More Lousy Negative Ads

Off Topic Politics & World Issues
1

Okay, so moveon did it, why does the Bush campaign have to stoop to the same level, even after criticizing moveon.org?
Lousy.

Hitler Image Used in Bush Campaign Web Ad

By JENNIFER C. KERR, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Adolf Hitler’s image has surfaced again in the White House race. President Bush (news - web sites)'s campaign contains online video, removed from a liberal group’s Web site months ago and disavowed, that features the Nazi dictator.

The Bush Internet (news - web sites) video, which was sent electronically to 6 million supporters, intersperses clips of speeches by Democrats John Kerry (news - web sites), Al Gore (news - web sites) and Howard Dean (news - web sites) with the footage of Hitler.

Democrats want the video pulled from the site. Campaign aides said it would remain.

Republicans had criticized the group MoveOn.org in January because it briefly posted an ad contest entry that linked Hitler and Bush. It showed images of Bush with text saying, “God told me to strike at al-Qaida,” before turning to images of Hitler with the words, “And then He instructed me to strike at Saddam.” The submission ended with the words, “Sound familiar?” on a black and white screen.

The group later said the entry was in “poor taste” and pulled it from its site.

The 77-second video on the Bush-Cheney re-election site splices footage of Kerry, the presumptive nominee, and his 2004 rival Dean along with 2000 nominee Gore and film director Michael Moore. The spot calls them Kerry’s “Coalition of the Wild-eyed.” Clips of Hitler’s image are seen throughout the spot.

“The use of Adolf Hitler by any campaign, politician or party is simply wrong,” said Kerry’s campaign manager, Mary Beth Cahill, who called on the GOP campaign to remove the Web video from its site.

“We’re using the video from MoveOn.org to show our supporters the type of vitriolic rhetoric being used by the president’s opponents and John Kerry’s surrogates,” said Scott Stanzel, a spokesman for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign.

The online spot begins with clips of Gore assailing the Bush administration. “How dare they drag the good name of the United States of America through the mud of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s torture prison,” Gore shouts during a public speech.

It then cuts to an image of Hitler, followed Dean, Moore and Rep. Dick Gephardt (news - web sites), D-Mo., all bashing Bush. There are more clips of Hitler, Gore and then Kerry, before the screen cuts to the words, “This is not a time for pessimism and rage.” Video images of Bush follow.

A disclaimer was added to the beginning of the Web spot on Saturday afternoon to explain that the video contains “remarks made by and images from ads sponsored by Kerry supporters.” The disclaimer also accuses Kerry of failing to denounce those who have compared Hitler to Bush.

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It’s not even that good of an ad. It uses the same Hitler footage as the Moveon.org ad, so it’s supposed to be a response. However, unless you’ve seen the Moveon.org ad it just seems like Bush/Cheney are trotting out Hitler footage.

3

To claim equal wrongdoing on both sides with the “so-and-so=Hitler” meme is inaccurate.

Ever since the action in Afghanistan, idiots among the fringe left have been making these claims, so this one ad by Republicans doesn’t balance all that out.

Also, Doogie’s right in that the Republican ad is trying to associate John Kerry with appeasement of Islamofascists, not declare that he has a totalitarian agenda; and that most importantly, the ad sucks.

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[quote]Brian Smith wrote:

so this one ad by Republicans doesn’t balance all that out.

[/quote]

Is it okay until it does balance out, BS?

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[quote]Right Side Up wrote:
Brian Smith wrote:

so this one ad by Republicans doesn’t balance all that out.

Is it okay until it does balance out, BS?[/quote]

No. But your initial post SUGGESTS that the fringe left should get less blame for its tendency to equate Bush with Hitler because of this one ad.

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This is one that has been going on for hundreds of years guys!

This is not just a republican or democratic issue. All politicians (and political parties) run negative advertisements.

The only reason that they run them is that they work! The negative advertisement leaves a nasty picture in the mind of the voter. Now the voter will say “I hate negative commercials.” However in reality they are susceptible to them. And as long as they work it will continue.

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I love negative ads. Lee Atwater would have crucified Kerry. If Bush goes completely negative on Kerry, the election will be a landslide. Unfortunately, the country has become too pussified in the last decade.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/09/22/opinion/lynch/main574621.shtml

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These reporters really must stop getting their news stories from Kerry campaign fundraiser letters.

Posted 8:05 PM by Josh Chafetz
DISGUSTING IS RIGHT. A friend forwards this mass email from the Kerry Campaign. The email comes with the subject line, “Disgusting”:

Dear [Name Withheld],

Yesterday, the Bush-Cheney campaign, losing any last sense of decency, placed a disgusting ad called “The Faces of John Kerry’s Democratic Party” as the main feature on its website. Bizarrely, and without explanation, the ad places Adolf Hitler among those faces.

The Bush-Cheney campaign must pull this ad off of its website. The use of Adolf Hitler by any campaign, politician or party is simply wrong.

We sent you a fundraising plea earlier this morning. But when this came up, we decided it was important to show you just what we’re up against: a presidential campaign that is willing to do or say absolutely anything to win. You’re our only line of defense against these underhanded tactics. Please contribute today:

https://contribute.johnkerry.com

If he were a real leader, George Bush would be talking about his first-term accomplishments – and his second-term vision for America. But he has cast aside that opportunity because he has nothing to offer except a string of broken promises and a steady stream of fear and deception.

John Kerry is talking to this country about his optimistic vision for a stronger America. By contributing, you’re giving him the resources to get that vision to millions more Americans every week. Help keep up the incredible momentum of this campaign by making a donation today:

https://contribute.johnkerry.com

Thank you,

Mary Beth Cahill
Campaign Manager

P.S. It’s hard to believe that the Bush campaign would use images of Adolf Hitler. See it for yourself: http://www.georgewbush.com.
Indeed, do see it for yourself, because here’s what the ad is: It’s a series of clips of Al Gore, Howard Dean, Richard Gephardt, and John Kerry making totally over-the-top denunciations of Bush. Interspersed are clips from MoveOn.Org ads comparing Bush to Hitler. The ad ends with, “This is not a time for pessimism and rage. It’s a time for optimism, steadly leadership, and progress. President Bush.”

In other words, Bush is criticizing his opponents for, among other things, comparing him to Hitler. In response, the Kerry Campaign sends out this incredibly dishonest email suggesting that Bush has compared his opponents to Hitler and asking for money.

Both campaigns have their share of over-the-top supporters, and I don’t think it’s really fair to tar Kerry with Michael Moore and MoveOn.Org. That said, it’s really unfair of the Kerry Campaign to suggest that Bush is comparing Kerry supporters to Hitler, when in fact all he’s doing is pointing out that Kerry supporters have compared him to Hitler.

I’m not sure whether this is malice or incompetence on the part of the Kerry Campaign – and I suspect the answer is incompetence – but it doesn’t bode well for them either way.

UPDATE: The post above erroneously refers to clips in the Bush ad as being “from MoveOn.Org ads.” The clips are, in fact, from an ad made by a third party. Those ads were briefly hosted by MoveOn.Org, but were removed due to complaints.

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Just saw the ad (thanks BB).

Without question, this is opportunism. The ad does not compare Hitler to any Democrat or even assocaite him with a Democrat.

What it does do is demonstrate what kind of rhetoric is being used to go after George Bush. And the Hitler comparisons are part of that.

The context is obvious - the ad is outing the Left for its attitude and rhetoric. That’s all, and it’s perfectly legitimate.

It’s not a good ad - Kerry is the candidate, and he isn’t the one who has gone off the deep end against Bush. But to say that the inserts of Hitler are an attempt to compare the Fuhrer to Democrats is nonsense.

Hmmm, Lefties were awfully proud of those shrill ads when they were on Moveon.org - why are they suddenly Pollyannas about showing invective in political ads?

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The ad DOES compare Hitler with Democrats, as the sound and picture crossfade from Gore and Dean into Hitler, which has the effect of equating them.

The GOP running this ad is PURE HYPOCRISY.

Lets not compare apples and oranges. When some nutjob sends a Hitler ad in to MoveOn, that is bad. But when the President of the United States uses the same Hitler ad, that is disgraceful, and on a whole different level.

Do you guys really want to equate the importance of what MoveOn says with the importance of what the President says???

Do you really think that the way the president conducts himself is not any more significant than what an activist group does???

Think about what you are condoning.

Should John Kerry run HIS campaign as a response to what Rush Limbaugh says???

11

Lumpy,

“The ad DOES compare Hitler with Democrats…”

Pure fiction. Each scene is a demonstration of the shrillness of Bush’s critics in the Democratic Party. The excerpts of the Hitler ad are the work of the Moveon.org contest. The pro-Bush ad is is showing as evidence of a pessimistic and radical attitude that the country doesn’t need.

It’s a bad ad, but to suggest that the creators (not the RNC, by the way) were trying to compare Democratic leaders to Hitler is foolishness.

Of course, Lefties are going to shriek and parade around denouncing the whole thing, but where was the denunciation when the Moveon.org ad first came out? Lefties were downloading these awful ads and grinning with delight that the Bush/Hitler phenomenon was catching on across the internet.

Where was the issues of bad taste then? Now Bush’s critics are the preachers and guardians of high taste. Pathetic.

I though the ad was dumb, in bad taste, and, worst of all, completely ineffective at making any kind of point. But the comparison argument is ridiculous - and predictable.

12

Anyone ever see the advertisement run by the democratics in 1964?

It depicted then candidate Barry Goldwater as placing the USA in great jeparday of nuclear war if he were to be elected President.

It shows a little girl in a beautiful field of daisys counting off daisy petals on one particular flower. When she gets to a certain number you see only a mushroom cloud and hear a loud explosion: “Three, two, one…BOOM.”

That ad was at least partially responsible for one of the biggest landslides in Presidental election history! Johnson simply destroyed Goldwater.

Yea…nasty ads work, been around a long time. Both parties do them and they are here to stay.

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"Of course, Lefties are going to shriek and parade around denouncing the whole thing, but where was the denunciation when the Moveon.org ad first came out? "

MoveOn renounced the ad. Also, remember that MoveOn did not create the ad, they were running a contest and the Hitler comparison ad was an entry, not created by MoveOn.

ZEB, the Hitler spot that MoveOn showed on their site as part of a contest was NOT a presidential ad. It has nothing to do with John Kerry. Again, when some people responded that this entry was offensive, MoveOn pulled the entry (one of about a thousand entries) off their website.

Up until a day or two ago, the Bush website did not explain that the Hitler imagery was part of a different ad. They simply recycled the Hitler imagery, and unless you knew the reference, it would seem like a comparison between extremist rantings (Dean’s howl, Hitler’s howl).

Again, it is a joke to think that the President of the United States only has to live up to the same standards of integrity as an activist group.

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Again, it is a joke to think that the President of the United States only has to live up to the same standards of integrity as an activist group.[/quote]

Yea, talk about standards to Clinton. But I do agree. I’m a conservative and I would have to say even if there is a good comparison between the small minded shrillness of Hitler and some of the Democrats it was not a bright move on the part of the person who ok’d the Republican add. I may smile because I have always seen Gore as an extremist but I didn’t the reminder. I guarantee Bush did NOT personally ok it because I know friends of the family.