Political Ad From The Twilight Zone?

Vernon_robinson

The Republican candidate for congress in Winston-Salem, North Carolina is a gentleman named Vernon Robinson.

Whatever else one might say about the man (and I know basically nothing else about him), he’s got moxie. . . . or gumption . . . or chutzpah . . . or audacity . . . or whatever you want to call it.

Why do I say that?

Because he’s released one of the most provocative political ads in recent memory. (CHT to the reader who e-mailed.) It’s gotten noticed, gotten people stirred up, gotten talked about, and it’s going to get talked about more.

WATCH THE AD. (WARNING: Content may be disturbing/offensive.)

Whether Robinson wins this year with this kind of message will be interesting to see.

MORE ON VERNON ROBINSON.

Author: Jimmy Akin

Jimmy was born in Texas, grew up nominally Protestant, but at age 20 experienced a profound conversion to Christ. Planning on becoming a Protestant seminary professor, he started an intensive study of the Bible. But the more he immersed himself in Scripture the more he found to support the Catholic faith, and in 1992 he entered the Catholic Church. His conversion story, "A Triumph and a Tragedy," is published in Surprised by Truth. Besides being an author, Jimmy is the Senior Apologist at Catholic Answers, a contributing editor to Catholic Answers Magazine, and a weekly guest on "Catholic Answers Live."

44 thoughts on “Political Ad From The Twilight Zone?”

  1. It means this guy has put out the politcal ad I always wished I would see but never have–one completely unambiguous as to the candidates position.

  2. What’s CHT? Considerate Hat Tip?

    John E, take another gander at Jimmy’s mug shot in the upper left margin. 🙂

  3. What is his religious affiliation? I poked around his site but could not find it. I noticed a list of schools with ‘SDA’ after a few of them. Is he Seventh Day Adventist?

  4. Memo to All Political Frogs placed in cool water, and now sitting atop the stove burner—-A thermometer named Vernon Robinson has recently appeared who reminds you just how hot things have become over time. Please disregard him, and go on slowly cooking to death. The Management.

  5. I just wish he’d left Wally and the Beav out of it … traditional American values doesn’t have to mean mind-numbing boredom!

  6. Love it! Also LOVE Leave it to Beaver — my favorite TV show of all time. DON’T MESS WITH THE BEAV!

  7. Good ad. Well put.
    I think it was kinda stupid to put the homosexuality issues right after Al Qaeda, though. Give the social liberals and moderates time to get on board before you shock ’em.
    Re: The Beav
    I think that was to reassure folks that really, this conservative guy wasn’t all that scary and had a sense of humor. Honest. 🙂 But it did seem kinda tacked-on.

  8. Well, at least the ad tells us what he’s against, right? Or, does it tell us does it tell us he knows how to strum the guitar strings of conservative Americans?
    All the issues are there: militant Islam, homosexual marriage and homosexuality in general, liberal judges meting out liberal decisions, abortion, putting religion back in public schools [but probably not yours], illegitimate births (hmmm… how do you get a handle on that?), and last but certainly not least, the alien issue (you just thought those were green beans they were planting).
    And how do we answer all these troublesome woes? Of course we jump in the time machine, head straight to 1957, and “Leave it to Beaver.”

  9. “And how do we answer all these troublesome woes? Of course we jump in the time machine, head straight to 1957, and ‘Leave it to Beaver’.”
    Is an emotional reaction the best you can do?

  10. “Or, does it tell us does it tell us he knows how to strum the guitar strings of conservative Americans?”
    Not really because you would think you would see more of it from conservatives, unfortunately they dance around the issues as much as the morally bankrupt dems do.

  11. Is an emotional reaction the best you can do?
    I think that’s exactly what he’s trying to get from us – an emotional reaction. The ad could work against him as much as for him.
    Personally, I thought it was amusing.

  12. Oh, CHT = Cowboy Hat Tip. Got it (I think).
    Deacon, I’m not quite sure what you’re complaining about. You like the current status on those issues? Or you just don’t believe he’s actually going to do anything about them? I don’t think I’ve ever heard a political ad that ever gave any real specifics about planned policy regarding an issue.
    May we use our God-given gift of freedom responsibly. “Be free, yet without using freedom as a pretext for evil, but as slaves of God.” (1 Pt. 2:16)

  13. Well golly gee. No, I don’t want to go backward in time, but why can’t I wish for a culture in which a nuclear family with one stay-at-home parent is commonplace, if not ubiquitous? I grew up that way. I wish I would have done the same for my own son, but I bought into the feminist ideology that I wasn’t complete unless I abandoned my child to day care while I proved my self worth as a white-collar working woman. Gimme the Cleavers any day.
    I loved the Leave it to Beaver vignette at the end of the ad. It made me feel good. I’ll bet it makes others feel good, too. No ad is going to be everything to everyone.

  14. And by the way, have any of these Leave it to Beaver poo-pooers ever watched an episode? The son Wally gets off some pretty good zingers on his parents. I find the show loaded with rapier wit.

  15. Ruthann, you grew up in a nuclear family with a stay-at-home parent, and so did I, but I think that was a relatively short-lived phenomenon in our culture. Both my grandmothers worked (city-dwellers, they worked in factories). Both my husband’s grandmothers worked (one a teacher, the other on the farm AND for the newspaper in town). All four of my great-grandmothers worked (dairy farmer, grain/cattle farmer, maid, factory). All four of my husband’s great-grandmothers worked (store-keeper, nurse, teacher, cook).
    It just takes work to earn enough money or trade enough goods to support a family. The only difference is that most of the older generations were able to work at home, whereas in our society of “specialists,” working at home is neither acceptable nor profitable in most professions.
    –Sparki

  16. That ad was brilliant.
    I would not assume that Mr. Robinson is pushing for the fake family portrayal of the Cleavers to become the ideal model for American families. To spend time dwelling on those specifics is a waste of time.
    This ad simply shows that Mr. Robinson is unabashedly traditional and he will fight in Congress for those who uphold traditional values. Leave it to Beaver is just a highly recognizeable secular symbol of tradition and conservatism.
    It is ridiculous that Americans constantly complain that their representatives don’t say what they mean and mean what they say and then immediately dismiss a candidate with enough dignity to be transparent about his views.

  17. Perhaps Mr. Robinson was using the “Leave It To Beaver” segment to poke fun at those who use it as a put-down.

  18. I like the ad, but I don’t know that it means the guy will be an effective legislator.
    I HOPE so, but not necessarily.
    The fifties had their problems, Deacon, but how was Catholic school enrollment, then? How many Catholics didn’t believe in the Real Presence? How many were divorced?
    I am another fan of The Beav. It was a funny and genuine show, alot like Andy Griffith. I find the humor reminiscent of our own family.
    The writers came up with Eddie Haskell, a great sitcom character. There’s more to the show than meets the jaundiced eye of today’s cable audience.

  19. Ah yes, Eddie Haskell – “How are you Mrs. Cleaver? What you’re cooking certainly smells good… Yes, ma’am; thank you ma’am…” And then moments later upstairs, “Gee Wally, your mom is such a stiff!”
    So Tim, I’m not sure why you referenced the Eddie Haskell character, other than its being unusual for politicians to show us who they are up front. The Eddie Haskell’s of the world sometimes grow up to be politicians, which I think is part of why it’s hard to trust them.
    The ad is blunt – but I wouldn’t say brilliant at all. I checked out Robinson’s radio advertizements, and they too get right to the point. If I understand the context, Robinson is up against Democrat Brad Miller and what we’re seeing in the ads is your basic, nothing out of the ordinary, mudslinging in regard to the opposition, who is in fact liberal on things like homosexual rights and immigration reform.
    Maybe in North Carolina voters go for black and white TV, but the issues are never so clear, never so black and white, in reality. I’m glad I live in Texas where we have politicians such as Kinky Friedman who when asked how on earth he got on the ballot replied, “Thank God for bars and dance halls.”

  20. “…but the issues are never so clear, never so black and white, in reality.”
    They’re not? I’m thinking of the words John Wayne, playing Davy Crockett, spoke in the movie “The Alamo”: “There’s right and there’s wrong. You do the one and you’re living. You do the other, and you may be walking around, but you’re dead as a beaver hat inside.”

  21. I don’t “beleive” any politicans anymore, but at least this one is saying things that I hope he is telling the truth on.

  22. Deacon,
    About the out-of-wedlock birth rate, I think he was trying to say that when you remove morality from the public square people will start acting like pagans.

  23. Sorry, y’all, but he seems to be nothing more than your run-of-the-mill populist. He’s just saying what we want to hear, using the same old rhetoric.
    I can’t stand “Leave It To Beaver”. Lousy acting, lousy scripts, production-line directing… (yawn)

  24. You think Leave to Beaver was a BAD show? You obviously haven’t seen The Brady Bunch(or any sitcom made after 1990, for that matter).

  25. Yes, Sailorette, I would like to vote for someone like that too, provided: that there is more to them than just yanking our emotional chains to get our vote. Provided they are able to convince, or at least sway, our opponents to take the better course on these matters without name calling, bashing and outright childish behavior. Provided that they are capable of performing all the duties required of the office in a moral, ethical and upright manner. A single ad that only mentions hot-button issues that I care about is woefully insufficient, in my book, to garner my vote.
    I never said that LITB was a bad show. I did imply that I thought it was awful. ‘Tis my opinion, and wished to voice it along with the others.

  26. LITB got tired in its last seasons, but it consistently showed a steady father figure who did spend time with his kids. I never picked up on that till my dad pointed it out.
    Brady Bunch is another story completely. BB is shown in Hell as a punishment for the really wicked.

  27. And, Ed, don’t forget that LITB also portrayed parents and teachers as consistently (gasp!) smarter than the kids.

  28. Plenty of people who claim to dislike “Leave it to Beaver” have barely seen any of it. It’s become associated with the standard “bland suburban family” sitcoms of the 50’s, but people forget that the reason it was so popular is because it stood out against the backdrop of these other shows- in short, it is better than those “bland” comedies, and it stands up better today.

  29. It is a good ad and we could use more politicians like Robinson.
    In fact, we could use an army of him.

  30. Hold the phone! I just read he is the son of a Tuskegee Airman!!
    Way cool! Man I wish I could vote for him!

  31. Yes, cos gays and lesbians are JUST like Osama bin Laden. Everyday we go around blowing up monumental towers and killing thousands of people. We SO support American hatred. We actually hate ourselves for being American. Cos duh, we hate America just like Osama.
    Sheez, I just moved to NC from PA and I’ll tell you, shit like this makes me miss PA. Pixburghers have their problems, not that bad though.

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