In response to John McCain's recent ad that accuses her of lacking substance, Paris Hilton released her own ad which the media feels makes fun of McCain. You can watch the 'ad' below and I'll provide some analysis below the fold.
First, the scenery is noteworthy. The poolside swimsuit shot is reminecent of Elle Woods' admission video-essay to Harvard in Legally Blonde. Also, her distraction midway in the ad to reading a magazine harkens memories to the legenary scene in One Night in Paris where Hilton stops the action in the film to answer her cellular phone. (I am not providing links!) At the onset the scenery appears to be almost self-depricating or ironic. She is responding to accusations of being shallow with an ad that appears to be shallow itself.
Second, the message is intersting. She notes that Barack Obama supports tax breaks for alternative sources. This is a little misleading. Obama doesn't support any energy tax breaks except possibly for oil companies as I noted before. Interestingly, he now argues that he is against it (I was for it before I voted against it...). Rather, he supports exapnded federal research in the field. From a balance sheet prospective this may appear to be a trivial difference - I'll defer to Ms. Hilton's judgment on this matter.
Third, the combined tax break for Detroit and expanded off shore drilling is exactly John McCain's energy plan. Ms. Hilton's ad, is, in fact, an ad for John McCain. The Hilton's are die-hard Republicans, so it should come as no surprise that Ms. Hilton advocates Mr. McCain's positions.
Ben Smith's political blog has the campaign's reactions:
Obama spokesman Bill Burton reacts: "Whatever."McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds emails: “It sounds like Paris Hilton supports John McCain’s ‘all of the above’ approach to America’s energy crisis - including both alternatives and drilling. Paris Hilton might not be as big a celebrity as Barack Obama, but she obviously has a better energy plan.”