ANSWER RECORD. The moving -- and, it must be said, very tough -- commercial on behalf of Missouri Democratic senatorial candidate Claire McCaskill featuring Michael J. Fox has sent the usual suspects into orbit. But it's done more than give Rush Limbaugh another apparent excuse for a couple hundred more milligrams of high dudgeon. It's required the GOP to muster all of its celebrity star power to put together this ad, which, while not aimed at the senatorial race per se, is pretty clearly a response to the Fox spot.
So, if you're keeping score at home, it is now Alex P. Keaton vs: a) the star of Mel Gibson's Galilean snuff film; b) a guy who was lucky to escape the New England Patriots alive; c) the best player on a worthless baseball franchise; d) Mrs. Raymond, and e) the pitcher who singlehandedly turned the 2004 World Series toward the Boston Red Sox. (Thanks again, Jeff.) The ad raises a number of serious questions. First, what language is Bloody Gobs o'Meat Jesus speaking there at the beginning? Also, why is Kurt Warner apparently talking to us from a juvenile-detention facility? And also, why does everyone sound like they're talking from the bottom of a well? And lastly, in case it escaped the ad wizards who dreamed up this mess -- Michael J. Fox didn't do the McCaskill spot just because he was a famous person. He did it because he is a famous person who has Parkinson's disease, and thus can be reckoned to be more of an expert on the topic than Mrs. Raymond. I was prepared for things to get ugly. Stupid caught me by surprise.
--Charles P. Pierce
