Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll

I’m amused by the latest way John McCain chose to frame Hillary Clinton in relation to what he was doing during Woodstock.  (Here’s the video.)

In terms of visual analogy, McCain prompts us to imagine that the spinning hippie girl, celebrating the “cultural and pharmaceutical event,” is Hillary Clinton herself. 

In the never ending culture wars, McCain is tying Hillary to a historical left fringe, also questioning her balance every which way.  As much as the right likes to stereotype the left as unhinged, overly radical, and dangerously emotional, however, the symbolism here — read in a contemporary political context — actually skews the other way.

The drug analogy?  The biggest user who comes to mind these days is Rush Limbaugh.  That favorite 60’s transportation vehicle, the yellow school bus?  If anything, it pulls for connection to “No Child Left Behind.”  And, free love and sex as a cultural threat?  Well, look no further than David Vitter and Larry Craig.

If that’s how the Repugs translate the spirit of Woodstock, maybe that museum is not such a bad idea after all.

(image: johnmccain.com)