Although it has been pretty clear for months that John McCain will be running for President, he unofficially announced on February 28, 2007 that he will be running for President on The David Letterman Show. The Senator of Arizona made this informal pre-announcement but his official declaration will be in April.
Besides his appearance on The David Letterman Show, Senator John McCain has also been on the show 24 and has hosted Saturday Night Live. Many other politicians have also made their way to major television. Rudy Giuliani has also hosted on Saturday Night Live and more recently Barack Obama has been a guest on Oprah.
Based on these television appearances do you think that Politicians are looking to Hollywood as a way to enhance their image?
With Al Gore joking about announcing on the Oscars and McCain announcing on David Letterman, do you think that political campaigns are getting further and further away from politics and leaning more towards Hollywood? Do you think this has gotten out of hand?
Finally, how do you feel about McCain pre-announcing his candidacy? Is a pre-announcement just used for more publicity because it gives people something to talk about?
Article:
http://www3.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/02/28/mccain.running/index.html
Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53caXQKTs9Y
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9 comments:
This was posted by Debra Forte
I think that politicians looking to use Hollywood as a way to promote themselves is good for them, as a way to exposing themselves to a bigger audience. I do feel though that using Hollywood brings down just how important the role of our potential leaders is. Having perhaps our future president on SNL making fun of Britney Spears, and then when in office negotiating wars, makes his job in the white house as vain as that of our over paid celebrities. I think that perhaps going on a talk show is a good way to gain access to a certain audience, but there is a point where using Hollywood DOES get out of hand.
I think that politicians looking to use Hollywood as a way to promote themselves is good for them, as a way to exposing themselves to a bigger audience. I do feel though that using Hollywood brings down just how important the role of our potential leaders is. Having perhaps our future president on SNL making fun of Britney Spears, and then when in office negotiating wars, makes his job in the white house as vain as that of our over paid celebrities. I think that perhaps going on a talk show is a good way to gain access to a certain audience, but there is a point where using Hollywood DOES get out of hand.
Politicians definitely look to Hollywood as a way to enhance their image. Personally I do feel it takes away from the the actual political issues and lean more toward Hollywood and gossip--unfortunately I think it's the best way to reach out to the mass public. If a candidate spent all their time on news and political programs, most people wouldn't know their name. But if they appear on SNL, the whole country will be talking about it. Mainstream America cares more about Anna Nicole's death than they do about political issues, so if candidates have to use Hollywood to access the public so be it.
Lastly, I think McCain was pressured to pre-announce his candidacy just to keep up with all of the hype of the other early announcements.
Kristin Perry
One thing people have to remember is that politicians are humans just like us. Though they may hold powerful positions, I think it is important to realize that they have feelings and emotions. They are held to higher standards, but they like to laugh just like anyone else. Saturday Night Live does poke fun at the occasional celebrity, but it is one of the longest running network entertainment programs in American History, and has been hosted by some pretty important people. So many people tune in to this program that I feel it would be foolish NOT to use it as a tool for exposure. It also shows a personal side of the politician, a side that we can relate to.
As for McCain, I dont understand the concept of a pre-announcement? He announced...there was nothing pre about it. We know he is running and thats that.
Based on television appearances, I think that politicians are definitely looking to Hollywood as a way to enhance their image. Politicians are aware that people are fairly apathetic towars politics, and are figuring out new ways to get their name out their and reach out to constituents. Although it might be better to be on a talk show such as oprah, rather than SNL-showing that you have a sense of humor as a politician, might get you some extra votes (people did complain when they didn't think Al Gore had a sense of humor and was too uptight).
By looking to Hollywood to somewhat product place themselves...I do not think that political campaigns are getting further away from politics and leaning more towards Hollywood. Those politicians are still fulfilling their duties for campaigns more traditional ways, they are just looking out towards extra ways to get their names out there to possible constituents.
Lastly, McCain and his preannouncement for running for president absolutely is for publicity and to get his name out there with others whose names are floating around. If people are already talking about some key players for presidency, he probably wants to make sure that his name is being brought up as well.
I definitely think politicians are using Hollywood as a way to get their name out there and to connect more to the public. Someone who doesn't follow politics but watches SNL every week and sees McCain hosting will be introduced to him and be more likely to do further research based on his performance. It's definitely a smart tactic to use if you want to reach out to more people. Although the use of Hollywood by politicians has increased I don't believe the campaigns are getting further away from politics. The campaign's main focus is still on the issues but Hollywood is being used to further publicize the politician and I don't see anything wrong with that.
As for McCain announcing his candidacy,I don't see the need for officially announcing it if he already did it on Letterman. Everyone now knows and the words came from his own mouth. That's pretty official to me.
I think it has always been the case that politicians look into campaigning in Hollywood for both money and support. This is true especially for the democratic candidates because Hollywood is known to be predominately democratic. Hollywood can be a great place to go for support because 1) everyone there has a ton of money and can help raise and give money to the candidates. And 2) they are constantly in the public eye and therefore have a lot of influence over our culture because they have constant media access. Although I don't always necessarily agree with the way people in Hollywood get their views out there and show political support, it is a great outlet for the candidates (particularly democratic) to use.
As for McCain "unofficially" announcing his intent to run on David Letterman, I think it was something he had to do. With candidates announcing so early, and the huge amount of press coverage that both Hillary and Obama are receiving, it is vital that he gets his name out there. I think it was actually smart of him to do because by doing it on Letterman, you know that a ton of people were going to see it and many others would hear about it. It was a way for him to kind of throw his hat in the ring without having to spend all the time and money campaigning so early. This way, at least people are aware that his name is out there. I think with what Hillary and Obama have done thus far, it is an absolute must that anyone else who wants to run for the Democratic Party must at least find a way to get their names out there, even if they don't want to waste resources and run this soon. It seems, at least for now, that Senator McCain accomplished that.
I think that when political canidates go on shows such as 24 and SNL, it allows them to have a little bit of fun. I view politics as being very serious, and by going on these shows it is letting them let loose. Also politicans are fans of shows, just like everyone else, because come on, who wouldn't love to have a guest role on your favorite show? Also, many people have already mentioned already, it allows canidates to reach a whole other audience who may not typically be interested specifcally in politics.
I think politics and Hollywood are very intertwined to one another. Both politicans and celebrities are public people and they have a great influence on society. Some people pay more attention to Hollywood and by political canidates becoming involved in Hollywood, it allows them to reach an audience who is more interested in celebrities. I think that politicians looking to Hollywood are trying to find new ways to reach more people and by coming more involved with Hollywood is definately a way to do that.
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