I Want My Fenty TV

Songs, TV ads praise D.C. mayor

Adrian Fenty: King of All Media?

The D.C. mayor has released the best television spot of his reelection bid so far -- a 60-second spot in which Fenty frankly admits to having made mistakes and vows to “learn from them” to “become a better mayor.”

This Fenty is a welcome reminder of the likeable, engaged candidate of four years ago -- not the arrogant mayor that many D.C. residents think, as this week’s Washington City Paper cover story puts it, is a "jerk."

In the ad, Fenty goes on to say that he represents a break from a past in which District politicians “told you whatever you wanted to hear, and kept all the special interests happy.” Though Fenty makes no direct mention of rival Vincent Gray, the spot contains scary headlines about the Bad Old Days, a less-than-subtle reiteration of Fenty’s criticism of Gray’s record as head of the Department of Human Services under Mayor Sharon Pratt.
 

This may be the best Fenty ad so far, but City Paper’s clever political team has also put together ads the candidates might run if they “were honest about their messages.” As City Paper’s Mike Madden asks, “What if Fenty could just come right out and admit that he’s appealing to newcomers petrified of the scary-seeming past?” (As for Gray, his City Paper spot basically promises the same progress for the city, only with a nice guy in charge.)
 

But Fenty isn’t just available on your TV screen -- you can get the soundtrack as well.

Fenty booster Ron Moten is planning to distribute CDs of four Fenty-themed songs to local clubs and to pretty much anyone he happens to see. TBD’s Sarah Larimer, who charitably says Moten has “brought us what was likely the most masterfully rhymed political-themed hip-hop of the summer,” reports that Moten “plans to record at least one more Fenty campaign song and also shoot some music videos for tracks that he’s already released.”  (Yes, you can hear them online.)

The four songs include Stinky Dink’s “5 for Fenty,” which contains lyrics like “about to press my slacks then address the facts.” When the song was released in July, City Paper’s Alan Suderman called it “one of the worst songs in the history of the world.” DCist’s Aaron Morrissey wrote, “On Fenty’s commitment to building parks and rec centers in the city: ‘Crime gone down like wheels on hills and the young’uns with the skills got football fields.’ To be fair, I guess it would have been tough to work ‘Sinclair Skinner’ in there somewhere.”


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