bush* v Kerry commercials

[radfringe]

the one co-worker, still a bush* supporter, came up to me yesterday and made a few comments about the new bush attack commercials

he was smirking like smirk-boy -- said that the new commercials should take kerry down a few notches in the polls

I replied: "..attack ads aren't surprising, it's the only thing bush* can run on.. he can't tout the economy with the job-LOSS recovery going on and outsourcing, he can't tout Iraq with the body count going up every day - which averages more than 2 of our service people killed per day.

The turnover of power in Iraq by June 30 - not gonna happen when they are looking to send more troops over there. Looks like the draft is coming back - how does your kid feel about that?

Prescription drugs and health care is a dead issue for him with drug/insurance companies pretty much writing the legislation

War on terra? bush* and his other mouth pieces are running around yelling terra terra terra with no real plan or progress on security -- and I hear that security procedures at airports are being relaxed

yep, and he wants us to see him as a leader -- yet he needs Cheney to hold his hand when appearing before the 9-11 committee

what does he have left to run on that is 'positive'? - not a thing -- so his only option is to run attack ads

does he have anything positive to run on?

co-worker: mumble mumble mumble..... we need to stay the course

me: what course? what plan? what road map? tell me about it

co-worker: mumble mumble mumble... gotta get back to work

[aquart]

1. You were mean to the poor thing. Fine by me.

Of course, I'd ask, "Don't you just curdle in humiliation when that man holds a press conference? Don't you wish like crazy that he was good at something, ANYTHING? Is he good at fishing? He does a lot of it. What about golf? Has he ever won a tournament or something?"

[NMDemDist2]

2. bwahahahahahahaha

good job

[Finch]

3. Nothing Special

On the two about the supreme court (D)

If there designed for Dems ok... But Kerry still needs to cement who he is in people's minds... he needs a nice slick bio-pic ad...I'd give the ads a C... I would say that Bush ads far outstrip these attempts by Kerry's team…

Bush will effectively be off the air for two or three weeks according to his campaign and my suggestions to the Kerry team…

.You have a window in which to define your man without Republican rebuttal, polls have shown that the rise in Bush’s positives and Kerry negatives is a fairly transitory and superficial change, so define your candidate while you have this chance, pouring out ads aimed at the base will not help.

.Produce a bio-pic ad, talk about Kerry the man, emphasis his courage in Vietnam, his concern for the environment and generally the “he fighting for us message”.

.Produce an ad concerning defence, yes its risky but if you do not address this you are conceding the point to Bush, people are concerned about the war in Iraq and the security of the United States, produce a hawkish ad, attacking Bush from the right over lack of resolve in Iraq and losing sight of al-quida, get some authoritative voices to speak in your favour people who can be considered strong on national defence. Take these republican attacks on your positions on defence head on.

.Two themes to hammer home over the next two to four weeks… “Who You Are” and “Why Bush is failing in the War on Terror”… don’t mention the UN or gaining new allies as central to your critique instead definite your argument by what the situation is in Iraq at the moment with the allies we have on the ground… DO NOT give the impression that you wish to go cap in hand to the UN or the anti-war Europeans for more troops and assistance, show resolve and attack Bush for a lack of it…these two themes are essential to regain any poll lead Imho at this point…

.After this campaign focusing on “You” and “Defence” shift to a new campaign, pivot towards taxation, while at the same time develop your “You” ads and try and combine them with your push on national security issues “Service” being the important theme… on Taxation talk the langue of populism, draw a comparison between your sensible and coherent polices on taxation and Bush’s reckless polices bereft as they are of any real benefit for the middle classes… but remember to adapt these ads to republican moves and events in the wider world however do not allow them to define the debate or dictate your strategy…

On the Most recent two ( B- )

There both good… really my opinion of the two ads before these was low in back I think a c- would be on the generous side, more like a solid D… these on the other had I think merit about a B-… there good spots, not great but good… they are brief, but that is their nature I suppose… “Risk” is the better of the two, note: John please don’t wear that black jacket, it makes you look too broad and lurch like, stick with the blue shirts and red ties :) …

As I said much better ads than those two earlier ones (please pull those ads as soon as possible, there bad, really bad!)… good ads, but what is lacking is a broad all encompassing vision, he attempted to get his in the “commitment” ad, and I am afraid he didn’t quite pull it off, strangely enough the kind of bio-ad that would have most impact imho would be a kind of “man from hope”, “American son style ad” condensed into one minute, with a narrator and perhaps one line or two from Kerry and then narrator and then end with Kerry’s “I am John Kerry and I approve this message”…

I think Kerry’s team seem to be working towards a more solid bio-ad, but he should try and define himself as a politician and a person rather than as a candidate (which will come latte) not by the current issues but by his life experience… I think they are working towards something of that sort and I sure hope they are… but these are good ads, solid and effective, but not as good as they could be…


And those are my recommendations…

[blm]

4. Let your coworker know that Kerry wrote a book alerting on terror and the

funding of terrorism by international governments back in 1997, The New War.

Kerry also wrote the legislation that enabled the govt. to better track terror funding. The Bush administration did NOT ENFORCE that legislation before 9-11. Probably because of their close ties with the crooked governments that were doing the funding of terrorist groups.

I also highly doubt that Bush ever even READ Kerry's book. He certainly was NOT prepared for 9-11 was he?

Show your coworker the military records of Bush and Kerry and ask him which one he would like to see protecting his family or which one he'd want to be stuck in a foxhole with under fire?

[Finch]

5. Bush's Ads

The Bush people seem to actually be producing some decent ads… I’ll give a really brief run down…

“Differences” … (The one which says “Kerry record on tax… worrying)

C+ imho… not amazing, but it gets the points across well and it really does define Kerry as a “Blast from the Past” tax and spender... but the overall impression from the ad is not devastatingly effective…

“Wacky” … (the one on car tax)

C imho… again not bad. Kinda quirky, going after the common sense, approach, it would score higher however it seems incongruous within the entirety of Bush’s campaign, but good issue to pick up on however it attacks Kerry and fails to explain what Bush is doing, the “out of touch” charge against Kerry which the ad implies is good however…

“Lead”… (one of the early ads, concentrating on jobs)

B+ imho… it’s a straight lift in effect from the Reagan text book of winning elections…but darn good all the same, optimistic, uplifting, cementing Bush as THE PRESIDENT… very good ad… only problem is that concentrating on the economics and most of its is bunk and its generally low on specifics…

“Tested”… (the one with the 9/11 footage)

C+ imho…short, controversial and pretty low on specifics, but as with “lead” it has the right feel, a kind of fuzzy Reagan feel-good with a solid resolute air to it… not bad...but not great either…

“Safer Stronger” (another of the early ads)

B- imho… not bad very low on specifics, but sets the scene and defines the criteria you are judging Bush by. Over all not bad but it still has that great Reagan style fuzzy feeling…

“Forward” … (the one with that little girl running into the great sunny plains )

B imho… gets Bush doing the speaking evoking confidence and decisiveness, however does not become grim or gruelling, in fact its uplifting, nice balancing act, toughness and optimism not bad solid B…

“21st Century”… the one focusing on small business…

B imho… would be an A but Bush is wobbly in the ad, again it defines the criteria by which you judge the president, has the “Regan fuzziness” (I am copyrighting that phrase ! ) and tackles an issue that effects lots of independent middle class voters by taking about tax cuts (which they like) and small buissness which many of them own, work or invest in… solid B…

”Doublespeak”… the latest ad (about Kerry with the newspaper bits)

C-….imho… not particularly good, however it does ram home the perception of Kerry as a flip flopper on many issues and as unprincipled contrasting that with their “decisive” presentation of Bush, the quoting of all the newspapers though is probably not the best way to achieve this so a C- minus, right aim, wrong method, the ad fails to drive the issue home for the Bush campaign though the concept of contrasting the Bush campaigns image of a decisive Bush and of a waffling Kerry is a sound strategy and will probably continue to be pursued…

So overall for Bush…. B- … not bad, but not great, some really good concepts, some of which have come close to being really great, but not quite in the end, good overall strategy and direction to the ads but a few exceptions that don’t seem to work within the broader picture Bush’s people are trying to project…

[Fort Worth Cowboy]

6. I'm really sure you stumped your co-worker (sarcasm)

Everyone here is the smartest and everyones republican friends are the dumbest. I have browsed here for quite sometime and I always have my doubts whenever I see a "I converted a freeper" or "I made excellent points and stumped this freeper." Yeah sure whatever. People no matter on what side of the isle are not easily swayed like that.