Monday, August 11, 2008

DID HOLLYWOOD JOHN GET A FAVOR FROM ONE OF HIS HOLLYWOOD FRIENDS?

In what I believe is his 837th ad in the past two weeks accusing Barack Obama of being a big silly celebrity, how did John McCain get permission to use the final clip, which is apparently from one of the Wayne's World movies?



I'm guessing he wouldn't use the clip without permission, not after Frankie Valli's record label forced him to pull an ad that featured "Can't Take My Eyes Off You."

So how did he get the rights?

Perhaps from the producer of the movies, Lorne Michaels, who has booked McCain on Saturday Night Live twice, and has given five contributions totaling $5,300 to McCain and McCain's PAC since 2000? Lorne Michaels, whose receipt of the Mark Twain Prize was celebrated at the Kennedy Center in Washington by a cast of comics plus a couple of politicians -- one of whom was John McCain? Lorne Michaels, who told The New York Times in March that he would give no more money to McCain now that he was the nominee -- did give McCain an in-kind contribution, namely helping McCain obtain the rights to use the clip?

In other words, did McCain get to use the clip because he's the presidential candidate who hangs out with people in the entertainment business?

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(Yes, I know -- maybe McCain just used it without permission or acknowledgment. He has been doing things like that lately.)

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UPDATE: Whoops -- never mind. He apparently had to pull this ad, too -- the new version (which I've embedded above) deletes the Wayne's World clip and replaces it with the onscreen words "WE'RE NOT WORTHY!" (and no audio).

Insert old-guy joke about John McCain being born before the invention of copyright here.

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