Republican Strategist Castellanos Calls Obama Win

[JonLP24]

Source: The Harvard Crimson

Republican media consultant and strategist Alex Castellanos predicted a victory for Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, in a talk at the Institute of Politics yesterday afternoon.

“This is the strangest election that I’ve ever seen,” Castellanos said, citing the unprecedented media scrutiny and sharp turns that have marked both the primary and general elections.

Castellanos, an émigré from Cuba and an IOP Fellow this semester, praised the bottom-up organization of the Obama campaign and its effectiveness in mobilizing support. He dubbed Obama’s grassroots call for change a “secular religion.”

But the greatest factor in Obama’s favor, Castellanos said, is the financial crisis that has swept Wall Street over the past few weeks.


Read more: http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=524183

[Lakerstan]

1. Good - I guess he doesn't need to be on CNN anymore...

since it's over.

[bjobotts]

2. DUH! who'd vote for that lying old guy but the dumshit 27%ers

[Waiting For Everyman]

3. "Emigres" shouldn't be political commentators IMO.

Neither should foreigners. Or compulsive liars.

Poster boy - Kissinger.

[Hardrada]

4. Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville

[Wabbajack_]

5. Why not?

My dad fled to this country, he can't be a political commentator?

[Judi Lynn]

6. Alex Castellaños is the P.O.S. who created the world famous (in his eyes) "RAT" stunt.

He also was the genius of the Jesse Helms hideous, grotesque, way beyond dirty tv ad.

Wednesday, January 2, 2008
ALEX CASTELLANOS
During the 2000 Bush-Gore race, Alex Castellanos -- sometimes admiringly dubbed the “father of the modern attack ad” – produced an ad for the Republican National Committee which was, of course, critical of Gore-Lieberman and Gore’s prescription drug plan. But the ad gained notoriety because, alongside an image of Al Gore, the letters “r-a-t-s” appeared about a half-second before the rest of the letters in the word “bureauocrats”. (Most psychologists believe that such brief, almost unconscious message can be processed and retained. This is sometimes referred to as subliminal messaging.)

Castellanos chalked the “rats” message up to an oversight.

If the “rats” message was intentional, it may not have been Castellanos’ first foray into subliminal advertising.
In 1990, he helped produce a spot for then U.S. Senator Jesse Helms which has since become known as the “white hands” ad. In the spot, a white male is rejected for employment because the job was given to a minority in accordance with affirmative action laws. (Republican Helms was facing Democrat Harvey Gantt, the Charlotte mayor who many were predicting would upset Helms. Gantt, who is black, had advocated racial hiring quotas.)

Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a communications expert who has authored a book on negative advertising, said the ad features subliminal messages intended to inflame racial fears.

More:
http://politicalconsultantmisconduct.blogspot.com/2008/01/alex-castellanos.html

Want to see his ad?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIyewCdXMzk

[Vogon_Glory]

7. I Hope He's Right, BUT...

I hope that Castellanos made the right call about this election, (And I think that the events of this last week have put some SERIOUS holes in the McCain campaign), but making the right call and then talking about it before the election probably isn't going to help Castellanos get more work with his GOPster clients. If McCain loses, they'll start looking for people to blame, and friend Alex has just put his name on the list as one of the unlucky scapegoats.

:dem:

[colonel odis]

8. they know they're going to be clobbered. which is why they're emptying the treasury

and doing what last, few things they can to put the country into even worse shape.

they're taking care of the financial community as we speak. they've already taken care of the oil companies and the defense industry.

think that's far-fetched? 7 years ago, did you think lying to invade a country was far-fetched? nothing, absolutely nothing, is beneath the bush administration.