate seat from California, released a political attack ad that may be the most bizarre and counter-productive such missive ever produced.
And by counterproductive we mean “possibly ensuring that Ms. Fiorina remains in the private sector.”
“A straight-up game-changing shock-and-awe slice of pure mountain grown BONKERS,” judged Jason Linkins in the Huffington Post.
The ad ostensibly is aimed at Fiorina’s Republican primary opponent, former Congressman Tom Campbell. It is meant to tar him as being a pretend fiscal conservative. We think. It’s hard to tell.
The ad begins with the words “purity” and “piety” appearing against a backdrop of sheep gambolling over rolling meadows. The narrator then begins rambling about “fiscal conservative leaders” and “true believers.” Tom Campbell’s name is mentioned, and at that point the Greek column appears, shooting up from behind the hill with the red-eyed demon sheep atop.
Then the storm appears, the sheep topples from its perch, and the ad enters Mark-Sanford-press-conference territory – in the sense that you can’t look away even though watching it makes you feel embarrassed.
