October 24, 2008
Your turn: O U N T R / M A V E R I C K
If I’ve mentioned it many times over, it’s always worth repeating. A core strength of this site is the visual insight of the readership and the consistent quality of the discussion.
Seems like an awful lot going on here.
from: WAPO Day in Photos – Oct. 23, 2008
(image: Ricky Carioti-The Washington Post. caption: Oct. 22: Students at St. Anselm College display “MAVERICK” on their chests as republican presidential candidate John McCain speaks during a rally at the New Hampshire college)
58 Comments Leave a comment
Jersey Guy said:
The “mavericks” in the back, with the exception of Mr. “V”, all appear to be suffering. They look as if they had guns pointed at them to keep them in position. A truly, truly weird moment in a very weird campaign.
JG.
elyely said:
This looks like some bizarre fraternity hazing rite.
yesterdaygone said:
i don’t get your title: O U N T R / M A V E R I C K. huh? where is the c and the y? am i missing a pun?
but the juxtaposition of the two words made me realize the contradiction inherent in mccain’s message. a maverick is someone who goes his own way, disregarding responsibility or obligations. a maverick is going to do what he wants. it’s a selfish ethos that places self as priority, and screams a kind of immaturity. the kind of thinking you’d expect from a bunch of careless frat boys.
but the concept of the maverick is also in keeping with the country’s mythology and view of itself as a people who celebrates individuality, and implies the “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” expectations. it echoes our roots of rugged frontiersmen who made their own way. but isn’t this at expense of community?
that’s hardly putting country first.
yesterdaygone said:
oic. the c and the y in country spelled out in the background got cropped out of the frame.
Books Alive said:
Hmm, this wide shot with the looks of resolution and distress (“C”) in the back row contrasts remarkably with the cable clips I saw and muted yesterday. Missing are the screams, McCain’s ranting, and Cindy’s knowing nods. What will the ‘morrow bring?
Progressive Mom said:
This is disturbing on so many levels: why not wear shirts with letters? why bare-chested? To demonstrate raw power (and, sorry guys, most of your torsos don’t exactly fit that meme)? To offer up sexuality?
Both campaigns use the backdrop at these events very carefully. What is Maverick trying to tell us by using bare-chested, young, white men as billboards?
rob miller said:
except for the “well-fed” appearance of the mavericks, it looks to me like the group photo’s of “happy workers” that himmler had ordered taken at auschwitz.
Paul in Boca said:
From Merriam/Webster on line dictionary:
Main Entry: 1mav·er·ick
Pronunciation: \ˈmav-rik, ˈma-və-\
Function: noun
Etymology: Samuel A. Maverick †1870 American pioneer who did not brand his calves
Date: 1867
1: an unbranded range animal ; especially : a motherless calf
With the exception of E, all of those boys are intently staring stage left. I wonder what is going on to draw their attention, along with the attention of some of the audience members?
Mxrk said:
“I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.”
Granny67 said:
The best part is–they used Palin’s lipstick (the Walmart stuff, not the newly bought $65 tube)
Shane, Mallorca, Spain said:
The blood red letters on bare hides could actually pass for a real mass branding, and these guys, but for one, look to be still feeling the discomfort. The irony that must escape them all is they’ve been ‘branded’ en masse, totally inverting the real sense of the word they collectively display and seem to take obvious pride in seemingly being…all in a macabre attempt to sell McCain’s own supposed, and very lame… ‘brand’. Talk about ‘red meat’ for the ‘base’…or red rags to a lot of bull.
Rightwingsnarkle said:
This photo comes straight from the pages of Mad magazine, in a piece titled, “You know your campaign for president is totally fucked when…”
“…you give a speech about family values and the sanctity of ‘traditional marriage’ while standing in front of a bunch of bare-chested white boys.”
Storm said:
Maybe this says too much about me, but it’s just too easy to look at those young men and say, “well, they look like Republicans…” (Except for “C” who just looks nice…see what I’m saying?) And “E”, well shoot, he just looks scary. I find myself making “forehead” assumptions.
But more seriously, this is shocking in its stupidity. A football game, a soccer match, NCAA March Madness? Nope, just a McCain rally.
paulimorph said:
blut und eisen~2084
paulimorph said:
MAVERICKA
Stella said:
Pictures from this campaign just make me sad. This one illustrates the kind of brilliant thinking that said “Hey, wouldn’t Sarah Palin be a great candidate for vice-president?”
I can’t look any more.
caraf said:
Isn’t St. Anselm the college where, during the primary season, Charlie Gibson assumed a “family of professors” makes more than 200K a year? I don’t see any professors in that maverick line-up…
Harry said:
When you look closely at McClain, you see “ICK” … just how I feel.
Kris T said:
Another interesting photograph. Nearly everyone, except Cindy, is looking to the Left. Only “V” looks as if he’s listening to McCain, and doesn’t have a chip on his shoulder. On plain base looks I notice that “K” has Hilfiger underpants on, so very red, white, and blue. And “M’s” cheeks match the gory red color of their very messily written letters. And how quaint that Cindy has coordinated her outfit so well! McCain, has his usual clenched fists, but his face is slightly blurred and his black jacket is part of the shadow pattern as if he is next to be blacked out.
With regards to the slide show, did anyone notice number 11? The caption reads “Japan’s Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko listen to the national anthem as they arrive at the autumn garden party in Tokyo.” All I see in that photo is respect and grace. Which seems totally absent in McCain’s camp. The other photo in the series that captured my attention was the watercolor of Obama and McCain. McCain’s eyes look completely vacuous, while Obama’s look very piercing and knowledgeable.
Thanks for the link!
Kris T said:
Harry, “Ick” Ha! That’s perfect.
Our Paul said:
It’s all red, white, and blue, from the letters, to the jeans, to the skin, to the banner in the back ground!!! But what else would you expect, they would never have a visual artist on their consulting staff, that my friends, is an effite pointe head intellectual…
z0rs said:
When you are far behind and you can’t accept to lose, you might not have the strenght to say no to such acts, which unfortunately consist of .extremization and vulgarization, leaving behind decency and common sense, which you never really “felt yours” anyway… They were just the prerequisites you were supposed to have when you entered the competition. The line reads MAVERICK but really I read THIS COULD BE OUR BLOOD AND WE WOULD GLADLY SPILL IT TO DEFEND THIS CAUSE. While this is perfectly reasonable in a group of youngsters, it is definitely irresponsible for the campaign to be so condescending…
vmh said:
The only other red is Cindy’s jacket. I find that striking, juxtaposed with the nude chests because Cindy is always fully covered, turtle necks and other high collars.
Oscar O. said:
They are blocking the Country first slogan and due to the crudeness of body painting, it almost looks like graffiti spray painted over it. It shows us how McCain has abandoned the “Country First” attitude aka for the good of the whole, for his Mavericky attitude of doing what’s good for him only, aka anything and everything to become President for his own ego’s sake.
Posey said:
Don’t those guys look miserable??? What could have made them do that?? The well-known Rethug inability to think for one’s self??? Daddy made them do it?
No way this could have happened without the organizers’ push. Did they think this made McCain look more like a regular guy or that he had the youth vote?
I’d bet on the latter.
bystander said:
I’m with Stella. I very nearly can’t look any more. What were they thinking when they assembled this backdrop? Is this the boo-yah rooting section of a college football game? It’s not like these are the rock-ribbed dancers of a Broadway production. Honestly, it’s off-putting. Way too much flesh, so far the other side of “artistic” that vulgar (as noted above) seems the best description.
And, vmh, take a look at this photo from TheBAG.
Ms. Cindy doesn’t always cover herself to the neck. It really seems to depend. I’m just not clear on what it depends.
Jan Kees said:
I love this! It’s so-o-o creepy!
And the comments really flesh out what’s going on (OK, sorry).
All of them — not just the prop-people but also the supposed listener-people — are utterly bored, “suffering” (Jersey Guy), stereotypical republican (Storm) white guys (Our Paul) (what would the red look like on a black chest?) (or on Cindy or Palin’s?). They’re almost all wondering what’s going on a little to the left of where they stand (Kris T). Bare, raw, male skin for McCain! (Progressive Mom, Rightwingsnarkle). Eeeeyoo! Doesn’t it just make you want to pull the lever for him? Or flush?
And the irony is slathered all over it. We witness the literal branding of flesh of these poor, sad white male individuals, each in assigned order (Yesterdaygone)(wouldn’t a “real” maverick at least allow a couple of these frat pranksters to siwtch places?). They embody the McCain brand of MAVERICK, unbranded! (Paul in Boca, Shane in Mallorca). This is JUST too much!! I can’t stand it!
I keep wanting to come back to it, and don’t want to. I temporarily get over my repulsion of the photo, and realize I can’t hate these poor souls in it. Maybe McCain will bring us all together after all, rather than divide us. I wonder how many of these guys are really going to vote for McCain after this? I think I’ll print and frame this one.
lsamsa said:
I’ll bet those guys were quite pumped about doing this before the event…imagine all the high-fiving & primitive grunting going on…
Seems a few of them ended up feeling a tad uncomfortable once they were standing there shirtless & branded, amongst a group of (dressed) people who they would never otherwise be with.
Totally tacky…and if you have to keep telling everyone what a ‘maverick’ you are, well you get my drift…
Megan said:
Yes! We have returned to the early days of McCain’s campaign, when men filled the picture frame and rare women were speckled through. Ah, this feels familiar. The swing towards yin (with the usual overshooting the balance) had me puzzled, but it looks like Sen. McCain is back on his comfortable turf.
Hm. The topless men look uncomfortable with their display. Perhaps they are learning that Gov. Palin’s sexual presentation is a talent and a learned skill, not a natural state for most people.
Karen said:
Wow. Pained, glum, and uncomfortable. The only expression close to a smile is the grimace on Cindy’s face. McCain’s staff is so bad on the visuals. Awkward and icky.
yesterdaygone said:
stagecraft. don’t they put people in the background of the type they’re trying to appeal to? is this a sign they’re losing the white male vote?
JayDenver said:
“Seems like an awful lot going on here.” And a whole “lot of awful” going on too.
Those poor guys look like they just want to disappear — most of them have the characteristic “fig leaf” pose with hands covering their midsection — a sign of modesty. They just don’t belong there in that setting half-dressed like that and they know it.
Senator McCain looks like a puppet with his hands being pulled by invisible strings. And Mrs. McCain — I really don’t want to know what she is thinking…
If this campaign were a movie, it would be the kind that MST3000 used to feature.
all tingly said:
This is a turning point. The supergroup Orleans has now come out for McCain.
BRD said:
V probably had the idea that they should all get painted and the rest of them seem to be really regretting going along with it.
By the way, my co-worker is insisting it must be photoshopped.
abird said:
I’m struck by all of the whiteness– All white men, a wall of white bodies–
At least none of the letters are backwards.
steve said:
Circle jerks.
KansasKowboy said:
What group are these guys supposed to represent? Male Seminudist for McCain/Palin?
jtfromBC said:
College motto:
Initium sapientiae timor Domini.
“Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”
- hockey jocks LOOKING for Sarah in a chilly hockey rink.
- note V lad with school crest on right arm and E with cross on left
BRD > “By the way, my co-worker is insisting it must be photoshopped”.
Nope, here are two videos
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=NetUDHXFNeE&feature=related (01:08)
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=BrwJ6_Fyylk (08:55)
Political ~ Crassus:
dense, crass, insensitive, stupid, gross, blundering, dense, coarse, witless, boorish, obtuse, unrefined, asinine, indelicate, oafish, lumpish, doltish.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/crass
JDinan said:
Hi everyone. Longtime lurker here. The thing that immediately struck me is the devastating gap between the amount of enthusiasm it usually takes to do a group-torso paint–like these kids probably do to root for their local football team–and the discomfort and ambivalance on their faces. Especially poor C, who looks like he’s about to cry.
The McCains’ expressions and the fact that they’re a little out of focus make them seem like they’re not at the same event as everyone else. They’re somewhere far, far away.
Isaac Rodriguez said:
I don’t even get why this maverick this has been so popular…he’s not a maverick. Look at all his flip-flops:
http://www.votesmarter2008.com/flipflop/
g said:
Nothing says Maverick like a bunch of people all doing the same thing together.
PTate in MN said:
“Seems like an awful lot going on here.” No kidding.
I have been staring and staring at this, letting it sink in, trying to think of what to say. I end up with Freud’s Ego, Id and Super-ego.
Okay, so lots of people can agree that this year the Republican party has gone completely lost its moorings–all they have left is wild paranoid fantasies (Obama was born in Kenya, his family in Kenya are casting secret spells on John McCain, a secret Muslim terrorist), stirring what Jonathan Chait describes as “primitive racist-sexual fears,” lame attempts at class war (hockey moms/socialists/taxes) and impulsive John “bomb, bomb Iran” McCain and Sarah “oops I’d didn’t really mean to spend $150,000 on designer duds and $25,000 on grooming” Palin. It’s astonishing, really. It seems more like a mental disorder than a political party.
So in this image, we have a startling physical manifestation of the current Republican party. At the back, we see their Superego, COUNTRY, truncated and hidden. In the foreground, we see the Ego, a rather Norman Rockwell-esque crowd of citizens. The individual faces are decent, strong, some are quite striking, but the group is shadowed, compressed. So, Superego is maimed, Ego is depressed. Finally, entirely dominating the scene, is a group of eight brawny bare-chested white dudes decked out as the uncontrolled, instinctive, pleasure-seeking Republican Id. I wonder who thought this was a good idea. They mostly look very, very uncomfortable like someone put them up to this, and now they are feeling ashamed.
Pedrolino said:
My immediate reaction to this photo was inextricably linked to the creepily over-self-referential quality that the word “Maverick” has assumed over the course of the last month within the McCain campaign. It seemed like Palin and McCain were the only ones using the word; making it appear as if they’re selling themselves because no one else will.
Combine this with the near certainty of war with Iran under a McCain administration, as well as the Bushesque propensity to dictate and bully, and the shirtless men look like nothing so much as draftees.
Pedrolino said:
Also, I would like to point out that Obama’s staffers would never allow anyone to appear with writing on their chests (or anywhere else) at one of their campaign events unless it was in Gotham font. That’s message discipline.
rapier said:
Maverick is a punchline now. Delivered in this case by a bunch of grim louts. Advance work done by obvious morons. This isn’t about winning an election. It’s about winning something else, if it would come to that.
Mike said:
I can’t believe no one has mentioned this, but what I see is a collective action of a group of young white men working as a group to say the word ‘MAVERICK’, which is John McCain’s fake nickname for so many of these fake years. What I see in this election and in this photograph is the defensive panic of certain elements of the white, middle class, mid-western demographic that feel somehow threatened about retaining their king-of-the-hill status (consciously or not) and are now taking extreme and dramatic measures to find reasons to defend a campaign and a candidate who has been as underwhelming John Kerry and as un-serious Ross Perot.
If it were not for the delicate fabric of the minds of so many white “working class” Americans scrambling to find any justification to continue what will certainly amount to four more years of Neo-Conservative/Bush policies, I suspect a more reality-based media would have declared McCain’s candidacy over the day he nominated “The Harriet Meyers Of The North”.
This image looks like panic, to me. Red panic. Group panic. A group of fans for the high school team that is losing so badly that they write the wrong team name on their body-banner. A panic to find any reason to NOT have to vote for the only real candidate running this year.
Coming soon!!…I hope…is the latest and most shocking white-panic-image so far: the white girl in Pennsylvania who carved a backwards ‘B’ into her face and accused a “great big black man”!)
(*For the record: I am a white guy living in Indiana. Working class. But, I see the ugly side to this campaign much more often than the other side….and it IS a racial thing.)
Thoughtcriminal said:
Actually, the first thing that came to my mind seeing these letters on these men with miserable looks on their men’s was Kafka’s “The Penal Colony.”
MonsieurGonzo said:
whenever i see an image of Mr. McCain, with his arms held out in this characteristic pose ~ gripping something ~ i cannot help but think of JT’s now classic observation that, “the Senator appears to be holding the reins of his War Chariot” {grin}
ChaChaBowl said:
I like playing the crosswords and Jumble and Sudoku in the local paper, and your letters, when properly assembled, read, “RUN A TRICK MOVE.”
Very appropriate, my friends.
Kit (Keep It Trill) said:
Easy. This is the bad boy reunion from The Lord Of The Flies.
Johnny Mac is their leader.
Spencer said:
They’re spelling a word that implies got-it-alone individualism, yet doing so in a way that requires a lockstep conformity. Their presentation could not survive nor tolerate even one guy stepping out of line.
Celeste Descoteaux said:
As an alum of this college, I am appalled by this picture. It’s cringe-worthy.
yesterdaygone said:
from politico:
Polls: White support for Obama at historic level
Barack Obama, the first black major party nominee, is positioned to win the largest share of white voters of any Democrat in more than three decades, according to an exclusive Politico analysis of recent Gallup and Pew Research Center polling.
link
Latinagirl said:
I think they look cute. I’m sure they got lots of pictures taken, being goofy.
Amy said:
This is cringe-worthy stuff. My god – it looks like a deleted scene from Borat.
richard d said:
Ice cream, Mandrake, children’s ice cream.
That’s how your hard-core Commie works!
ajax said:
DRUNK FRAT RAT 1: “HEY. I know…Let’s do a stunt like we’d do at a ballgame…”
DRUNK FRAT RAT 2: “Duuuuude! You mean?…”
DRUNK FRAT RAT 1: “Yeahhhh, dude: The body word!”
DRUNK FRAT RAT 2: “Whoa…pass the Jager…”
Nothing like having our political process–the devices we use to elect the leader of our economy, military, law making processes, and The One who sits next to The Button–boiled down to the same mindset as attending a sporting event.
Freakin’ brilliant.
momly said:
These guys are all hoping this will get them some.
What is sad is that it just might.