A Colorado Republican mistakenly touts an Alaskan landmark

"Colorado is my life," Republican candidate Bob Schaffer assured the state's voters this week in his inaugural television ad in what likely will be one of the nation's key Senate races. Striding toward the camera in the creatively produced spot, he proudly noted that he proposed to his wife "on top of Pike's Peak."

Just one problem. The landscape looming behind him was Alaska's Mt. McKinley (at left, as photographed by Ansel Adams).

The website ColoradoPols.com (where the ad can be viewed) broke the news of the foulup on Wednesday. And other Colorado media outlets quickly jumped into the fray.

The Denver Post's political blog, in an item headlined "Name that mountain," reported that a "frustrated Dick Wadhams, Schaffer's campaign manager, conceded the mistake and said the ad would be pulled and re-edited with Colorado mountains."

The Rocky Mountain News wrote about it in a story headlined, "Schaffer's ad moved mountains." And the piece in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel was topped: "Schaffer might have an early climb in race after ad goof."

Some folks -- including operatives at the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee in Washington, who get paid to exaggerate -- have called the mishap Schaffer's "Mt. Macaca Moment," a reference to ...

the ethnic slur by Republican Sen. George Allen of Virginia that sank his 2006 reelection bid (and in the process gave Democrats their one-seat Senate majority).

The ad flap is nothing of the sort, of course. But early polling suggests Schaffer's general election faceoff with Democrat Rep. Mark Udall for the Senate slot Republican Wayne Allard is vacating will be close. It is a seat both national parties will fight hard to win. So even minor stumbles can hurt.

-- Don Frederick

Comments

[Robert Hewson]

Re: Coloradan GOP member proudly points to Alaska's Mt. McKinley as state virtue--more "change we deserve":

From "Head of State"
http://headofstate.blogspot.com/2008/05/change-that-you-deserve.html
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
The Change That You Deserve

From the Chicago Tribune:

"The slogan unveiled this week by House Republicans - "Change you deserve" - is already a trademark used by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals to market its antidepressant Effexor XR."

Black Screen.

Fade into:

Scene of a thin grey haired man standing in a green field. Behind him we can see the sun is rising.

"I got the change I deserved with GOP."

Cut to a small child, in a sun dress, who looks up at him and smiles.

"I was tired, listless. I had lost interest in my usual activities--creating false attacks, acting as if I had been unfairly attacked about issues created out of whole cloth, drawing specious historical parallels, fawning over ideologically bankrupt manufactured father figures. Sure, I sent emails claiming that Obama was a Muslim, but somehow...it had lost the spark, the enjoyment of everyday life."

Cut to a child who rides by on a bicycle, and throws a newspaper on the front porch.

"That's when I found GOP."

Cut to man rowing in a scull across a still river. He turns to the camera, smiles.

"In clinical studies, GOP has been found to increase aggressiveness in the absence of actual provocation in 8 out of 10 users. In most users, the desire to gleefully attack returns in 1 week. Full enthusiasm for invented ideas in two. "

Cut to image of porch swing.

"With GOP, my attention to minor distractions fully returned, until I was again building them into major accusations of flawed character. Once again, my intense focus on pins, buttons, sentences fragments and remote relationships as absolute indications of personal virtue and ability was at its peak. For an entire weekend, I could one again choose the right moment to accuse a candidate of treason without cause--when I was ready, when the time felt right".

Cut to a series of blurred images: long, stringy haired teens in torn jeans and ironic 80's t-shirts lounging by the Washington Monument; picture of John Kerry in a Swift Boat during Vietnam;
Eiffel Tower. Arugula on plate. During these images, rapid voiceover in female voice:

"GOP may cause monosyllabism, inability to consider two differing concepts at the same time, memory loss or inaccurate recall of recently and repeatedly presented intelligence information, focus on size of automobiles or koro, sequential nicknaming, knowing mischaracterization, hooting. If you have a desire to read the collected works of Ann Coulter that lasts longer than four hours, this may be a sign of a dangerous condition and you should contact your physician immediately."

Cut back to man standing in field. American flag waving in the distance behind him, below a risen sun. A woman walks up beside him, puts her arm around him, and smiles.

Man:

"So get the change that you deserve. Talk to your Doctor about GOP. Soon, you'll be walking by the homeless on the street again and saying "Let them get a job!"

Or better yet--let them get GOP."

Woman smiles.

Fade.

Cite:
Head of State
http://headofstate.blogspot.com/2008/05/change-that-you-deserve.html

[toby]

Hahahahahahahahaahehehehehehehhohohohohooooooo.

What an idiot. And when you watch it as he talks about getting married on top of Pikes Peak when in fact he's pointing out Mt. McKinley...

What an idiot.

[Michael David]

Fade in:

Scene of millions of middle-class Americans standing in a soup line, one speaks:

"I believed in the promises of the Democratic party and my small business went under, crippled by high taxes and mass uncertainty concerning the economy".

Fade out... on all our children's futures.