They see guns the way I see wine
Bookworm on May 05 2008 at 8:54 am | Filed under: Gun control, Hillary Clinton
I don’t drink. I don’t like the stuff, and have never forced myself to learn to enjoy it. However, I often find myself in a situation that requires me to buy wine, whether for a potluck or because it’s the perfect hostess gift. Over the years, I’ve developed a surprisingly effective technique, since I’m often told after the fact, with real sincerity, that the wines I pick are quite nice. Here’s what you do:
- Decide on your price and look only at wines in that price range.
- Decide on your color, red, white or rose.
- Pick a pretty label.
- When you find a label you think is attractive on a bottle in your price and color, you’re done. You’ve found your wine and you can buy it with a clear conscience.
As you can see, I’ve removed wine buying entirely from the realm of actual wine quality, and placed it into the world of visual aesthetics.
I thought of that when I heard from the Confederate Yankee that the Hillary Clinton campaign, in attacking Obama on gun control issues, sent out a mailer with a very artistic photograph of a very bizarre gun:
Over the weekend, The Clinton campaign came under fire for a mailing that attacked Barack Obama’s horrific record on guns. The ad was inaccurate—it didn’t go nearly far enough in describing the number and kind of firearms Obama would like to see banned—but as Hillary’s record is every bit as suspect regarding the ubiquitous and yet poorly misunderstood semi-automatic action, I can understand why should wouldn’t want to undercut her own less-than-credible position.
Almost immediately after that story aired, however, Clinton came under fire for the choice of gun used in the add, a rare Mauser 66 with double-set triggers. Rifles with double-set triggers are rare in the United States, but are a feature more common in Europe. The problem was further compounded by the fact that the image was flipped to show the gun as a left-handed model, and the Mauser 66 was never released as a left-handed gun. The picture therefore portrays a gun that has never been made.
This being a political season, many are looking for the real meaning behind that peculiar image choice. CY wonders, obliquely, whether there wasn’t some sabotage involved by someone inside the campaign. You can see him thinking, “They can’t really be that stupid about guns, can they?”
Au contraire, my friend. I’m here to tell you that, on the Leftie side of politics, they know about guns the way I know about wine: They chose an image that looked good — and, since the campaign is having problems raising money, they also probably chose a free image. In other words, they relied on price and aesthetics in choosing a gun photo, using an approach that exactly parallels the way in which I choose wine. Sometimes, a cigar is just a smoke, and a badly chosen photo is just pig-ignorance.
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6 Responses to “They see guns the way I see wine”
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You are right, Book. But I don’t think it’s Lefties, per se, that are that dumb: it’s the creative/image types that are — they are only looking for a good “visual.” I was once asked to approve a print ad: My response ” it’s very nice, except that the image is reversed* and it’s made by our direct competitor.”
This mode of thinking goes hand in hand with the “fake but accurate” philosophy.
* like the gun cited above
Bookworm,
That’s a positively delightful way to pick a wine. I recently commissioned an artist to do a piece for a new label for my wines, it came out really well. Now I’m wondering about how much the skill of the artist is reflected in the wine as opposed to my skill as a vintner. LOL.
What has been most interesting to me about this campaign is the total disdain Obama and Clinton have for average voters. It’s as if they think the votes are there for them by some divine right.
A “fake but accurate” gun. Too funny, Ellie2.
Heh. Years ago when I was a fairly newly married 2nd Lt’s wife, we moved to Germany, and moved into an apartment “on the economy”, since military housing wasn’t available in less than 15 months. On the corner down the street was a fairly small store that sold wine. We couldn’t afford much more than hot dogs and hamburger, but with the DM at 4 to 1, we _could_ afford wine. They had racks and racks of wines. I knew absolutely _nothing_ about wines. My mother drank Rancho Cucamonga jug wine. As a result, I bought wines with pretty labels. If I liked the wine or if I didn’t like the wine, at least I knew what that particular wine bottle looked like for the next time. So…I also collected the labels. Crafts were popular so I intended at some time to take my collection and use them for something clever…a tray with the decoupaged labels, maybe.
At any rate…I still have a brown envelope, full of lovely labels from German wines.
Does anybody still decoupage? I guess today’s equivalent would be scrapbooking…!
I’m sure it’s just a stock photo. It shows a certain sloppyness in that if I were producing such a mailer in such a close race I’d find some hunter to ask if there was anything subtle I did wrong that he might catch. This sort of thing happens enough that I would hope somebody would know there’s the potential for a gaffe.
Similarly the way I used to buy wine was I asked a wine-drinking friend for a couple of decent brands that weren’t very expensive. These days I actually still remember those brands to some extend, but I’ve broadened it out to basically be something affordable with a nice label where I know where it was made. (As in, I’ve been to the specific town in Napa/Sonoma if they list one, or just Napa/Sonoma county is OK too).
But getting back to the gun photo - there was some gun company (H&K?) that produced an ad with the bullets in the magazine pointing the wrong way - the photographer must have really crammed them in there - and nobody caught it either at the gun company or the gun magazines it showed in, and I think everybody forgave them after a good laugh.
Usually foreign French wines are bad quality, cause they are an export, and pricey to boot. Californian wines are domestic and local and the people I know buy them, probably from the personal vineyards owned by a single person or family.
there was some gun company (H&K?) that produced an ad with the bullets in the magazine pointing the wrong way
Blackfive had a funny discussion about that, I recall. Or maybe it was VC.