Corzine Attempting “Juvenile Schoolyard Taunts” Strategy
It is about as subtle as a playground taunt: a television ad for Gov. Jon S. Corzine shows his challenger, Christopher J. Christie, stepping out of an S.U.V. in extreme slow motion, his extra girth moving, just as slowly, in several different directions at once. In case viewers missed the point, a narrator snidely intones that Mr. Christie “threw his weight around” to avoid getting traffic tickets.
In the ugly New Jersey contest for governor, Mr. Corzine and Mr. Christie have traded all sorts of shots, over mothers and mammograms, loans and lying. But now, Mr. Corzine’s campaign is calling attention to his rival’s corpulence in increasingly overt ways.
On the one hand, this seems like it couldn’t possibly work. Who’s going to be anything but repulsed from Corzine by these tactics? On the other, it does often seem that prejudice against the overweight is one of the last socially acceptable forms of prejudice. But this really looks to me like a (deserved) backlash waiting to happen.
62 Responses to “Corzine Attempting “Juvenile Schoolyard Taunts” Strategy”
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October 8th, 2009 at 5:04 am
I expected much better from Corzine. The advertisement is pretty off-putting and it’s something I would expect from Republicans, akin to the “San Francisco values” commercial from Rep. Graves, and Liddy Dole’s attempted impersonation of Kay Hagan’s voice.
I still can’t get over the fact they actually poll tested Christie’s perceived fatness. Is Corzine really in that much trouble that he can no longer make an affirmative case for his candidacy and can only win on irrelevant personal characteristics, rather than issues affecting voters?
October 8th, 2009 at 5:10 am
Especially since something like a third of Americans are obese and two-thirds are overweight, it might not be the right demographic to mock.
Of course, only 15% of Americans think they are overweight, so maybe it will fly…
October 8th, 2009 at 5:23 am
Haha. Fat people.
October 8th, 2009 at 5:31 am
“On the one hand, this seems like it couldn’t possibly work. ”
You give American voters far too much credit.
October 8th, 2009 at 6:18 am
“Christie is fat” is probably the best platform Corzine can run on. What is else is he going to say, “I made millions at Goldman Sachs”, or “My administration is corrupt”?
October 8th, 2009 at 7:18 am
If Corzine tries to distract Christie with a pork chop during some future debate, that will be going too far.
October 8th, 2009 at 7:27 am
Beyond the fat jokes, he’s also criticizing Christie for evading traffic violations. Isn’t Corzine the guy who thought because he was governor he should be driven around on highways at 90 miles an hour with a police escort? Ridiculous.
October 8th, 2009 at 7:42 am
Isn’t the entire wingnut mode of argument, hurling epithets like “Socialist”, “Communist”, “Nazi”, etc. at Democrats, a lot like juvenile schoolyard taunting?
October 8th, 2009 at 7:43 am
Ok I read the description of the ad then I went and actually watched the ad and I came away feeling like the description did not line up with what I saw. For the majority of the ad you don’t even see any images of Christie. When the line about “throwing his weight around” comes up all there is is a head shot showing. Its not until the very end of the ad that the image of Christie getting out of the back of an SUV is shown and he is in a dress shirt and tie, and not any overly bad pose. Hell he is fat, what it Corzine supposed to do photoshop him slimmer? How many people even went and took a look at the actual ad versus just relying on the description?
I don’t see how you have an attack ad against your opponent without showing them. Considering some of the images used against then Senator Obama last year in ads this was beyond tame. Talk about a tempest in a teapot.
October 8th, 2009 at 7:49 am
Give. Me. A. Break. The man is massive. It’s a fact. Any video of anything other than his head (which is also massive) would show his undulating girth. It is what it is.
What’s far more important is that Christie — the District’s chief federal law enforcement agent — received special treatment, after he identified himself as the US Attorney, in a situation that would have been a nightmare of legal consequences for any normal citizen.
One is either a good guy all the time or a good guy part of the time. The question here is whether New Jersey voters want to elect a Governor who will hold others to a far higher standard than he observes himself.
October 8th, 2009 at 7:53 am
There is a very strong pretty people bias in politics, but hopefully overt efforts to exploit this don’t work. Campaign consultants are just trying to see how explicit you can be about this without sparking a backlash. I think that Cristie ought to be able to counter this, but the way to do it is to show that you don’t mind being shown this way. His line should be something like ‘Corzine says I have a fat ass, and I do, but it ain’t as big as the mess Corzine is making of New Jersey.’
October 8th, 2009 at 7:55 am
The ad seem fine to me. May not work, but doesn’t meet my threshold for offensiveness for the weight issue.
October 8th, 2009 at 7:57 am
A fat, slovenly, triple-chinned Twinkie hound could get elected to just about any office in the country with the right campaign strategy, staff and compliant local press. An atheist with a recent Nobel award for discovering the cure to cancer couldn’t get elected town sewage commissioner. Nah Matt, more so than being gay, fat, old, odd, stupid, mean, violent or foreign being an atheist disqualifies an American from electoral consideration for just about anything. It is truly the last taboo.
October 8th, 2009 at 8:24 am
Being an atheist doesn’t disqualify anyone from anything. I’m sure atheists are elected to office all the time. Being openly an atheist does make it difficult to be elected. Congressman Pete Stark, by the way, is openly an atheist, and was re-elected last year.
October 8th, 2009 at 8:33 am
More broadly, I get pretty sick of atheists claiming that they are the most discriminated against group in America. It’s true if you look at opinion polls that people are willing to say terrible things about atheists. And I’m sure if you live in some parts of the Bible Belt it can make your life hard to be an open non-believer.
But, really. If you live in anywhere but a very small town (which fewer and fewer Americans do, and which I’d guess a disproportionately small number of atheists do), nobody but people you know well is even going to have any idea of whether you’re an atheist or not. And most atheists tend to be congregated together. I’d suspect that, in aggregate, atheists are better-educated and make more money than the population as a whole. And the “no religion” segment of the population is the fastest-growing one. The self-pity of this kind of thing is unbelievable.
And, watching the ad, I agree that the characterization of it in the New York Times article seems absurd.
October 8th, 2009 at 8:48 am
Chiming in to agree that the Times take is absurd. Every political ad I’ve seen commit bona fide double entendre has been much more blatant. You’d show the image simultaneously with the weight comment if you actually wanted anyone to connect the two.
Good job by Christie supporters to come up with a new controversy to distract from Corzine’s push on the accident incident, though (obv worked if they got MY to bite). Amazing how Democrats are thin-skinned, PC whiners with something like this, or playing the race card or whatever, while Republicans can say delicate-flower shit like this:
Boo hoo.
October 8th, 2009 at 8:50 am
Also, according to Megan McArdle, all of Christie’s seemingly weight-related health problems instead owe to stress from this sort of vile humiliation. You antifattites need to give the man a break!
October 8th, 2009 at 9:06 am
I can understand why Matt is particularly sensitive to this.
October 8th, 2009 at 9:15 am
John Says:
October 8th, 2009 at 8:24 am
Being an atheist doesn’t disqualify anyone from anything. I’m sure atheists are elected to office all the time. Being openly an atheist does make it difficult to be elected.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh fuck John, you dispute my claim with the caveat “If only you choose to keep your goddamn atheism to yourself the world is your oyster”? WTF does it mean to say atheists aren’t discriminated against and the proof is in how fairly an atheist is treated when NO ONE KNOWS THEY’RE AN ATHEIST!? Try this stupidity on for size, John. Let’s construct a pretend world around 1930 America where a black man finds it possible to conceal his blackness by turning himself white. You get it, genetically he’s black, but to outside observers he appears to be white. Then he goes around getting treated fairly by everyone he meets. Then you, John, are trotted out from behind a curtain and tut-tut people wanting to claim blacks are mistreated. And your proof? Why, it’s the black guy no one knows is black! He was smart enough to hide his blackness and PRESTO!!!, he’s not discriminated against! Goddamn John, you’re a genius! Go to hell.
October 8th, 2009 at 9:18 am
So, if Corzine is fighting dirty, does that mean he’s not a progressive? I thought you said progressives don’t do these sorts of things.
October 8th, 2009 at 9:46 am
[...] some wonks, Republicans, who have called Dems, traitors, godless, gay, race baited, lied, stolen and cheated [...]
October 8th, 2009 at 9:49 am
John Says:
October 8th, 2009 at 8:33 am
“And most atheists tend to be congregated together.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trolls everywhere bow in reverence……
October 8th, 2009 at 9:54 am
New Jersey voters have the right to consider the chance of Christie dying in office, due to his poor health. I seem to recall someone else making this point in a different context:
http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/01/the_age_thing.php
October 8th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Given that Mr. Yglesias is not exactly svelte himself, I can see why he might be somewhat taken aback by this add.
October 8th, 2009 at 10:14 am
The campaign consultants I’ve talked to all say that you can get mean but you can’t get personal. Talk all you want to about the opponent’s beliefs, past, statements, record, etc. But you can’t talk about the opponent’s looks, spouse, children, clothing, hair, etc.
October 8th, 2009 at 10:19 am
Oh, boo hoo, Steve Duncan. You’re an atheist and everybody hates you. Yes, it’s hard to get elected as a politician when you’re an atheist. (Not impossible – Pete Stark is an atheist). If you live in the rural bible belt, I’m sure it’s difficult to be an atheist, although I can’t think that I’ve ever really heard of people losing jobs for being atheists, or that kind of thing.
As far as your comparison of being an atheist but not really talking about it to a Black man “passing,” that’s ridiculous and offensive. My point wasn’t that people should be secretive about being an atheist. It’s that, for the most part, almost nobody you meet is going to have any idea that you’re an atheist. Nobody gets turned away from a restaurant for being an atheist, because restaurant staff don’t know anything about the religious beliefs of people coming into their restaurant. For the most part, you don’t get asked for your religion if you’re applying for a job – and if you do, it’s illegal discrimination. Of course there are cases of discrimination against non-religious people.
But the idea that this is our greatest challenge in terms of remaining bigotry is ridiculous, self-pitying nonsense. Boo hoo for the poor atheists, who have to avoid having conversations about Richard Dawkins with strangers! What a sad, persecuted life they lead!
October 8th, 2009 at 10:35 am
You can’t talk about them, but you can certainly visually highlight them in ads and mailings that are ostensibly about other things.
October 8th, 2009 at 10:41 am
So, if Corzine is fighting dirty, does that mean he’s not a progressive? I thought you said progressives don’t do these sorts of things.
“You” who? Doesn’t sound like something Matt would say.
And anyway, not much, if anything, about Corzine screams “progressive”. He’s your ordinary liberal technocrat.
October 8th, 2009 at 10:45 am
Extreme slow motion is always used when portraying your opponent as sinister. People just look like their up to no good. It works best in grainy black & white. It makes them look like they’ve been caught doing something wrong on a security camera, and the tape is being run real slow so it can be analyzed.
October 8th, 2009 at 10:46 am
[...] Yglesias joins Goldberg: On the other, it does often seem that prejudice against the overweight is one of the last socially acceptable forms of prejudice. But this really looks to me like a (deserved) backlash waiting to happen… [...]
October 8th, 2009 at 10:58 am
Noting that Taylor Marsh is linking to this site, I’m obligated to point out that she linked to Larry Johnson’s hysterical, racist “whitey tape” post during the primaries and repeatedly put photos of Obama with Jesse Jackson on the masthead of her site for no reason. No clue how she’s let back into the legitimate progressive fold without confronting her history of racebaiting.
October 8th, 2009 at 11:04 am
I don’t know. I just saw the video. The full shot of him and the “throwing his weight around” comment don’t come until the very end of the commercial, by which time I was more struck by the “Christie is a scofflaw” theme.
Yes, they were probably trying to make fun of his weight, and that’s juvenile. But they did it in an offhanded way that doesn’t stick.
Now, if they had shown him jumping up and down on a trampoline in a bikini, that would have been over the line.
October 8th, 2009 at 11:09 am
You’re an idiot. How do you think Corzine got where he is in the race? It wasn’t by playing nice.
October 8th, 2009 at 11:15 am
This ad will work the way political ads have to work these days. The use of the “fat” comment means it will be picked up in the media and on blogs so people can discuss whether it is a low blow. Meanwhile, the real message about Christie using his position to avoid criminal penalties, will get out. Without the fat reference, nobody would write about it.
The bigger question is how a USAG can run someone over, going the wrong way down a one way street, but uses his position to get out of even a simple driving the wrong way ticket, much less attempted vehicular homicide. No media outlet even picks up the story until a campaign commercial says the USAG is fat.
October 8th, 2009 at 11:29 am
@31: Huh? Trackbacks are automated, aren’t they? How does the existence of a link from Marsh’s site to this one constitute some kind of endorsement of Marsh?
Now, if the link had gone the other way, you might have a point (depending on what kind of language accompanied it). But it didn’t. AFAIK, nobody can stop Marsh from linking to any site on the web, even if they wanted to.
October 8th, 2009 at 11:36 am
John Says:
October 8th, 2009 at 10:19 am
“It’s that, for the most part, almost nobody you meet is going to have any idea that you’re an atheist.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The context of the discussion is running for public office as an atheist. You don’t slog through a major campaign with all the attendant press interviews, debates, policy papers and dozens of other give-and-take formats without the subject of your religious beliefs coming to the fore. You will be asked. To demure and steer the conversation to another subject is all the red flag the press or your opponent will need to pounce, dig and make an issue of it. It’s likely you’ll be weeded out before you even get that far. The party hierarchy will be keen to hear exactly why you think they should shovel money and support your direction given your lack of religious beliefs and the public’s predictable reaction to it. You will have to address the matter. You will be forced to confess your atheism. Yes John, the goddamn counter girl at Burger King doesn’t know you’re an atheist and consequently won’t spit on your hamburger. Try running for mayor, senator or the Presidency and keeping it a secret. That’s the context in which we’re discussing someone’s atheism. Figure out a way to follow the topic. Tell me John, would Obama have won the Presidency if he was an atheist? Any answer other than “NO” is disingenuous. Oh, could you expand upon your “most atheists tend to be congregated together” theory? I’m sure it’s a fascinating story. Citations please…………
October 8th, 2009 at 11:50 am
Perhaps a counter-ad showing Corzine in the twisted wreckage of the state owned SUV and him being removed and rushed to the hospital because he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt would be appropriate….
October 8th, 2009 at 11:54 am
@chris – nothing against MY. Just something people (at least myself anyway) ought to point out every time they see her show up somewhere.
October 8th, 2009 at 11:58 am
I’ll leave Matt’s update to stand for itself, since I basically agree with it. But as added context, I think it’s fair to point out that this isn’t the first time this particular reporter has dumped dogshit on a Democrat for no apparent reason.
October 8th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
I saw the commercial, and you know what? It reminds me of a zillion other political ads I’ve seen.
When I see an attack ad that films an opponent in his or her most favorable and attractive profile, it will be the first.
Corzine can be criticized for lots of things, but on this issue, his critics are full of it.
October 8th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
John Says:
October 8th, 2009 at 8:24 am
“Being an atheist doesn’t disqualify anyone from anything.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.bsalegal.org/duty-to-god-cases-224.asp
Policies
● Youth and Adult Volunteers
Boy Scouts of America believes that no member can grow into the best kind of citizen without recognizing an obligation to God. Accordingly, youth members and adult volunteer leaders of Boy Scouts of America obligate themselves to do their duty to God and be reverent as embodied in the Scout Oath and the Scout Law. Leaders also must subscribe to the Declaration of Religious Principle. Because of its views concerning the duty to God, Boy Scouts of America believes that an atheist or agnostic is not an appropriate role model of the Scout Oath and Law for adolescent boys. Because of Scouting’s methods and beliefs, Scouting does not accept atheists and agnostics as members or adult volunteer leaders.
● Employment
With respect to positions limited to professional Scouters or, because of their close relationship to the mission of Scouting, positions limited to registered members of the Boy Scouts of America, acceptance of the Declaration of Religious Principle, the Scout Oath, and the Scout Law is required. Accordingly, in the exercise of their constitutional right to bring the values of Scouting to youth members, the Boy Scouts of America will not employ atheists, agnostics, known or avowed homosexuals, or others as professional Scouters or in other capacities in which such employment would tend to interfere with the mission of reinforcing the values of the Scout Oath and the Scout Law in young people.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Young boys and men are taught through Scouting atheists “are not an appropriate role model”. Mirrors what a great many other institutions teach young children. Then they grow up and ask Matthew Shepard to go with them for a drive………
October 8th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Steve Duncan, your comparison at #19 is stupid. Nobody in my workplace knows what my religious beliefs or habits are. I don’t know what anybody else’s religious beliefs or habits are. I don’t even know the religious beliefs or habits of most of my friends. If any of them are atheists, I highly doubt that they’re suffering due to that fact — nobody would know or care.
On the other hand, a black man in 1930 America is unable to conceal his blackness, and everyone cares.
October 8th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
As for Christie, wow, looking at the video, that is one big dude. He looks thinner in Google Images search.
October 8th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Arkansas, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas have constitutions that explicitly forbid atheists from holding state office. Granted, these provisions are unconstitutional and unenforceable, but they’re there.
In any case, it is largely socially acceptable to be pretty openly prejudiced against atheists. Certainly, you can’t hope to win high political office without wearing religion on your sleeve. We’re also pretty openly demonized by many sectors of society, and not just by the religious fundies either.
While there’s certainly prejudice against fat people, it’s generally not acceptable to be terribly overt about it. Making fun of someone for being fat, or even drawing attention to it, is generally seen as offensive and mean spirited. And there’s not exactly a shortage over overweight people in Congress or other offices. Christie is fat but he won his party’s nomination for the governorship – what atheist has ever gotten that far?
October 8th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
In a State (Jersey) filled to the brim with fat Italians, Jews, and other stuff yourself to the gills ethnicities _ I could see how Corzine’s ad could backfire. Of course, Christie could just EXERCISE and EAT SENSIBLY, but, noooo, that would be asking too much from the fat pig.
October 8th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
nbt Says:
October 8th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Steve Duncan, your comparison at #19 is stupid. Nobody in my workplace knows what my religious beliefs or habits are.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
nbt, are you purposefully dense or trolling? I’ll repeat, the discussion of how atheism affects someone is as relates to their prospects in political elections. Got it? We don’t care that your religious status is known or unknown to your friends, co-workers or others in your personal circle of life. If they all banded together and voted for you it wouldn’t get you elected to the U.S. Senate if you were an atheist. Nor would your religious beliefs remain a secret to all you know if you did run for high office. Do some research for us. Pick an elected offical in high office in this nation and demonstrate his religious beliefs remained unknown and irrelevant to the electorate throughtout and after his election to office.
October 8th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Atheist have problems winning elections for the same reason all other minority groups do. Most people prefer voting for people who look like them and have similar beliefs.
October 8th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
For what it’s worth, Corzine’s campaign is working. They’ve done a brutally effective job of defining Christie for the swath of voters who dislike Corzine but really had no idea who his Republican challenger was or would do.
In the homestretch, Jerseyans are asking themselves if they really want to vote for Jabba the Guv — especially with a svelte, telegenic, fiscally responsible alternative (Daggett) for those who just can’t bring themselves to vote for Corzine.
This is going to play out as a textbook example of successful savage campaign ran to further progressive politics.
Nut up or shut up!
October 8th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Steve Duncan #46,
I am not being purposefully dense or trolling. I will concede the point that atheists have a hard time running for political office, although this is probably more true with nation-wide or state-wide elections. A lot of wacky characters get elected to city councils.
Your comparison at #19 attempted to compare discrimination against atheists to everyday treatment of black people in 1930 America, so I was not aware that you were restricting your point to political elections.
October 8th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
sp6r=underrated Says:
October 8th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Atheist have problems winning elections for the same reason all other minority groups do. Most people prefer voting for people who look like them and have similar beliefs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You have a point. For example, I could never run for office. The “looks like them” aspect would doom me. I’m too handsome for most people to relate to. Just sayin’……
October 8th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
No one has a right to elected office. Introverts, loners, people who suck at fund-raising, and unpopular people also have a very hard time getting elected. Boo hoo. The problem of atheists here is a consequence of (a) people believing that religion is very important, at least in theory; and (b) democracy.
I mean, I also think that most people are horribly deluded about the foundations of their moral beliefs, but it seems logical to me that if I advertise that fact, I will not become very popular with the masses. So I have to be content succeeding in other areas.
October 8th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Barbar, you left out pedophiles, serial murderers, sheep fuckers, wife beaters, drunk drivers and parking ticket scofflaws. If you’re going to point out atheists are merely having to deal with harsh or inconvenient attitudes vis-a-vis electoral politics you may as well mention a broader list of people with similar character defects.
October 8th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
If Christie wants to make an issue of this, he can complain about how unfair it is to point out he’s a fat fattie who’s fat.
October 8th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Listen to steve. He has personal experience in all of those areas.
October 8th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
When Steve Christie sits around the house, he really sits around the house.
October 8th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Steve’s martyr complex is strong. It must be hard living life as a pedophile.
Suck it up. If you’re an atheist who yearns to have millions of people vote for you, you better pretend to find God before it’s too late. You also need to make a lot of phone calls to raise money.
Barack Obama managed to pull it off.
October 8th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
[...] having watched the spot, Matt Yglesias says, “I’m really not sure it does what the NYT is claiming it does. This looks to me like a straightforward attack ad about [...]
October 8th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Seconding #57 after actually watching it. The visual of his weight didn’t look like the focus of the ad at all. What’s the alternative, not being able to show any footage of him at all?
October 9th, 2009 at 12:16 am
[...] ain’t beanbag.” Big Tent Democrat over at TalkLeft makes the basic argument: For some wonks, Republicans, who have called Dems, traitors, godless, gay, race baited, lied, stolen and cheated [...]
October 9th, 2009 at 1:25 am
[...] http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/10/corzine-attempting-juvenile-schoolyard-taunts-str... [...]
October 9th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Hold the phone! A fat blogger is offended by a crack about a fat man’s fatness?
October 9th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
MediaCurves.com conducted a study among 300 New Jersey residents on the recent anti Chris Christie ad that states Christie is “throwing his weight around.” The results showed that the majority of all political parties do not believe the “weight” reference in the ad was intended to reference Christie’s actual weight. Additionally, the majority of Democrats (59%) and Independents (62%) do not believe the reference to “weight” was inappropriate, while Republicans were split, with 44% of Republicans indicating that the reference was inappropriate and an equal amount (44%) reporting that it was appropriate.
More in depth results can be seen at:
http://www.mediacurves.com/Politics/J7588-AntiChristieAd/Index.cfm
Thanks,
Ben