Stupidest Celebrity Alive: John McCain
Rodger Payne notes that up until this week, John McCain thought that being a celebrity was a good thing:
Rodger A. Payne's Blog: Who's the celebrity?: John McCain is a constant guest on "The Daily Show" and other celebrity talk shows. We've all seen him...for years and years.... [A]s recently as July 11, 2008, John McCain's own website included this line from an article about one of his 2007 appearances on David Letterman: "A political celebrity, McCain is considered a top contender for the nomination."
But before McCain launched his latest attack ad:
That's from the google cache. The original article has been scrubbed.
Rodger provides background:
John McCain's latest TV ad tags Barack Obama as "the biggest celebrity in the world" and includes images of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. "Is he ready to lead?" asks the voiceover.... [T]oday, Politico quotes a McCain adviser dropping in a reference to Obama's celebrity-like response to an attack. "This is a typically superfluous response from Barack Obama. Like most celebrities, he reacts to fair criticism with a mix of fussiness and hysteria."...
I wonder, did they think through this meme?...
The more I think about it, I am increasingly convinced that the latest McCain "celebrity" ad and attack is ridiculous -- or at least hypocritical.... One of McCain's 2000 campaign officials says his success that year was caused, in large part, by his celebrity...as a former prominent POW:
Ken Khachigian, Reagan's chief speech writer in 1980 and now McCain's top California strategist, said Reagan and McCain both benefited from their celebrity status, Reagan as an actor and governor, McCain as a POW and senator. ''It's an accident of history'' that the similarities exist, Khachigian said. ''But in my own mind, it's constantly there.''
In any case, do you know just how many times John McCain has appeared on "The Daily Show"?... "This appearance will mark the Senator's 13th time on the show, more than any other guest..." After learning this, I clicked over to the Internet Movie Database to see just how often John McCain has appeared on other TV talk shows since 2000, when he became nationally famous after his failed presidential bid: Jay Leno: 10 times. David Letterman: 8 times. The Daily Show: 12 times (or 13?). Conan O'Brien: 3 episodes. Larry King Live: 9 times. Saturday Night Live: twice. Live with Regis and Kathie Lee (!): once Entertainment Tonight (!!): twice. The View: twice. Tony Danza Show (!!!): once. The man had a cameo in "The Wedding Crashers"! And in 2006, Senator McCain apparently appeared as an actor in an episode of "24"...
