The '08 star power-Cold War continued its escalation on Thursday, as John McCain enlisted the help of former two-time world heavyweight champion, Rocky Balboa. Fox News reports that Sylvester Stallone is supporting McCain in his bid for the Republican nomination.
http://youdecide08.foxnews.com/2008/01/24/rambo-v-walker-texas-ranger-stallone-backs-mccain-against-norris-huckabee/
His well-timed endorsement coming just a day before the 1/25 release of "Rambo" (*insert shameless plug here*), Stallone says that McCain is a real-life version of the action hero. "(L)ike a rough action film, you need somebody who’s been in that to deal with it."
Stallone brings with him a long history of international diplomacy and foreign relations. For those of you lucky enough to recall 1985's Rocky IV, Rocky Balboa singlehandedly defeated the USSR and ended the Cold War after knocking out Soviet sensation Ivan Drago in Moscow.
This move counters Chuck Norris' steadfast support of Mike Huckabee. Fox News is already hyping an epic battle between Walker Texas Ranger and John Rambo. Analysts also expect that in the coming weeks we will see The Rock give his support to Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney will be backed by the cast of "Big Love."
But in all seriousness...what exactly is the appeal of celebrity backers? One has to wonder how much weight these endorsements will carry. Rambo and Walker aren't going to sway Super Tuesday one way or the other, yet their support routinely makes the front page on FoxNews and CNN and Norris even stood behind Huckabee at the post-Iowa press conference.
Part of this may be the gimmick, yet in today's TMZ-addicted world, it is entirely possible that actors do have some political pull. George Clooney is bound to win a few votes for Obama and Michael J Fox's ad campaign was key in McCaskill's win in the 2006 Missouri senatorial race. For voters who do not routinely read the papers or listen to talk radio, it is much easier to vote for a celebrity rather than a candidate's platform.
And this begs the question, which will make the bigger difference for McCain: the support of the Boston Globe or the support of Rocky Balboa?
This blog serves my Congress course (Claremont McKenna College Government 101) for the spring of 2024.
ABOUT THIS BLOG
I shall post videos, graphs, news stories, and other material there. We shall use some of this material in class, and you may review the rest at your convenience. You will all receive invitations to post to the blog. (Please let me know if you do not get such an invitation.) I encourage you to use the blog in these ways:
There are only two major limitations: no coarse language, and no derogatory comments about people at the Claremont Colleges.
To post questions or comments about the readings before we discuss them in class;
To follow up on class discussions with additional comments or questions.
To post relevant news items or videos.
There are only two major limitations: no coarse language, and no derogatory comments about people at the Claremont Colleges.
Search This Blog
Links
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
How might this swing the "Law and Order" vote. With Thompson out of the race, we are forced to choose between McCain's Judge Dredd (pic) and Huckabee's Texas Ranger (pic).
Post a Comment