Hillary’s Phone ad

The one with the announcer intoning “Who do you want picking up the phone in the event of an emergency?” while children are shown sleeping.

It screams to have grafted on a clip of Adam West as Bruce Wayne picking up the phone and saying, “Yes, commissioner,” and then he and Burt Ward run to the Batpoles.

Because…really. Wouldn’t YOU really Batman be the one answering the call?

PAD

48 comments on “Hillary’s Phone ad

  1. I think it’s a perfect tie in for an upcoming movie. They play the whole commercial, then at the end Steve Carrel puts a shoe to his ear and says, “Missed it by *that* much.”

  2. Desperate times call for desperate measures but while Hillary’s aggressive attacks on Obama’s fitness for the job have brought her back from the brink of extinction–I think she has a chance of pulling out victories in both Ohio and Texas tonight–it will make it that much harder to then put him on the ticket as VP, which I think she will absolutely HAVE to do if she manages to get the nomination.

    You know McCain is going to just recycle those ads,(like at http://www.redstate.com/stories/elections/2008/hillarys_new_ad) though I imagine he will be criticized for playing the fear card more than she has for it.

    I also liked this bit from the Obama camp:

    “I would encourage you on March 5 to call Sen. Clinton at 3 a.m. and ask that question.”

    — Obama adviser Richard Danzig, after a reporter asked whether Clinton should drop out of the presidential race after Ohio and Texas vote on March 4.

  3. I think that at the end of the night, Obama will have more delegates from the four states combined.

    I say this because all the states are looking very close in the polls except for Vermont, which is leaning more heavily towards Obama. We could see a situation where Hillary wins Texas by a 51%/49% split (giving her about 2 more delegates than Obama), while Obama wins Vermont by 60%/40% (giving him 3 more delegates than Hillary). The media has been making the big states seem like big wins all along, but when things aren’t winner-take-all, it isn’t so clear.

    Of course, there are also a lot of undecideds. We’ve seen those completely befuddle the pollsters so far. So maybe we’ll get a much bigger margin than I’m expecting.

  4. My reaction to that ad was that, yes, Hillary does have experience dealing with that call at 3 AM. And what she did when that call came was say “Honey, it’s for you.”

    (Someone else noted that we should look for a candidate who would actually not let the red phone ring six times before picking it up.)

  5. I heard caucuses account for 1/3 of Texas’s delagates, which sounds like the only way to split Texas would be to lose 25%:75% and somehow win the caucuses. A close delegate count in Texas seems very implausible.

  6. I would think it should be that we see/hear the red phone ringing, a hand reach out to pick up the handset, and then seque QUICKLY to the other end of the call to see the TARDIS with the compartment on the front open and the phone cord reaching into a partly open TARDIS door ..

  7. You know, it looks a hëll of a lot like Walter Mondale’s presidential ad from a couple of decades ago. In fact, one might actually think it was… plagiarism!

  8. Ring

    Ring

    Ring

    It’s 3AM. The Phone is ringing.

    Ring

    Ring

    Ring

    It’s a matter of life and death.

    Ring

    Ring

    Ring

    Who do you want answering the phone.

    Ring

    Ring

    *click*

    Beep

    Hello. You’ve reached The White House Switchboard. Please stay on the line for the following options.

    Press 1 for English
    Press 2 for Spanish

    *click click*

    Oh, when the saints… Go marching in… Oh, when those saints go mar-ching in…

    *click*

    If you’re calling to report a nuclear apocalypse, press 1.
    If you’re calling to…

  9. So long as it’s not Mayor Adam West answering the call!

    “Who is this? How did you get this number? Nobody better mess with Adam We!”

  10. Jason M: PLEASE tell me steve carell IS NOT platying agent smart. The only reason I do not watch the office is because He is not funjny. It is probably just me but SC is not funny.

  11. “Jason M: PLEASE tell me steve carell IS NOT platying agent smart. The only reason I do not watch the office is because He is not funjny. It is probably just me but SC is not funny.”

    He is playing Agent Smart. The movie is coming out this year and Anne Hathaway is playing Agent 99.

    I hate the office too, but not because of Steve Carell. I loved him on the Daily Show. I had no interest in Evan Almighty, but he was great in Little Miss Sunshine. So I have high hopes for the Get Smart movie.

  12. “We have to be cool about this,honey,
    so if a woman answers, hang up.”

    “Hello, this is the Place Called Hope Adult Book & Novelty Emporium, I’m calling about Mr. Clinton’s revolving charge account”

    “I’m looking for Miss Tinkle, First name Ivana,
    Hey all youse guys, put down your glasses Ivana Tinkle”

  13. “We have to be cool about this,honey,
    so if a woman answers, hang up.”

    “Hello, this is the Place Called Hope Adult Book & Novelty Emporium, I’m calling about Mr. Clinton’s revolving charge account”

    “I’m looking for Miss Tinkle, First name Ivana,
    Hey all youse guys, put down your glasses Ivana Tinkle”

  14. Well, it looks like I might be right about Texas being a virtually even split (thought I was wrong about a lot else).

    Right now the count is at 50%/48% for Clinton in the Texas primary and 56%/44% for Obama in the Texas Caucus. The Primary is worth more delegates and both parts of the race are proportionate, so that’s looking pretty even.

    Of course, they’ve only started counting the caucus returns. Things could shift massively by the time they finish counting.

  15. Replace Adam West with Christian Bale as Batman, and yes, I wouldn’t mind him answering the phone. 😉

    I must confess, as a solid conservative voter, I am happy the Democratic race has no clear winner. If Hillary gets the nomination, McCain has a chance of winning. (Not saying it is a good chance, but it is a chance. And not saying I am happy with McCain, but I would vote for him over either Dem candidate.) With Obama, he would have to really implode for McCain to pull it off. So the longer this goes, the better.

    Besides, this seems to be bringing out the trademarked PAD sense of humor.

    Iowa Jim

  16. You know, if it was an ad by McCain, it should be Bill Bixby answering the phone and becoming the Hulk. While I feel safer with McCain as president over Clinton or Obama, it ain’t by much.

    Iowa Jim

  17. Peter David said: It screams to have grafted on a clip of Adam West as Bruce Wayne picking up the phone and saying, “Yes, commissioner,” and then he and Burt Ward run to the Batpoles.

    Now I have this image of Hillary and Bill sliding down the Batpoles. Just not sure who’d be Batman and who’d be Robin.

    Or would there be the horror of Hillary looking up just before she hits the bottom and realizing Bill is sliding down toward her on the same pole.

  18. To channel Jon Stewart, I just hope whoever is president answers before six rings!

  19. Peter David: Because…really. Wouldn’t YOU really Batman be the one answering the call?
    Luigi Novi: Well, yeah, but not necessarily Adam West.

    I mean, we don’t need another President with a beer gut. We had that with Clinton.

    Lewis Wilson? Nah. We can’t have a President that no one’s ever heard of because he’s so obscure. We had that William Henry Harrison.

    Michael Keaton? Nah. We can’t have have a President who gained fame by playing a clownish character like Beetlejuice. We had that with George W. Bush.

    Val Kilmer? Uh-uh. We can’t have a President who’s completely stiff when uttering his lines. Why do you think Al Gore and John Kerry never won?

    George Clooney? We can’t have a doctor as President. Do you see Ron Paul winning any primaries?

    Christian Bale? Yeah. Christian Bale can get things done. He’s not campy. He’s got the physique. He’s got an excellent and racially diverse supporting cast–er, I mean cabinet. We know he won’t have any sex scandals, because, after all, he had zero sexual chemistry with his female costar. He’s not so intractable, single-minded, or lacking in fluidity that he can’t change horses in mid-stream (he uses a Batmobile in one movie, and a Bat-pod in another), etc.

  20. Okay, did anyone with the suggestions of alternate Batman’s actually not GET the reason Adam West is used for that reference?

    *sigh* freaking nerds.

    Ah well, who am I to judge – I’m voting Howard the Duck anyway

    *RING*

    “Waugh!! Don’t ya know what time it is buddy!
    Nuclear war? Well, you stupid hairless apes brought it on yourselves, good luck with it.”

    CLICK

    “Hey Bev, wake up – we got twenty minutes.”

  21. Okay, did anyone with the suggestions of alternate Batman’s actually not GET the reason Adam West is used for that reference?

    *sigh* freaking nerds.

    Ah well, who am I to judge – I’m voting Howard the Duck anyway

    *RING*

    “Waugh!! Don’t ya know what time it is buddy!
    Nuclear war? Well, you stupid hairless apes brought it on yourselves, good luck with it.”

    CLICK

    “Hey Bev, wake up – we got twenty minutes.”

  22. Okay, did anyone with the suggestions of alternate Batman’s actually not GET the reason Adam West is used for that reference?

    *sigh* freaking nerds.

    Ah well, who am I to judge – I’m voting Howard the Duck anyway

    *RING*

    “Waugh!! Don’t ya know what time it is buddy!
    Nuclear war? Well, you stupid hairless apes brought it on yourselves, good luck with it.”

    CLICK

    “Hey Bev, wake up – we got twenty minutes.”

  23. Okay, did anyone with the suggestions of alternate Batman’s actually not GET the reason Adam West is used for that reference?

    *sigh* freaking nerds.

    Ah well, who am I to judge – I’m voting Howard the Duck anyway

    *RING*

    “Waugh!! Don’t ya know what time it is buddy!
    Nuclear war? Well, you stupid hairless apes brought it on yourselves, good luck with it.”

    CLICK

    “Hey Bev, wake up – we got twenty minutes.”

  24. Okay, did anyone with the suggestions of alternate Batman’s actually not GET the reason Adam West is used for that reference?

    *sigh* freaking nerds.

    Ah well, who am I to judge – I’m voting Howard the Duck anyway

    *RING*

    “Waugh!! Don’t ya know what time it is buddy!
    Nuclear war? Well, you stupid hairless apes brought it on yourselves, good luck with it.”

    CLICK

    “Hey Bev, wake up – we got twenty minutes.”

  25. The complete failure of the 3am ad is demonstrated by how quickly it’s become a joke. Really, the things been out for, what, less than a week? and it’s already a staple of punchlines and satires.

  26. Or, as an unknown source put it …

    LAW & ORDER: GOTHAM CITY

    In Gotham City, the people are represented by three separate, yet equally important groups. The police who investigate crime, the District Attorneys who prosecute the offenders, and the goddam Batman.

    These are their stories.

    *Ta-dam*

    (The original of this was on a black & white sketch featuring Lennie Briscoe and a couple of the other L&O characters doing their trademark walk down the hall, with a grim-faced Batman included in the group. I’d pay to see that …)

  27. Michael P wrote:

    > That, or Annie Potts going “Hello, Ghostbusters.”

    You got your wish, they just ran that very version of the ad on “Countdown with Keith Olbermann”.

  28. Metzger made me do it—

    Bill is Batman
    Hillary is Alfred
    Monica is Batman

    and a cigar is just a cigar

  29. from a post by Lisa Schiffren at the NRO:

    Over at the Campaign Spot Jim Geraghty asks whether John McCain is too nice a guy to use Hillary’s ad against Obama with one modification: After the voice-over that says “I’m Hillary Clinton and I approved this ad,” he wants to add “And I’m John McCain, and I approved the ad too.” Brilliant — if Obama is the candidate. But one of my readers had a great idea if Hillary is the candidate. Actually, she thinks a tougher Obama would use it now…. Same ad, but towards the end, when the phone is ringing, a momentary shot of both Bill and Hillary reaching to grab the phone. There are a lot of things the voice-over could say….but I would start with “when that phone rings…. don’t you want the person you elected to answer it.”

  30. “Christian Bale? Yeah. Christian Bale can get things done. He’s not campy. He’s got the physique. He’s got an excellent and racially diverse supporting cast–er, I mean cabinet. We know he won’t have any sex scandals, because, after all, he had zero sexual chemistry with his female costar. He’s not so intractable, single-minded, or lacking in fluidity that he can’t change horses in mid-stream (he uses a Batmobile in one movie, and a Bat-pod in another), etc.”

    Too bad he ain’t a natural-born citizen.

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