Dud.
I saw cropping into view at “Crooks and Liars” an ad for the Gubernatorial bid of one Chris Dudley — the Republican candidate in Oregon. Supposedly these Internet purchases are able to micro-target these ads to their respective audiences. They have the state of Oregon down, and the interest in politics down. Those are easy. But while I appreciate the need for Chris Dudley to find some Democratic voters — that’s something about starting “Oregon’s Comeback” I guess, I sense the Internet blog ad puchases still retain too much spill-over in these circumstances.
Some things about Dudley that have me pondering. He’s been showing movies about Pandas that Kung Fu for affluent donors Lake Oswego way. From there, I hear the cries of “But Public Employees!!!”.
I’m thinking about the game of basketball. I remember when I watched an NBA game or two, years ago, a commercial — I don’t know, someone rushing the rich people at court-side up to the news bleed section and the nose bleed section of “Real Fans” down court-side. Clever, I suppose, in tugging at class issues. The real money, both for the sports franchises and in terms of clientele, is up in the “Luxury Boxes” — ironically enough, with a better sight on the television screens than down through the window panes, but with much better food service than down below.
I thought about that when I read a breakdown of campaign happenings, probably in the Oregonian. For the life of me, I can’t find the story, though. He’s at a campaign junket. There’s a cache of management and “blue collar” employees at a factory meeting and greeting. He takes a few questions from some management types. They ask him to fill in details about his Education Plan. Maybe Dudley answers with satisfaction, maybe he doesn’t. He takes a question from the worker. The question — “How do you think Coach McMillan is doing?”
There’s a certain gloomy parable that can be extrapulated to the workings of modern politics from that showcase.
Maybe there is something in his professional NBA career that is more appealing to the middle class “nose bleed” section. Never the best player on the team, a valuable asset to many teams for various durations, his longevity in the league serves to note that he was one of the best 200 basketball players on Planet Earth, if closer to 200 than 1. Perhaps this is more appealing than if he were Kobe Bryant. When I looked him up on youtube several months ago, the video that popped up was of a commercial for the NBA with the tag-line of “Where Amazing Happens” — that “Amazing” being that Shaquille O’Neal dunked on him, and he threw a fit. I guess we can all relate.
Down below that was some great performance he put in in a pivotal game for the New Jersey Nets.
Today, I look “Chris Dudley” on youtube, and the various campaign spots and campaign related items have infiltrated to the top of the search. This is appropriate, as it is the most important public item in his career right now. Unfortunately this makes it harder to answer the following question, as I want this answered:
What is the first appearance Chris Dudley appearance for the Portland Trailblazers for Chris Dudley to tune up on youtube, and how far is it down the list?