Shotgun Advertising: Dale Peterson

Various political sites have posted this campaign ad from Dale Peterson, who is aiming (heh) to be Republican candidate for Agriculture Commissioner in Alabama. It’s quite an emotional appeal for Ag Commish, and I suppose some people will respond to it, while others will find it over the top. Ben Smith at Politico finds it over the top, but I find these two comments interesting . . .

I actually don’t have a problem with the Dale Peterson ad. My mother’s family has deep roots in the south and they’re some of the nicest people on earth. I also don’t have a problem with the guns and horses rhetoric. It plays to his local constituency, so be it.

What I do have a problem with are the wingnuts who want to extrapolate from this to claim it represents “the Real America.” What a crock. This isn’t any more “Real” than NYC, San Fran, Chicago, what have you. And America was no more born on the western frontier than in the eastern metropolises (yeah, yeah, I know the Frontier Thesis, blah blah blah. Try reading a little more broadly than what they handed you in high school). The country is the sum of its parts, and more than the sum of its parts at the same time. Nobody, and certainly not the wingnuts, gets to decide what the “Real” America is.

I have no idea whether I agree with Dale on Ag issues, but I don’t mind a little emotion. I grew up around city, suburban and rural folk, so I certainly agree that real Americans come in a variety of flavors.

The tell is at the 0:52 – 0:56 second mark, where he holds the gun with his finger INSIDE the trigger guard. Fail.

I’ll withhold judgement on that one.

Update: On his blog, Bob Cesca opines, “Between the cowboy drag and the flight suits, the GOP is nearing Village People status,” while one of his commenters observes, “I also like how he’s dressed more like a rancher than a farmer. And the clothes are obviously brand spanking new.”