ALABAMA VIRAL VIDEO GUY PICKS HIS FAVORITE VIDEOS

I don't have much to say about this ad, which has gone viral in the political blogosphere and is surely taking off outside the political demimonde -- although I will say that someday people are going to look back on the Reagan-era revival of pro wrestling and the simultaneous rise of a Republican Party that was much less interested in actual governance than in trash talk, and wonder if it's a coincidence that the two things happened at the same time:



I did wander over to Peterson's campaign site and noticed that on this page of links to his favorite patriotic videos, in addition to Celine Dion singing "God Bless America" and Lynyrd Skynyrd singing "Sweet Home Alabama" on Mike Huckabee's show and the like, there's this clip leading the list:



This is "Make Mine Freedom," a pro-capitalist propaganda cartoon from 1948. I recommend skipping to the 7:00 mark, at which point the sensible John Q. Public persuades his gullible townsmen to sample the tonic being sold by "Dr. Ism" before signing up to buy it -- at which point they all realize that if they yield to the strange ism they find so seductive, the state will be all-powerful, putting everyone in chains!!!1!1! Y'know -- kinda like Obama now! Well, that's more or less what Peterson says:

The Cartoon is timeless and
it is as true today
as it was in 1948! Maybe?

Well, I appreciate that hesitancy in that "Maybe?" -- perhaps the guy isn't completely nuts. (He comes off as relatively sane in this interview, and even endorses federal agriculture subsidies, which he apparently doesn't think lead to the chains of enslavement.)

Oh, and he's run a number of businesses, including a llama farm. (I don't suppose it would have been appropriate to mention that in this ad....)