Wha??!1 The don't-mess-with-TX advertising dude is a Dem & now working with CLINTON

[UTUSN]

Ever since 2000 when the wuss press went ga-ga over Shrub's fake strutting and preening and fake tough talk, when he THREATENED our own wussy Dems against daring to look at his record in a WEAK GOVERNOR SYSTEM, a record that consisted of sweetheart deals with cronies and deregulating fat cats, by yelping, "Don't mess with Texas" ---oh, the way Poppy MESSED with Dukakis's Massachusetts--- I've had a nasty image of the guy who developed that slogan.

The slogan took off as a Texas state campaign against littering.

So about a year ago, this advertising dude was being interviewed on the radio, plugging his slogan in a contest for all-time-great ad slogans. I reacted by going to the contest website and voting for whatever other entries AGAINST him. I guess he didn't have control over Shrub's using him.


*******QUOTE*******

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=4114520&page=1

Clinton Relies on Soul-Searching Message Guru

Branding and Messaging Whiz Roy Spence Tapped for Bigger Role in Clinton Campaign


By KATE SNOW and JENNIFER PARKER
Jan. 10, 2008

The Texas advertising guru and branding whiz, who spent most of October on a spiritual soul quest, trying to reconnect with "the heart of America," has been tapped for a bigger role in Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.
Roy Spence, 60, a longtime friend of the Clintons, is the quirky Austin-based advertising legend who coined the phrase "Don't Mess With Texas," and developed the Southwest Airlines slogan, "You are now free to move about the country." ....

Walk Across America
One person familiar with Spence's political work told ABC News, "He's an interesting guy, probably one of the more offbeat guys to come up through the Democratic ranks."

In the fall, Spence began an intermittent seven-year spiritual/patriotic trek to "reach out and celebrate the goodness of America," blogging along the way about the people he meets and places he visits.

"My plan is to walk for one month per year, for seven years, or until I've crossed this great country," Spence wrote in a September e-mail to his employees. ....

********UNQUOTE*******

[Buzz Clik]

1. Gawd. Is she now going to start flashing the Hook 'Em Horns sign in every photo?

[TwilightZone]

2. I'm confused. The Don't Mess With Texas slogan has been around for more than 20 years.

1986, actually.

http://onward-n-upward.blogspot.com/2007/01/dont-mess-with-texas.html

Why would you hold a littering campaign slogan against the guy who developed it?

[Bongo Prophet]

4. Weel, it's just that Bush is an idiot, as we know, and so a clever double entendre

is seen by him as a bragging threat.
---"Don't mess with Texas, heh. Sound tough, don't I?"---
Makes perfect sense.



Maybe OP has not heard this slogan before, and thought Bush preceded the slogan?
Whaddaya say, OP?

I say Spence is cool. One of my clients' frat brother, actually.
I was afraid it was Mark fucking McKinnon, now THAT would be a scandal.

[TwilightZone]

5. I can understand being upset with Bush's appropriation of the phrase for mindless blather.

I just didn't understand how that makes it the original guy's fault. You could be right, though - it may be that the OP thought it was created for Bush or something.

[UTUSN]

6. No, I knew the slogan far preceded Shrub and that it was an anti-litter slogan

I knew nothing about the dude who originated it. My whole antipathy was how Shrub USED it, how the media lapped it up, and when the ad dude was on the radio, he mentioned Shrub's use and he sounded proud that Shrub used his phrase. Therefore, I just transferred a chunk of detestation to this dude, who never mentioned he was a Dem.


I think I voted for "The incredible, edible egg" in the contest.

[TwilightZone]

8. Ah, ha. That makes sense.

Thanks. I definitely agree on the Shrub usage, especially since the whole Texas persona is fake in the first place.

[Bongo Prophet]

3. I have met him professionally, at his Ad firm in Austin

Seems like a nice enough fellow, sharp and down home, with an undercurrent of Texas Hippie.

(We can tell)

She could have chosen MUCH worse.

[UTUSN]

7. No critique of his talent, I was just surprised to find he was different from my image n/t

[Bongo Prophet]

10. That's cool. Thanks for the story, UTUSN.

I will ask my client whether he knows about this - I do know he is a Gore supporter, and should find this interesting...

[emilyg]

11. Sounds like a good addition for Clinton.

[Bongo Prophet]

12. I hope so, emilyg. It will be interesting to see what he comes up with.

Ideally, our dem candidates can end up fighting "upwards" rather than get bloody.
Have the population watching an exciting contest, just ACHING to vote for the winner in November. ;)

I think Spence can do "inspirational" and with an insight into the tex/western mind.
The Austin populist outdoorsy poet angle.

[rucky]

9. It was an anti-pollution campaign.

not a big stretch, here.