I missed this in the NY Times this morning but it was yet another topic on Hardball tonight.
I have spent my life studying the pictures and symbols of racism and slavery, and when I saw the Clinton ad’s central image — innocent sleeping children and a mother in the middle of the night at risk of mortal danger — it brought to my mind scenes from the past. I couldn’t help but think of D. W. Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation,” the racist movie epic that helped revive the Ku Klux Klan, with its portrayal of black men lurking in the bushes around white society. The danger implicit in the phone ad — as I see it — is that the person answering the phone might be a black man, someone who could not be trusted to protect us from this threat.
Lurking in the bushes? I thought it was about Iran and Iraq and the button. Man I am stupid.
BTW ... the Matthews panel had two African Americans on ... both thought it was a national security ad too. Guess I know now why I didn't get into Harvard.
Here's the original ad:
