No Publicity is Bad Publicity
February 4, 2010
Growing up in Washington, DC, I never thought much about Las Vegas.
Then again, I don’t suppose there was much to think about.
It was a hole in the desert over 2,000 miles away where people gambled while listening to Elvis sing.
I didn’t have anything against the town, it just never crossed my mind. I probably said the word “Vegas” three times before I was 20 years old.
These days, I get the impression that most locals would prefer this mentality from the folks back home. The only time someone in Washington mentions Las Vegas by name these days is to verbally kick the town squarely in the ass.
Last year, President Barack O’Drama chastised corporations for using federal money to take trips to Las Vegas. I believe his exact words were “You can’t go take that trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers’ dime”.
Frankly, I found his comment offensive, but not for the reason that most other locals did. I didn’t care about the Las Vegas angle, I was just offended that these companies had taxpayer dimes. What they did with those dimes was inconsequential to the fact that they had them at all.
It has been a year since that statement, and just when the controversy was all but forgotten … this past Tuesday, Pimp Daddy felt the need to bring us up again:
“When times are tough, you tighten your belts, you don’t go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. You don’t blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you’re trying to save for college.”
Once again, as it was last year, the town is in an uproar.
Why?
Because Las Vegans love the water, and we don’t take kindly to people disparaging boats.
Seriously, I can’t for the life of me figure out why this city gets its panties in a wad over every perceived slight. We’re the municipal equivalent of an anorexic girl with no self-esteem. At the slightest hint that someone thinks we’re fat, we run off to the bathroom to cut ourselves.
For Christ’s sake, Pimp Daddy is merely using the town as a euphemism for gambling. It’s kind of like saying “Hollywood” when one is speaking of the entertainment industry, “Washington” when referring to government, and “Texas” when referencing retarded people.
There is a long standing tradition of having places represent concepts, and Las Vegans should be flattered that we are synonymous with an entire industry.
Would we prefer him say “don’t blow a bunch of cash at Casino Morongo”? If anything, it would just give that casino a large amount of publicity.
Frankly, the only offense I find in Pimp Daddy’s statement, is that he is encouraging people to save for college. In my opinion, there exists no larger and more colossal waste of money on the planet. Aside from highly specialized endeavors such as medicine and bimolecular research, education is incredibly cheap. A couple of books and a modest amount of ambition is sufficient to educate most anyone with an IQ of 95 or higher.
Of course our resident sound bite, Oscar Goodman, weighed in with hyperbole as he typically does:
“I’ll do everything I can to give him the boot. This president is a real slow learner.”
Dear Oscar,
Please shut the f**k up and govern the goddamn city.
Thanks,
Rex
Keep in mind that this is the guy who walks around holding a martini while flanked by showgirls. Does he think that looks like a responsible use of money?
Harry Reid also chimed in saying “The President needs to lay off Las Vegas and stop making it the poster child for where people shouldn’t be spending their money” and Governor Jim Gibbons said this was “another slap in the face of hard-working families in Nevada.”
Grumpy Old Men - Jim Gibbons, Oscar Goodman, Harry Reid
If Obama has proven anything with his mentions of Las Vegas, it is that every one of our elected officials is a Texan.
Think about it. What image have we been shopping for the last decade?
Has anyone heard of a little $84 million ad agency called R&R? How about the LVCVA? Isn’t the image of abject irresponsibility without consequences the exact image that we have been relentlessly selling?
What, exactly, is “What Happens Here Stays Here” supposed to convey?
Congratulations, guys. The slogans are finally ingrained in the American psyche. People now associate “what happens in Vegas” and “nobody needs to know” as code words for bad behavior. That’s your handiwork that Obama is parroting. You may have only wanted the town to have this connotation under narrowly defined circumstances, but that’s not the way it works.
Embrace the image that you have carefully carved out for us. Quit acting like oh-so-outraged little bitches because your PR stunt gloriously worked.
This little dust-up has kept our name in the papers for the last three days, and has kept the names of our elected officials front and center in the national press.
Deep down, I think that is really what all of this faux-outrage is about.
It’s about publicity for the talking heads themselves, and to a lessor extent, a means to reinforce the stereotype of the Las Vegas brand.
We don’t really care about the working families of Nevada nor do we really care what you say about us … please, just say it often, and spell our names right.
Written by ColinFromLasVegas on February 4, 2010 at 9:27 pm
I find that President Obama is pretty much saying what a lot of people in the U.S. are thinking. Whether their perceptions of Las Vegas are true or false, that’s what they think. What I really find funny is that Las Vegas and the advertisements all seem to fortify this way of thinking to draw people here. So, basically, what is the big deal? We are basically trapped by our own brand of advertisement that anything goes, Sin City, whatever happens here, our organized crime past, etc. We can’t escape it. Why not grasp it and turn that bad press into good press?
Perhaps I make too much sense. And I don’t want to do that. Because MISTER Randy Fucking Snow of the LCVCA will see my suggestion, steal it and make a six digit figure dollar sum of money off of it.
But one thing that is glaring everytime something like this happens In Las Vegas, Rex. And that is the esteemed Mayor Oscar Goodman shoves people aside looking for a microphone to talk into and/or a camera to get in front of so that he can complain about some incredibly stupid and perceived scandal to Las Vegas like this. He absolutely LOVES this shit.
It’s free publicity for him, his martini glass, the two Las Vegas showgirls on his arms and the obligatory Elvis impersonator, and he can spout out really absurd shit that has inklings of an actor in a really, really bad Mafioso movie. I have never seen a Mayor who is a newshound like this one. I swear to Christ that asshole would fall over and die if something didn’t happen like this regularly so he could be seen and heard and spew out mindless arrogant and violent comments.
He’d go into withdrawals or something.
I’ll be so glad to see him gone and get a Mayor in there that actually shuts the fuck up and lets his work speak for him, rather than posturing his ass off.
Written by keith on February 4, 2010 at 9:50 pm
what i don’t get – the people who take offense to this are actually thinking that the average schlub considers the following thought process: “hey, obama said to not go to vegas. i was gonna go to vegas. maybe i shouldn’t go.”
what a bunch of douchenozzles. why can’t the reporters ever call the politician out and say “hey stupid, i don’t think he was personally trying to destroy the Vegas tourist industry – he was making a point, you out of touch assmunch”
it frightens me that people, especially politicians, are so fucking stupid that they can’t understand a simple metaphor. Obama could have easily have said “don’t blow the mortgage on your office super bowl box pool”, but i guess the NFL would have been offended and tried to fine Obama for speaking ill of all-holy football.
as an aside, i can’t wait for the Tea Party to become a 3rd party…not so much because the country needs a third party, which it does, but for the simple desire to see this new party become just as corrupt and stupid from all the lobbyist and corporate money funding the coffers.
Written by Chad on February 4, 2010 at 10:21 pm
While I agree that Obama wasn’t taking a direct jab at Vegas, it was nice to see somebody actually call him out on his stupidity. Let’s face it, just because Obama wants all my money, doesn’t mean he can tell me how to spend it.
Written by mike_ch on February 4, 2010 at 10:43 pm
Nobody statewide who is running for office has said that the statement was reasonable or contained any kernel of truth. Both of Reid’s biggest GOP opponents also based the comments. There’s nobody to vote for saying “you know, that actually made a bit of sense.”
If this was an acid test for common sense, all politicians here would fail.
Written by Michael on February 4, 2010 at 10:45 pm
The outrage in the Valley caused by Obama’s statement has reminded me of how Las Vegans are much like children: easily excited, overly sensitive, entirely self-serving, and completely irresponsible.
However, this isn’t so much about a lack of understanding or lack of intelligence as it is about blind self-interest. Las Vegans might be aware that “Las Vegas” is shorthand for “casinos”–certainly Goodman is smart enough to figure that out–but they are still outraged because they’re scared that they will lose tourist revenue. They are so selfish that they want everyone and everything on Earth to act for their own benefit.
In this sense, Las Vegas is the most American place on Earth.
Written by ChuckReis on February 4, 2010 at 11:02 pm
You’re going to get another angry email because you put yourself on a first name basis with his honorable Mayor Goodman.
Written by wbeem on February 5, 2010 at 3:28 am
I blame Randy Snow.
Written by BigRedDogATL on February 5, 2010 at 4:49 am
I just hope the voters of Nevada decide this November to let Harry Reid know first hand what it is like to be unemployed. Then in 2012 the same thing of Odummy, let him become unemployed.
Written by keith on February 5, 2010 at 12:13 pm
red dog, i understand the sentiment, but these guys are very well off. obama is a multimillionaire just from the sales of his book (books?). they’re “unemployment” would be more like a vacation than our unemployment is/would be.
Written by Ken on February 5, 2010 at 2:26 pm
Hay Rex!! How cum you keep makin fun of us Texans? I’ll have you no I grawdulatted the sixth grade AND got mi votur regestrashun card the the same day!!! I’m finally old enuff to cum gambul now!!!
Written by Huddler on February 6, 2010 at 5:21 pm
And quit making fun of people who constantly walk around with a cocktail in their hand and are surrounded by women. You make this sound like a bad thing. Are you trying to discourage these wonderful things? It actually makes like the dude better because he isnt sneaking around to get his drink on and his sex on. Nigga right up on front street with his. And I keep mines real too.
Written by Honorable Oscar Goodman on February 6, 2010 at 8:32 pm
Mr. Rex:
I would prefer that I be addressed as “Honorable Mr. Goodman” as we are not now, nor do I believe we
will ever be, on a first name basis with each other.
Especially since you are running for my office.
Honorable Oscar Goodman