Stephen Colbert Super PAC's first ad: What's it really making fun of?
Stephen Colbert鈥檚 Super PAC has finally struck!
Dipping into its massive war chest of literally dozens of dollars, the new political organization has financed and released its first ad of the 2012 election cycle (see below).
It urges Iowans to write in Rick Perry鈥檚 name when voting in Saturday鈥檚 straw poll. But it also asks them to misspell it as 鈥�Rick Parry.鈥� 鈥淭hat鈥檚 Parry with an 鈥楢鈥� for 鈥�America,鈥� intones the ad. 鈥淲ith an 鈥楢鈥� for 鈥�Iowa.鈥� 鈥�
Is Colbert鈥檚 main target here the Texas governor, who is widely seen as intending to soon announce that he will shortly announce presidential candidacy plans, at some time in the future?
We鈥檙e not entirely sure. The ad seems to be operating on a number of levels of meaning, with a poke at Governor Perry being only one of its points.
There鈥檚 the title, first of all. It鈥檚 鈥淓pisode IV: A New Hope.鈥�
Do we have to say what that refers to? OK, we鈥檒l give you a hint. 鈥淪tar Wars.鈥� As in, it was the title of the first Star Wars movie, which was called Episode IV, because George Lucas already had the whole thing outlined in his mind, including the part where Harry becomes a Horcrux. Just ask any software engineer you know and they鈥檒l explain it.
Secondly, the ad is really about ads, not about Perry per se. It starts with the quick cuts and sound-of-doom narrator of negative ads, warning of a 鈥渕oney storm鈥� that鈥檚 gathering over Iowa. In that, it reminds one of the classic 鈥渄emon sheep鈥� ad that GOP California Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina ran prior to the 2010 election. (She lost.)
Then the Colbert PAC spot switches to the hopeful-ad style, with small kids saluting the flag, and so forth, and generally giving a feeling that Iowa can be saved by 鈥渙ur Super PAC money,鈥� as opposed to that of the special interests.
And thirdly, there鈥檚 the meta-language. 鈥淧arry,鈥� of course, means 鈥渢o fend off,鈥� as in fending off a fencing blow. So perhaps the Colbert folks here are subtly telling us all to fend off the corrupting influence of all partisan political speech, and make up our own minds about what direction the nation should follow, instead.
Why yes, we majored in English at college, why do you ask?
Anyway, the ad is entertaining, and you should watch it in full, since by deconstructing it here we have leached it of all comedic value, which isn鈥檛 fair.
We look forward to further ads from the Super PAC, which, as Colbert reminds viewers on his show, can raise unlimited sums of money to do pretty much whatever it wants.
If you send in a donation, Colbert will across the bottom of the screen during your show. It鈥檚 an effort to 鈥渟educe the prudent,鈥� he says.
