Days after AMC announced Mad Men would soon begin its fifth season, Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich celebrated by channeling his inner Don Draper to begin last Thursday night's debate in South Carolina that aired on CNN.
Draper, the ruthless creative genius behind the Madison Avenue ad agency Sterling Cooper, famously said in the season three episode Love Among the Ruins:
"If you don't like what's being said, change the conversation."
Gingrich clearly didn't like what moderator John King said...
"Is your second ex-wife telling the truth when she says you wanted an open marriage?"
...so he changed the conversation...
"I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that....I am tired of the elite media protecting Barack Obama by attacking Republicans."
(See the exchange here.)
Suddenly, incredibly, Gingrich made himself a victim and fed a rabid Republican crowd one of its favorite hunks of Red meat: the mainstream media.
Never mind that Gingrich used Monica Lewinsky as a human wrecking ball in an attempt to take down the Clinton administration. Never mind that Gingrich was at the time himself involved in an extramarital affair. Never mind that Gingrich personified attack politics in the 1990s and again now on the 2012 campaign trail, most notably fileting fellow Republican Mitt Romney far more than the "elite media" ever could. Never mind any of that because Gingrich learned long ago that politics - like advertising - isn't about the facts.
If you don't like what's being said, change the conversation.
The more I've thought about it, Gingrich and Draper are a lot alike. Both are brilliant and reckless with insatiable appetites for women and position. Each has a past he pretends didn't happen but which continues to haunt his future. Both are best with their backs against the wall and thrive when pressure peaks. Each craves the opportunity to stand and deliver with the game on the line.
There are differences, of course. For example, one is a power hungry genius who twists images and words to try to persuade unsuspecting masses to do his bidding; the other is a fictional character played by Jon Hamm.
The irony is that in the GOP race to unseat Obama, Romney looks more like a Hollywood heartthrob and, so far at least, way more presidential. Until now, Romney has run like a man trying to win the White House while Gingrich has appeared desperate simply for the Republican nomination. (Clever, seeing as how you can't accomplish the former until you have the latter.)
While Romney has chipped away at Obama, Gingrich has wailed on Romney, fanning the flames of Right-eous indignation with the trusty bellows of biased media, Romney's elitism and Obama's...everything. In so doing, he hoped he might rekindle the old flame he once shared with the Republican base in the glory days of the House takeover and Contract with America.
Well, that old flame is burning. Gingrich won South Carolina going away and now goes to Florida having done what any good ad man or woman could only hope to accomplish: make the consumers - in this case, GOP voters - believe that what they have isn't good enough.
It's Romney's turn to change the conversation.
Draper, the ruthless creative genius behind the Madison Avenue ad agency Sterling Cooper, famously said in the season three episode Love Among the Ruins:
"If you don't like what's being said, change the conversation."
Gingrich clearly didn't like what moderator John King said...
"Is your second ex-wife telling the truth when she says you wanted an open marriage?"
...so he changed the conversation...
"I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that....I am tired of the elite media protecting Barack Obama by attacking Republicans."
(See the exchange here.)
Suddenly, incredibly, Gingrich made himself a victim and fed a rabid Republican crowd one of its favorite hunks of Red meat: the mainstream media.
Never mind that Gingrich used Monica Lewinsky as a human wrecking ball in an attempt to take down the Clinton administration. Never mind that Gingrich was at the time himself involved in an extramarital affair. Never mind that Gingrich personified attack politics in the 1990s and again now on the 2012 campaign trail, most notably fileting fellow Republican Mitt Romney far more than the "elite media" ever could. Never mind any of that because Gingrich learned long ago that politics - like advertising - isn't about the facts.
If you don't like what's being said, change the conversation.
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| Jon Hamm as Don Draper |
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| Newt as Newt - See the similarity? |
There are differences, of course. For example, one is a power hungry genius who twists images and words to try to persuade unsuspecting masses to do his bidding; the other is a fictional character played by Jon Hamm.
The irony is that in the GOP race to unseat Obama, Romney looks more like a Hollywood heartthrob and, so far at least, way more presidential. Until now, Romney has run like a man trying to win the White House while Gingrich has appeared desperate simply for the Republican nomination. (Clever, seeing as how you can't accomplish the former until you have the latter.)
While Romney has chipped away at Obama, Gingrich has wailed on Romney, fanning the flames of Right-eous indignation with the trusty bellows of biased media, Romney's elitism and Obama's...everything. In so doing, he hoped he might rekindle the old flame he once shared with the Republican base in the glory days of the House takeover and Contract with America.
Well, that old flame is burning. Gingrich won South Carolina going away and now goes to Florida having done what any good ad man or woman could only hope to accomplish: make the consumers - in this case, GOP voters - believe that what they have isn't good enough.
It's Romney's turn to change the conversation.
