Posted on 12/20/2007 8:59:16 AM PST by Travis McGee
"THE TODAY SHOW"
MEREDITH VIEIRA: Let's talk about this Christmas ad, because it comes after you have taken some hits from the critics, first for calling yourself a Christian leader, then for questioning whether Mormons believe Christ and the devil were brothers, something you did apologize for.
Now in this ad you are say people should be celebrating the birth of Christ while the shape of a cross appears to take shape behind you. And that has led some to say that this is another overt religious appeal to voters. What do you say about this ad and about those criticisms?
MIKE HUCKABEE: That floating cross is a bookshelf, Meredith. We were all amused -- the production crew I think probably more than anyone, who put the spot together.
VIEIRA: So you didn't see that image when you put the spot together, that it might be confused?
HUCKABEE: Absolutely not.
These are movie camera "tracking dollies."
There are two reasons to use tracking dollies when directing a film. The most basic use is when following a moving subject and keeping them in the same plane. The classic use is to follow a walking actor in profile.
The other use of the tracking dolly is to move the background in a controlled way, while keeping the foreground subject in one place by simultaneiously tracking and panning the camera.
That is how the Huckabee team contrived and executed the shot, in order to move the glowing white (spotlighted) shelf/cross from the left side of the shot to behind Huckabee's head, in exactly the 30 seconds of the ad.
The use of the tracking dolly is the smoking gun, the proof that the moving cross effect was deliberate, and that Huckabee is lying about it being an unnoticed coincidence.
They didn't just come out and "find" that a tracking dolly had magically appeared on the set, and decide, "Aw shucks, why don't we stick the camera on this here funny contraption, and slide it from left to right while aiming at Mike's head, just for the heck of it."
Every aspect of this political advertisement was deliberate, down to the placement of the three ornaments on the glowing white spotlighted empty shelf.
The proof that the moving cross effect was deliberate, is the use of the tracking dolly to move the cross in the background in a perfectly controlled way.
'cause he's a POLITICIAN - that's what they do - each one has his schtick, Fred, Rudy, Mitt, Obama, Hitlery - they all have different stiff that they do, the common denominator is that they are POLITICIANS - they fib, parse words, have difficulty remembering their past, deny, lie, fabricate.
'Ya think RR never lied, ever?
This southern baptist “ain’t votin’” for Miguel Huckabee, simply because he won’t close the porous southern border.
If nobody noticed the shelf beforehand, then why is it empty?
Where are the books, family photos and nick-nacks?
If it was "just a shelf that nobody noticed," then it would be full of these things. Not empty except for three Christmas balls.
WHAT?!? Oh, wait. . . does “UN” stand for the Useless Nations? They’re not the boss of us and, God willing, never will be.
You’re right. He’s a shameless Christian.
I don;t have a problem with a Christian cross - sorry.
Look at a flag of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
“...like him or not he is not ashamed.
Except he obviously is. There is no shame in putting a cross into an ad about Christmas. It’s a nice touch and completely appropriate. After all, it was called “Christ’s mass” for a reason.
The problem arose when, as soon as the MSM put on a little heat, Huckabee went into instant denial mode and said it was an accident, creating a controversy where none needed to be.
Why deny it? Why not just say, “Yes, it’s cross. So what?” That would have been the end of it, because what more would there have been to say?
When the heat is on, instead of immediately telling the whole truth and defusing the situation, Huckabee’s instinct is to obfuscate. How Clintonesque. Huckabee is the least media savvy campaigner of all the candidates of either party, and it will be his undoing.
Libs love him {Huckabee} because they’ll be able to beat him like a rented mule in the general.
Also liberals love Huckabee because Huckabee as liberal as they are on immigration, taxes and big government.
Huckabee is a pro-illegal, pro-amnesty open borders fanatic, who wants to raise taxes, and wants to grow the nanny state.
He’s a nanny-stater. He’s a spender. He’s making a tribal religous appeal rather than a rational appeal. This denial concerning the commercial proves that he’s a liar.
Libs love him {Huckabee} because they’ll be able to beat him like a rented mule in the general.
Also liberals love Huckabee because Huckabee is as liberal as they are on immigration, taxes and big government.
Huckabee is a pro-illegal, pro-amnesty open borders fanatic, who wants to raise taxes, and wants to grow the nanny state.
You and I agree 100%. But that is not the point!
The point is that he carefully crafted an ad around the moving cross, and then looks us in the eye, and LIES ABOUT IT.
If a former preacher will lie about the cross, what won't he lie about?
You are holding preachers to a much too high standard.
I used to think the same thing about cops when I was a kid, as I got older I learned they were just men like the rest of us (maybe a bit braver, but no less human).
After I heard Huckster’s denial, I noticed the camera panning the shot and I thought to myself, “what other purpose is there to pan the shot the way he did?” Then I noticed that the set is essentially dark and he is lit up and the bookshelf is lit up. For what purpose, other than to create the cross? There certainly isn’t a reason to light up a bookshelf, as he disingenuously claims. Creating the image of a cross at Christmas time certainly isn’t a crime, but lying about it and proving that it was indeed a manipulative act is.
But he’s lying about it. Insulting the intelligence of everyone who hears his denials. Exploiting the unintelligence of some.
It’s NOT A CROSS. Does that matter? Its a book shelf in the background, that while the close up was taken, the shelves took on the appearance of a cross. Perhaps, after the commercial was reviewed/edited they noticed this and said...”hey, cool, great, neat, this will appeal to the Christians.”
Contrived or not, its a hard sell to say he is lying about a cross, when its NOT A CROSS.
Politics, a nasty sport.
................................
Hucakbee’s spot, ‘howdy at Christmas’,
still not as bad as the ‘media’ CNN with a swastika (if I remember correctly) flashing out against the image of Dick Cheney.
I AGREE. Who cares if there was a cross? I don't.
But I care a lot about the possibility of electing a former preacher who is such an inveterate liar, that he will even lie about using the cross.
Doesn't it bother you that he is lying about the very cross of Jesus?
If a former preacher will lie about the cross, what won't he lie about?
That is it, in a nutshell.
The contrived use of an "accidental" element as a cross was wrong, but people do wrong stuff all the time. It is not a disqualification. But the denials, particular the insulting and condescending nature of the denials, raises this to a Dean Scream level, as far as I am concerned.
Any trust that I had or may have had with Huckabee is shattered, and I can simply not support him, no matter what. If he is the candidate in the general, I will pull the (D) lever without hesitation, unless the (D) is next to the name "Clinton". If Hillary is the nominee, I will write-in.
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