Demon Sheep

So, Carly Fiornina - the woman who famously claimed that being a corporate CEO was harder than being President of the USA - has displayed her political genius a second time with the "demon sheep" ad demonizing her primary opponsent, Professional Worm Tom Campbell. As you can guess, I actually agree with her that Tom Campbell would be the worse candidate for governor. He was behind the Governator's lurch right in 2005 that resulted in eight failed ballot initiatives. He then supported Arnold's new and contradictory positions on taxes. The best line in the Demon Sheep ad is to remark on "whatever office [Tom] is running for this week." He's become a professional candidate, tolerated because he can play the Moderate Law Professor from Silicon Valley, which gives the GOP a veneer of at least one non-Jesus-freak candidate.

But holy crap, have you seen the "Demon Sheep" ad? It's not just schlocky, it's one of the most symbolically stupid things i've seen in years.

First, it starts by discussing "purity" and showing lots of white sheep. Now, that's a bad start to any political campaign in diverse California. Then you discover that the white sheep are the paragons of political leadership and virtue. Sheep, you know, the normal symbol for leadership. Tom Campbell is depicted as a wolf with glowy-red eyes. But you are meant to see that the glowy-red eyes are fake and that the costume is worn by a guy crawling. It's campy, in other words. Camp always plays well with conservatives. And Campbell is portrayed as waffly. Hence the wolf: the symbol of weakness. Got that wrong too. I mean, how many people are watching the ad thinking, "I don't get it - do I want to vote for a wolf or a sheep?"

Apparently Fiorina liked the ad. You are going to lose. And that is sad, because she really is the better candidate for California.