Login HereTo quote TRex -- Uh. Mah. Gawd.
Somebody needs to step forward and defend the creation of this ungodly Darcy Burner ad. I know Democratic consultants are notoriously loathe to put their stuff through focus groups before launching horrendously expensive media buys, but aside from all the important political points it manages to not hit, it's an amateur night stinker with all the warmth and charm of a 1950's Soviet training film on the dangers of VD.
What photos of DCCC leadership with goats do McMahon, Squier and Associates have that they keep getting jammed on unwitting candidates for the purposes of tanking their campaigns?
Burner is a Netroots candidate. Online money was raised to pay for this dreck. I'm quite sure most donors would be horrified to see their cash being pissed down a hole like this.
And they say we're Karl Rove's enablers?
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NED!
NED!
You go twolf1!
I’m seeing double and it’s not even time to go home from work.
Cookie Cutter!
mmmmmm… corn flakes
I love you FDL. You do more for me than the chocolate of my day.
In fact you are the chocolate of my day.
If you turn off the sound and just look at the picture, it is even funnier…like Colbert’s word of the day!
fitz…we need you.
Jane: title: “Perfectly?”
Energy sapping twaddle. No passion. No issues. No outrage.
Aargh
Twisted Martini @
7
…or someone’s turd of the day
I saw her on C-SPAN over the weekend and her speech was really, really good. I can’t view the ad; but, trust your judgment and hope there will be improvements. I an originally from Washington State and remember the days Slade Gorton was Governor.
OT: just moved on the AP wire, by Matt Apuzzo and John Solomon:
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage met with Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward in mid-June 2003, the same time the reporter has testified an administration official talked to him about CIA employee Valerie Plame.
Armitage’s official State Department calendars, provided to The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act, show a one-hour meeting marked “private appointment” with Woodward on June 13, 2003.
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has investigated whether Bush administration officials intentionally revealed Plame’s identity as a one-time CIA covert operative to punish her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, for criticizing the administration’s march to war with Iraq.
When contacted at home Monday night, Woodward declined to discuss his meeting with Armitage or the identity of his source in the CIA leak case. Instead, he referred to his statement last year that he had a “casual and offhand” discussion about Plame with an unidentified administration official in mid-June 2003.
A person familiar with the information prosecutors have gathered, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because the material remains sealed, said Woodward’s meeting with the confidential source was June 13, 2003.
The calendar released to the AP is the first confirmation that Woodward and Armitage met during the key time in the CIA leak case that was the focus of Fitzgerald’s probe.
The identity of Woodward’s source remains one of the big mysteries in the case because the Post reporter is the first member of the news media known to have discussed Plame’s CIA employment with an administration official.
Very sad. Even the “so do we” (stolen from Ned’s ads) lack any impact because we don’t know who thsoe people are. The imperative this year should be to refuse any consultant who has not won a contested election in the last 5 years. That would eliminiate most of the Dem losers.
Painful. What should we do?
Contact Howie Klein maybe?
Other contacts/ideas?
I guess the Lamont campaign spoiled us with their ads. Sheesh.
darcy smells far worse than my cats’ litterbox.
It’s like a powerpoint presentation overlaid on video. Eeew.
Oughta go back to “My opponent’s an asshole”– those work.
Nice catch, EB.
I didn’t think it was bad at all. We have to consider what works with different parts of the electorate.
While I love you immensely, TRex, your perfect ad might not be what appeals to America.
It’s horrible. There is nothing that works in it.
But… it’s a 60-second spot.
Compare and contrast with Ned’s self deprecating “messy desk” ad. “i’m Darcy Burner and I’m a serious person.” No shit Dick Tracy, if you weren’t you probably wouldn’t be running for COngress. Why don’t you show us you are a human fucking being for a change?
On the flip side, those consultants should be charged with fraud for that pain by the numbers bullshit. Yes, I did mean pain.
I was kinda waiting for some godawful gaffe, or inappropriate bears or something. To my admittedly untrained eye it just looked like a typical campaign commercial, no better, no worse.
Eli @ 25
Eli, that’s the point: it’s a waste of money and positions her as another neutered nobody.
Please, for the love of God, everyone: click on that MyDD link in the main post! This is polling based on the only swing dictrict contest of 2006.
I can’t figure out who the target audience is and there is no focus. And bad editing to boot.
Sorry guys, it’s not THAT bad, it’s just mushy.
A lot of old folks, moderates and “values voters” respond to this mushy stuff.
I live in the district that would be represented by Darcy Burner. She was also in my Camp Wellstone class last summer.
Please, firepups, if you have suggestions on how you think Darcy’s stuff should be improved, contact the campaign. If you can help them with the improving, even better. http://www.darcyburner.com
Darcy’s up against one of the troglodytes of the Far Right — Dave Reichert. He needs out. We need a progressive in that seat.
-S
It’s about as exciting as that Peoplesoft conference call I was forced to sit through, teaching us how to use the new payroll application at work.
All it needs is “Wind Beneath My Wings” playing in the background to make it more yawneriffic.
I agree with whoever said it may work in her district. The word “military” was used a bunch of times. I trust that sells in her district. Probably wouldn’t work in midtown manhattan, but when in rome………..
This is a copy of a letter a friend (he thinks!} sent to me. I keep sending him info from FDL. Of course he doesn’t hear it. I am fascinated and appalled and angered by many of those letters. But I have to know what some of my neighbors are thinking.
Something to ponder for all Americans
When WWIII Started……..1979
This is not very long, but very informative You have to read the catalogue of events in this brief piece. Then, ask yourself how anyone can take the position that all we have to do is bring our troops home from Iraq, sit back, reset the snooze alarm, go back to sleep, and no one will ever bother us again. In case you missed it, World War III began in November 1979… that alarm has been ringing for years
US Navy Captain Ouimette is the Executive Officer at Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida. Here is a copy of the speech he gave last month. It is an accurate account of why we are in so much trouble today and why this action is so necessary.
AMERICA NEEDS TO WAKE UP!
That’s what we think we heard on the 11th of September 2001 (When more than 3,000 Americans were killed -AD) and maybe it was, but I think it should have been “Get Out of Bed!” In fact, I think the alarm clock has been buzzing since 1979 and we have continued to hit the snooze button and roll over for a few more minutes of peaceful sleep since then.
It was a cool fall day in November 1979 in a country going through a religious and political upheaval when a group of Iranian students attacked and seized the American Embassy in Tehran. This seizure was an outright attack on American soil; it was an attack that held the world’s most powerful country hostage and paralyzed a Presidency. The attack on this sovereign U. S. embassy set the stage for events to follow for the next 25 years.
America was still reeling from the aftermath of the Vietnam experience and had a serious threat from the Soviet Union when then, President Carter, had to do something. He chose to conduct a clandestine raid in the desert. The ill-fated mission ended in ruin, but stood as a symbol of America’s inability to deal with terrorism.
America’s military had been decimated and down sized/right sized since the end of the Vietnam War. A poorly trained, poorly equipped and poorly organized military was called on to execute a complex mission that was doomed from the start.
Shortly after the Tehran experience, Americans began to be kidnapped and killed throughout the Middle East. America could do little to protect her citizens living and working abroad. The attacks against US soil continued!
In April of 1983 a large vehicle packed with high explosives was driven into the US Embassy compound in Beirut When it explodes, it kills 63 people. The alarm went off again and America hit the Snooze Button once more.
Then just six short months later in 1983 a large truck heavily laden down with over 2500 pounds of TNT smashed through the main gate of the US Marine Corps headquarters in Beirut and 241 US servicemen are killed. America mourns her dead and hit the Snooze Button once more.
Two months later in December 1983, another truck loaded with explosives is driven into the US Embassy in Kuwait, and America continues her slumber.
The following year, in September 1984, another van was driven into the gate of the US Embassy in Beirut and America slept.
Soon the terrorism spreads to Europe. In April 1985 a bomb explodes in a restaurant frequented by US soldiers in Madrid.
Then in August 1985 a Volkswagen loaded with explosives is driven into the main gate of the US Air Force Base at Rhein-Main, 22 are killed and the snooze alarm is buzzing louder and louder as US interests are continually attacked.
Fifty-nine days later in 1985 a cruise ship, the Achille Lauro is hijacked and we watched as an American in a wheelchair is singled out of the passenger list and executed.
The terrorists then shift their tactics to bombing civilian airliners when they bomb TWA Flight 840 in April of 1986 that killed 4 and the most tragic bombing, Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in1988, killing 259.
Clinton treated these terrorist acts as crimes; in fact we are still trying to bring these people to trial. These are acts of war.
The wake up alarm is getting louder and louder.
The terrorists decide to bring the fight to America. In January 1993, two CIA agents are shot and killed as they enter CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
The following month, February 1993, a group of terrorists are arrested after a rented van packed with explosives is driven into the underground parking garage of the World Trade Center in New York Cit y. Six people are killed and over 1000 are injured. Still this is a crime and not an act of war? The Snooze alarm is depressed again.
Then in November 1995 a car bomb explodes at a US military complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia killing seven service men and women.
A few months later in June of 1996, another truck bomb explodes only 35 yards from the US military compound in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. It destroys the Khobar Towers, a US Air Force barracks, killing 19 and injuring over 500. The terrorists are getting braver and smarter as they see that America does not respond decisively.
They move to coordinate their attacks in a simultaneous attack on two US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. These attacks were planned with precision. They kill 224. America responds with cruise missile attacks and goes back to sleep.
The USS Cole was docked in the port of Aden, Yemen for refueling on 12 October 2000, when a small craft pulled along side the ship and exploded killing 17 US Navy Sailors. Attacking a US War Ship is an act of war, but we sent the FBI to investigate the crime and went back to sleep.
And of course you know the events of 11 September 2001. Most Americans think this was the first attack against US soil or in America. How wrong they are. America has been under a constant attack since 1979 and we chose to hit the snooze alarm and roll over and go back to sleep!!!
In the news lately we have seen lots of finger pointing from every high official in government over what they knew and what they didn’t know. But if you’ve read the papers and paid a little attention I think you can see exactly what they knew. You don’t have to be in the FBI or CIA or on the National Security Council to see the pattern that has been developing since 1979.
I think we have been in a war for the past 25 years and it will continue until we as a people decide enough is enough! America needs to “Get out of Bed” and act decisively now. America has been changed forever. We have to be ready to pay the price and make the sacrifice to ensure our way of life continues. We cannot afford to keep hitting the snooze button again and again and roll over and go back to sleep.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor , Admiral Yamamoto said “… it seems all we have done is awakened a sleeping giant.” This is the message we need to disseminate to terrorists around the world.
This is not a political thing to be hashed over in an election year this is an AMERICAN thing. This is about our Freedom and the Freedom of our children in years to come.
Remember, Freedom is not free. There was a price to obtain it and a bigger price to maintain it. The enemy will not negotiate. The enemy is bent on killing every American they can – all of us if possible. The enemy is seeking world domination. The enemy will behead you, your children and your neighbors. You cannot negotiate or ignore a rabid dog you have to put it down.
If you understand and believe we are at a crucial point in our history please forward this to as many people as you can– especially to the young people and all those who dozed off in history class and who seem so quick to protest such a necessary military action. If you don’t believe it, just delete it and go back to sleep and learn to pray in Arabic!
“The joy of the Lord will make you strong.”
- Neh. 8:10 KJV
another apparently clueless commenter–me–who doesn’t think this ad is so bad
I understand if they want “positive message” ads, but this really is pretty blah. I’ve seen the “hunt em with hounds” ada and worse here, so I won’t call it the worst I’ve seen, but it doesn’t do her many favors. Elliot Spitzer had some great upbeat ads, not that he seems to need them much. Ned had upbeat and funny ads. What gives?
**********
Bush: See it’s like this, if I can touch my nose, they let me drive
I used to have to do this with my eyes shut, but now I’m President, I don’t gotta do it that way, I can do it anyway. Heck, I don’t even have to touch my nose - I can touch ANYWHERE and you know what they say - they say, Yes Sir Mr. President, not like that weenie in Israel, getting ready to get himself all investigated, just because he didn’t tell the people, those Israelians, that terrorists are bad and Syria won’t make them be good. That’s all he has to say - then there’s no investigation.
Now, what was I talking about. Oh yeah, If I can touch my nose . . .
I keep thinking of that hilarious fake Paul Hackett campaign commercial on The Daily Show, which may or may not be in this clip here (my laptop is a little finicky about embedded video):
http://www.comedycentral.com/m.....ideo=60271
Most of you above are missing one VOLUMINOUSLY IMPORTANT POINT.
LOTS of voters are VERY VERY DUMB, BUT they WILL respond to a better message than the ones they’ve been seeing.
The refuglicans only have FEAR and TERROR - Don’t vote for the other guy or the TERRISTS WILL WIN!
Other democrats can only make an attack stance, but have little to say about what they themselves have to offer. Not a contructive view, and it lacks depth of character.
Positive messages that spell out hope and the possibility of a working future BURN IN the idea of a USEFUL politician, something most voters have given up on for a long time.
THIS AD is a positive message for the dumbest, widest audience.
Looked okay to me. I don’t watch much T.V.
I think it needed more wolves.
Eli @ 25
Gotta agree with you. It wasn’t a horror, but it wasn’t exactly inspiring either. There was simply no cleverness about it nor was any defining, dramatic point made for all the time it sucked up. Rather banal and sedate.
I guess her ad guys aren’t natural born killers. :D
Someone should tell captain ouimette that it won’t work when you’ve got imbeciles running the Pentagon. Sorry Cappn. Better come up with a new sales approach.
For those who don’t think it’s was that bad, did it make enough of an impression that you would vote for her? Or even remember her name?
Millineryman @ 27
But wait! From the McMahon, Squire, and Associates website:
(Emphasis added)
Their list of clients is long and has some big names on it, including a number of folks spoken of well around the Lake, but the key question remains: What audience does MS&A think Darcy needs, if this is what they came up with?
The ad firm that did this knows nothing about her district. They have been Dem consultant losers for god-knows-how-long.
Required reading:
http://mydd.com/story/2006/8/21/13049/0725
http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/8/17/16551/9414
These consultants are trying to do for Darcy Burner what they did for Howard Dean in 2004.
When the ads were launched in Iowa, Dean was the frontrunner and cruising to the nomination. After the ad campaign, Howard Dean roared into the Iowa Caucus and . . . um, . . .
nevermind . . .
Followed your link over to Matt’s place. He asked for opinions and if you have a background in advertising, lead off by saying so. This was my comment over there:
By the time election day rolls around, and the electorate has been saturated with TV, direct mail and robo calls, people will be saying her name in their sleep.
It will have no bearing on her election chances.
in 2002 our progressive Congresslady was under big-bucks attack by the GOP — bigtime mudslinging. She refused to go negative nevertheless. Finally she made a memorable spot quoting Winston Churchill “While they do their worst, we shall do our best.” Very successful. When first I saw it, I told her she was comparing her opponent to Nazis bombing England. She just smiled sweetly…
Jane,
I think you need to calm down a bit and don’t go overboard with WEB groupthink—there’s simply nothing wrong with that ad—it can help introduce the candidate, it emphasizes her military roots and ties–and let’s see what ads this one is combined with throughout the campaign.
I understand the latest cause in the blogoshere is to diss the Dem political consultants, and I saw Spitzers ads and think they are great—but calm down a bit on this one.
I’m in the not-so-horrible camp. In some races, just appearing to not be a frothing at the mouth rightie waiting for the Rapture is enough.
Still, anyone else wonder why the emphasis on her experience with Microsoft? Given how many people — like me — have to suffer through that company’s products all day, it might give a reason for some not to like her!
The worst series of campaign ads I saw were for some PA state-level Democratic primary, where the incumbent aired these commercials with very obvious actors stating very vague objections about the challenger like, “I don’t understand why he’s even running”, and “I have a real problem with Joe Challenger on a trust basis”. Never a single word about what either the incumbent *or* the challenger supposedly stood for; absolutely no substance at all.
I was very disappointed that I wasn’t in the right district to vote against the incumbent just for having shitty commercials.
I don’t really have a point here, other than to note that this Darcy Burner commercial does not, IMO, achieve the level of shittiness that makes you want to vote *against* the candidate just as a matter of principle.
Just back from a cocktail party where I met 3 people from Texas who are reformed Bushites.
Yowsah!
the quality of the ad speaks for itself, but Bob Squier and McMahon are both giants in the industry. Although I know little other than that–and I got it from a New Republic piece from a couple years back–it would be helpful to know what we’re talking about before we trash people. i mean, whoever directed Burner to these guys was connected and knowledgable…but the obvious lack of knowledge on our part, coupled with a kneejerk hatred of consultants, would make it awfully difficult for anyone who is in the know to take us seriously. and at least for now, these are the people we’d like to influence. so let’s do the requisite research before mouthing off, eh? that goes double for the guys at MyDD who should know better.
Strategerie @ 29
My Strategic comrade,
What can you tell us about the demographics and voting patterns of the district? Is there a miltary base? She certainly seems to sretching to show a connection to a military life.
Is there a big blue collar vote? A big part of that add had to do with high prices for basics and demonstrating how she knew what it means to sruggle financialy.
Is she a Microspft millionaire? and has her opponent accused her of being such?
it seemed like a piece meant to counter a charge of elitism.
What can you tell us about the race?
Millineryman @ 41
It’s actually pretty hard to forget the name “Darcy Burner”, no matter how bad the commercial…
Hi America– I wannna introduce ya to my FAMULY- cause it’s the most important thing in my life- Here are my kids- notice that they all have braces on their teeth AND their legs- pathetic little suckers ain’t they? Now here’s my spouse- taken at last week’s “Save yer marriage” weekend- sweet eh?
OK- so that’s my family- so vote for me- I’m in favor of a stronger, fairer america-where everyone does better than average.”
Millineryman @ 41
I took your quiz and all I could come up with was “Darby Brown.” Oh, well, close, but no cigar. Good thing I vote straight “D”.
I would ask everyone who thinks it’s “not that bad” (personally I don’t pay for “not that bad” but to each his own) to look once again at this ad and tell me it is not more effective:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....search=Ned Lamont
Hillsman can’t get arrested at the DCCC because these clowns are making ads like the one above.
I rest my case.
certainly not a very inspired ad, but I was distracted looking for the pictures with goats in the background…..
The ad is a missed opportunity. It’s nothing. Worst bit of bad acting is the man shaking his head sadly as he pumps gas into the tank. I can’t say I have any faith that a focus group would have made a difference though (in my experience, this is the kind of shit they eat up). It’s really up to the candidate to have some judgment here and raise the level of discourse.
a chicken in every pot!
lina @ 46
Television advertising, if it’s good, moves poll numbers. Period.
Dem Political advertising consultants are universally derided by advertising pros who actually have to sell product or get canned in the private sector. But the same few advertising firms make the rounds for Dems over and over, they never win, and they never lose their jobs.
Dem advertising consultants get paid as a percentage of the ad buy, so their incentive is to waste campaign funds with more expensive ad buys. Their incentive is volume and expensive placement, not results. The GOP moved to paying their ad people a flat fee a long time ago, changing this perverse incentive system. And so the GOP wins.
Unless we pull up this rock, that will not change.
Millineryman @ 41
Well, if it ran as a counter to some frothy Republican ad trying to paint her as some rabid left-winger, yeah. She comes off as sweet, sincere, patriotic, middle-stream and concerned about families and vets. It would be a good ad against any Repub-implied fringiness.
Of course, I’d vote for the Dem anyway, so maybe I’m not the best judge. :)
Jane,
I’m going to weigh in with a different opinion. Yeah, the ad is artless. And it’s “ducks and bunnies.” And it makes no mention of the mess in Iraq or six years of lies, or any of 50 issues it could raise. Darcy speaks softly and carries a small stick.
BUT - she’s clearly, and I think effectively, aiming a tailored message at the very people the Democrats need to win over. “I’m one of you. Not a raving, defeatist, pacifist, wine sipping, French speaking elitist. I know you’re hurting, and that the folks in Washington are helping themselves, not you. You need me, you can trust me.”
I’ve watched it several times now, and knowing nothing about the woman, I LIKE her. As a filmmaker, I cringe at the production values, but as a viewer, I don’t care. The message comes through: she’s real.
Robin, if you want to tell Jane to calm down, that’s your business.
(backing away from the computer screen)
Strategerie, if you’ve met or seen Darcy Burner, is she really as soft spoken as in the ad? She sounded as if she’d been drugged with knockout drops.
I agree that ad is not as pathetic as Liberman’s baby bear ad, but it’s really a sleeper. ZZZzzzzzz…
sandlin @ 32
What always disgusts me is that the people who say “Freedom isn’t free” expect somebody else to pay the bill for them.
What is with this defense of the ad on the basis it does not show her saying macaca?
You pay for warm spit?
And by you pay, I mean you! Netroots paid for this.
Hey guys, relax. And recognize that this is presumably part of a campaign and will not stand on its own. Here’s what I posted on MyDD earlier.
“Hi Matt, my first comment here. I’ve been an ad weasel for over 20 years, and I think you’re being a litle harsh on this one. It’s an introductory ad-a little soft- but does an okay job of going “this is who I am-this is what I believe in.”
A little broad and vague, but not terrible. What we’d call an umbrella ad for a campaign, summing up overarching themes, and setting up a context for more specific messages.
What they need to do now is take that “putting our priorities first” and make it specific and meaningful.
How does getting out of Iraq “put our priorities first”? Protecting social security? Holding Bush accountable?
I’m thinking that just about every issue out there could be put in terms of “putting our priorities first”.
If she can do that and move from the general to the specific, that’s a pretty good framing device, especially for an “outsider”.”
Of course, everything depends on what she does to follow up, but as a starting point, this isn’t bad. I like her, I empathise with her, and I’m prepared to listen to her.
Sorry, but some of the comments here remind me of the worst clients I ever had, trying to squeeze in every copy point imaginable. And I know there’s too much copy here, but the overall takeaway here is that this is a decent, involved person, not at all unlike me.
Trust me, you can do a lot worse.
marc @ 52
Oh good god. The ad is an amateurish piece of shit, it has nothing to do with a “knee jerk hatred of consultants.”
If you want to be “taken seriously” by those in the know, what are you doing commenting on blogs? I hear they don’t think much of us.
Pachacutec @ 62
It begs the question, then: Who makes this decision? Personally, if I don’t think a given brand of toothpaste cleans my teeth well, I buy another. It’s one of the great things about capitalism. When does someone ask for some kind of performance measure?
It’s 29 seconds of her history, a little about current issues, and we don’t hear her speak until 38 seconds in. Yawn. It’s not horrible, just boring as hell.
Whoever is making her ads need to read some of her speeches, if she’s as good as Bonnie @12 says. (never seen her, can’t say.) Make the ads sound like HER.
Robin @ 48
Robin, duck, you’re gonna get a big ole pail of STFU thrown at you if you tell Jane to adjust her meds. I’m just sayin’…
Pachacutec @ 62
kind of like Halliburton’s (and Parsons, and Bechtel, et al) open-ended cost-plus contracts. The more you spend, the more you make. No incentive to be efficient. What’s not to like!
Robin @ 48
Hey Robin, I think you need to kiss my ass in Macy’s window, ‘kay?
So, can Howie get Darcy to come visit some Saturday in the near future? Or is that now a recipe for disaster?
Yes it is.
And what about the Oklahoma City bombing? Act of war? Do we send Cruise Missiles through America on a search and destroy for skinhead hangouts?
Sometimes, for well armed criminals, there are military aspects of a response. But bombing countries that are composed primarily of non-criminals, because of the acts of criminals who happen to be there, that sounds like the reasoning of—–
—-the guys who performed all those activities he listed.
Very few thought we shouldn’t go in after Bin Laden - we tried to get him turned over, it didn’t happen. We did something similar with Noriega. Appropriate contexts for military responses and, if it had been handled competently by Franks, we could have had a return. Not a “win” because you will never “win” over violent ideology with more violence — or with pacifism.
Have we “won”over skinheads here? Over racists? Over anti-Semites? Over misogynists? Over anti-Catholics? Over anti-Immigrants? Over …
No - you combat the ideology with a combination of tolerance and prudence, with working to guarantee that certain minimum life needs for most are met and equally working to ferret out the criminals who attack the innocents.
When you let the criminals be the ones who provide the minimum life needs for the oppressed; when you meet intolerance with more intolerance; and when you lose your mind and punish a whole nation, or whole region, because someone who committed a crime against you has ties there (or not, in the case of Iraq and Bin Laden); when you address crime by choosing to become a more frightening criminal; when you have to repeatedly call your enemy “the enemy” because you cannot be bothered to learn enough about them to identify them or because in your heart you have an indiscriminate bloodlust that needs no descriptions or thought, just targets and destruction; then you can pretty much forget the “joy of the Lord.”
That’s not JMHO either.
Fight smart or die dumb.
I’m not sure the ad is compelling enough to successfully promote a PTA bake sale, much less get much attention for a candidate for Congress. I’d certainly switch channels.
The visuals say “Republican” all the way.
AND…sorry for my ignorance about how local campaigns are conducted… but do people really haul cozy sofas onto manicured green lawns to discuss the state of the union with their good neighbors? What if it rains? I see that in lots of ads and it always looks transparently manipulative to me, but maybe I’m just out of the loop on these things.
BTW, 74 was for the crowd. I hate to disappoint ;)
Jane Hamsher @ 79
I’ll be taking pictures in NYC on the day before Labor Day. Just say the word and I’ll make a side trip to Macy’s.
Eli @ 35
Oh My God - that’s a devastating clip. It helps to explain the pathetic response Lamont has gotten. That consultant (didn’t catch his name) represents everything that’s wrong with the party. Reid & Schumer are bad news.
Robin 48-
Darcy Burner is running in WA-08, not Ohio.
Jane is not 28 (although she looks it).
When being patronizing, it’s usually more effective when you know what the fuck you’re talking about.
AND…sorry for my ignorance about how local campaigns are conducted… but do people really haul cozy sofas onto manicured green lawns to discuss the state of the union with their good neighbors?
I live on the third floor…
ummm … Jane … Robin doesn’t live here anymore …
MAry at 77
“Fight smart or die dumb” what a great slogan for the Dems on the war. When asked what OUR plan for Iraq is (ya know, so they can accuse us of being all cut and run) is
We believe that Amrican troops should be allowed to fight smart. (implying “rahter than die dumb”)
Jane Hamsher @ 57
Oh hell, Jane, it’s definitely not as good as any of the ads that Hillsman produced for Lamont, but that doesn’t make it an abomination either.
Could she have a more effective ad? For sure.
oh-no! apparently bird flu has not scared us enough! now the local news is reporting on… RABBIT FLU!!!
quick! we better kill every form of nature!
Jane Hamsher @ 79
You never do, Jane! :)
Jane Hamsher @
78
does that mean it’s safe to come out from behind the davenport now?
Oh My God - that’s a devastating clip. It helps to explain the pathetic response Lamont has gotten. That consultant (didn’t catch his name) represents everything that’s wrong with the party. Reid & Schumer are bad news.
I couldn’t believe he was for real. He was like a parody of a mindless business-as-usual professional loser Democratic consultant, but, of course… he wasn’t.
Reformed Republicans–my Ohio mother decided only last week to vote for Strickland (D) over Blackwell (R)-Diebold. Eeek!
But for local offices, Ohio mom will vote for “any Democrat that can brush his own teeth.” She is disgusted by the results of single party control. She has friends.
Still working on getting her to understand voting integrity issues and the need to have a Democratic Secretary of State. She thinks that voting is mostly clean, with reservations about Cleveland. Hmm. Work to do here.
Lifelong Republican, voted Democratic for the first time for Kerry. A friend of mine noted her father was in the same category. All these people voting for Kerry in Ohio, and yet…sparing you my usu egregious rant :)
WhoTF is Veritas78 at 49? Did you get lost on you way somewhere?
Sandlin @32-I got that very same email in Sept or Oct of 2004 from a very misinformed friend. It’s just another piece of slop recycled by the GOP spin machine.
When hiring people to produce ads, doesn’t anyone ask to see some samples - “show us what you’ve done” kind of thing?
I can’t view the ad from home - will have to do it from work - so am just guessing based on some of the comments…
There’s a point at which an ad will be seen not for the message embedded in it, but for the production values, which will scream either “Did they pay someone to put THAT together?” or “Way too SLICK!” I realize there’s a number of levels between the Lieberman bears-type ad, and New York Slick, but this ad sounds like it isn’t even solidly into the middle to where the ad doesn’t get in the way of the message.
That has been the genius of most of Ned’s ads - they are well put together, but they aren’t over-produced, and they allow him to get his message out without having to “fight” the ad itself. The beauty part, the home run, the bulls-eye, there is that it makes people feel good, allows them to bond with the candidate - they’re not seeing an ad, they’re having Ned into the living room for a little chat.
I notice that everyone is simply talking about the ad, and not what she says, or the message she is trying to get out, and I think that probably means it doesn’t serve her well.
Not sure if any of that makes sense, but maybe someone knows what I mean…*g*
Old Sow @ 92
I think Veritas has been in the vino.
tweez @
28
Well, I’m an old folk…and I’m mad enough to chew lead and spit bullets. That ad was a nothing. If I hadn’t already read about her, seen clips, etc. I would still have no idea how she stands on the issues that I care about. In my opinion, it was a waste of good campaign money.
I’ll hold it in escrow.
pach at 62:
If it’s good? Or if it’s negative?
if they liked ned lamont’s tag line “and so do we” enough to use it, why the heck didn’t they use his great ad people?!!! i don’t get it–i’m so sick of this lame DLC inspired middle of the road crap. the first thought i had was—what about iraq? like a vague nod to “accountability to our troops and veterans” is supposed to evoke that subtly for interested voters–while not offending other potential voters? you’d never even know we were at war or that we have a president regularly breaking the law…
i’m disgusted….
let ‘em have it Jane
please
Jane Hamsher @ 78
LOL
Jane Hamsher @
57
What I’m saying. How about an ad with some scary music, the FEAR font, and aominous sounding voice over telling about the “monster” dem, and then come out from behind the curtain. “If you are tired like I am of living in fear, then vote for me. Bla bla bla.” Something to cut through the clutter.
The messy desk ad did that in spades.
how about someone sends darcy the name of lamont’s ad people?
Eli @
54
it is a cool name, evocative of Speed Racer and the like. Somehow that energy didn’t translate into the ad….