Critics have long poked fun at House Speaker John Boehner's teary-eyed tendency. But now Democrats are comparing the speaker to a baby throwing an all-out temper tantrum.
During the commercial breaks of Sunday's game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the New England Patriots, viewers in Boehner's district will catch a 30-second ad with a close up of a wailing baby.
"Speaker John Boehner didn't get his way on shutting down health care reform," the ad's narrator says. "So, he's shut down the government and hurt the economy." House Majority PAC, a group that backs Democratic candidates, released the ad on Friday. "Speaker Boehner didn't get his way and so, like a child, he threw a Tea Party-inspired temper tantrum and shut down the federal government," Andy Stone, the group's communications director, said in a statement.
The new ad is one of many campaigns launched by groups on both sides of the aisle in recent days to fault Democrats or Republicans for the government shutdown.
Okay I understand the sentiment behind this, but here's the thing. I am somebody who feels very empathetic toward children, ESPECIALLY crying babies.
My first instinct is not to point and make fun of them for crying, my first instinct is to comfort them and make them feel better. And I KNOW that is probably how most females are going to respond to it as well.
Speaking just for myself I cannot stand to hear a baby cry and have nobody actively trying to make it all better, even if they are throwing a tantrum. So for me this is not going to be terribly effective.
I would MUCH prefer that he were portrayed as an arrogant asshole, you know much more true to life, than as an unhappy baby who is crying out in frustration and despair.
What do all of you think?
P.S. I thought this was appropriate to mention as well.
Yes, my first thought was "someone comfort that kid!". I'm a mom.
ReplyDeleteI don't like it either. (I am a mom, too) The crying takes away from the message because it's obnoxious. Better to point out Boener's arrogance. BUT, at least the Dems are doing something, for a change.
ReplyDeleteUm, if they wanted to portray Boehner crying, why didn't they just use a video of Boehner crying?
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of em.
Interesting comment from one of the scripture quoting, holier than thou, professed 'Christians' at the Sea O'Pee, during a discussion of the evils of the ACA...
ReplyDeleteTheresaAK hrh40 • 8 hours ago −
We haven't had insurance in years...and have paid out of pocket and blessed by some hospital write off...
Funny, but I always thought that 'Christians' weren't supposed to avoid their responsibilities and run out on their debts, leaving someone else to pay their way.
WWJD?
TheresaAK is getting free care through "some hospital write off" known as Bad Debt Reimbursement, which is paid for by - yep - the dad gummed federal gubmint that she and the other baggers hate so much. What the hell though she and the other prayer warriors can just ask Jeebus for some other free stuff.
DeleteRipping off others, those who buy insurance and pay taxes, is a theme over at the Sea o Pee. That racist moron VG recently advised one of the other nuts to just go to the ER at Bon Secours Hospital in Richmond, where they will treat you for free. Their stupidity is astounding. Of course people with insurance pay for those who don't have it through higher rates - and hospitals charge higher prices to cover the cost of "free" ER care.
WWJD? He would slap the shit out of these "Christians", and hurl their lying shrieking hideous Queen, Baldy, into the lowest circle of hell. If there was a Jesus.
That "someone else to pay their way" is us! TheresaAK's bad debts will ultimately be passed on to the taxpayers.
DeleteTheresaAK makes Jesus cry.
Yes, but that's different because they're, no doubt, Good White Kriss-chunns.
DeleteIt's those brown and black people who should just die if they don't have insurance. You know, the same ones who are buying filet mignon, lobster and champagne with their $200 a month SNAP windfall.
The excuse for "the blessing" of Other People's Money is.
Delete"If I didn't get it, some "Taker" would have got it"
See how that works?
Taxpayers pay for Pees medical? Nice, they can send the money they save to SarahPAC.
DeleteNot to mentione ol' Pete over there who gets his excellent government provided health care at the VA. How do these people function daily life? The disconnect from reality is amazing.
DeleteThis granma says... don't confuse the Boehner with a kid!
ReplyDeleteHe damn well knows what he is doing, even though what he is doing is wrong, wrong, wrong.
Absolutely awful. They should have gone w/a fictional character like Augustus Gloop or Dudley Dursley.
ReplyDeleteI don't like the ad either and if it is aired, it will probably backfire.
ReplyDeletere: the Boehner. When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking. Just saying...
ReplyDeleteYeah! I'm still trying to figure where he hid the freakin "a" and until someome points it out.... Boner it is.
DeleteHow embarrassing having this run during the big game. Do wish they had used him crying as there is plenty of video out there of him doing so. I wonder if there was a specific reason they didn't use him? We never know fully what goes on behind the scene as to laws, liabilities, etc.
ReplyDeleteAll the Democrats need to do is list the facts.
ReplyDeleteThe ACA was passed by the House.
The ACA was passed by the Senate by a SUPERmajority.
The ACA was signed into LAW by the President of the United States.
The ACA was judged Constitutional by the Supreme Court.
The Senate passed a budget in April and sent it to the House 18 times but the House wouldn't vote on it. Instead they passed their own version without funding Obamacare.
Speaker Boehner did NOT allow the CR from the Senate to come up for a vote in the House. All he had to do was let them vote, but he wouldn't do it.
And THAT is why the shutdown IS the Republicans' fault, specifically Speaker Boehner.
And the bottom line is: if you elect people who believe that "Government is the problem" then they WILL have a problem governing.
Is it OK if I Tweet that on Twitlonger? A succinct summary like that should be repeated over and over until it seeps into the consciousness of every reader of social media.
DeleteAs I said on the other post, I am uncomfortable with it... I don't like to see kids crying, not even brats, it just hits me the wrong way. And what about this child when he gets older, he's 'that kid'. It's just not good. I think we could do much better -- this is beneath us.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the makers of the ad got permission from mom and dad to film the baby, and were probably handsomely re-imbursed. If this is being broadcast during a football game, I doubt that many viewers (mostly male) will be uncomfortable watching it. In fact, i bet the creators of the ad specifically chose the crying baby precisely because they wanted to enhance the "relationship" between Boehner and a crying baby.
DeleteI don't like that ad. I'd rather see what brings Boehner to tears ordinarily and then compare that to chaos and stress from 800,000 federal workers furloughed, scientific research stopped, sick children denied medical help, WIC moms denied food help for them and their children by the "pro-life" liars, collateral damage to small mom-and-pops who depend on the working crowd to buy their products and support their own families, etc.
ReplyDeleteWanna make Boehner cry? Bring back prohibition.
DeleteThe crying kid is annoying but not as annoying as the crying speaker...I've been calling him Boner since his very first day as Speaker. I call the Koch brothers the Kock brothers...
ReplyDeleteI calls 'em like I sees 'em.
LOL -- Aren't these their actual names? I have also been calling them all by these names. Sometimes I use Bo(eh)ner, and Kock (sucker) brothers.
DeleteExcuse my language, but these all fit so well in my estimation.
ps: Also prefer 'TeaBaggers' to TeaParty which sounds too much like Alice in Wonderland, and nothing like what those tea-baggers actually are!
I'm kind of torn. Yes, a real baby crying takes away from the ad. they use a character like the Uncle Sam at the foot of the OBGYN table? But since when has Boehner cared for what happens to kids? Everything's a line item to be slashed, real people are hurting because of his antics.
ReplyDeleteYou know what? The ACA was negotiated, compromised, weakened, voted into law, approved by SCOTUS. What's to negotiate?
ReplyDeleteAn anti-Obamacare speaker said Obamacare was rammed down our throats by a Dem House and Senate and that "elections have consequences" when talking about how the Repubs in Congress have a right to hold the country hostage to their demands. The interviewer said "what about the Presidential election, Obama was reelected". The guy demurred. The interviewer should have said "what about the elections that put the Dems in the House and Senate in the first place?"
ReplyDeleteYeah, I agree that they should have just used multiple footage of Boehner crying...not a pretty picture.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing I thought of when I saw the opening screengrab of the video -- the crying baby -- was how many times we've seen President Obama holding crying babies and comforting them, and watching them calm down in his arms and stop crying.
ReplyDeleteSomehow I can't see POTUS holding Boehner in his arms and comforting him. I imagine BHO would like to give Boehner a slap upside the head the same way "Gunnie Sgt. Gibbs" (Mark Harmon's character in NCIS) does to his team once in a while.
It would have been better to show a slightly older infant, having a total shitfit in a grocery store because his mother won't buy him more candy...I'm sure we've ALL witnessed that horror.
ReplyDelete(And I doubt if anyone would feel sorry for THAT kid.)
I, too, was hoping for some sobbing Boehner footage. Someone tech-savvy could take that project on board, splice it all together, add the real voiceover & let it go viral.
ReplyDeleteThey could also use this video (I so love this condom commercial with the tantrum) & add the voiceover to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTXwvwQvKWk
Boner needs to grow a pair. Right now he is being fucked by Ted Cruz and it ain't bromance.
ReplyDelete