Friday, February 29, 2008
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Red Phone Redux and Daisy Done-to-Death
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Posted by:
Mary Katharine Ham at
11:58 AM
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Here's hoping she wins the primary (ha) and conducts her general election in the mold of Mondale as well. Here's Mondale's red phone ad, created in '84 by Clinton ad guy Roy Spence. Clinton gets credit for using children for tugging extra heartstrings, but I wonder (with good reason, since McCain will levy a similar argument) if these ads just get old and lose their impact.
We've seen a thousand attempts over the years, but nothing quite matches the impact of the "Daisy" ad or the "Bear in the Woods" ad, partly because we've seen a thousand attempts. Most recently, Bush 2004 used "Wolves," which was haunting and well done, but not super, as the wolves looked lanky and dog-like instead of terribly menacing. Then, there was the 2006 "The Stakes," featuring Zawahiri and a ticking clock. More menacing than "Wolves," but we see how much good it did in a midterm election.
I think the message of these commercials is a fair one, even if the imagery and narrations are a mostly emotional appeal. Picking a president is an important decision with weighty consequences, and American voters are susceptible to such emotional appeals. Thus, we have the retooled "Daisy" ad every couple of years.
In this election cycle, American voters are clearly just as susceptible to emotional messaging as ever before, as Obama's message consists of very little more than feelings. The very real danger for Hillary, and the GOP in the general, is that voters only wish to be warm and fuzzy this year instead of warned of danger.
The problem with arguing against a "vacation from history" is of course, the risk that the electorate wants one.
But who am I kidding? Negative advertising always works, right?
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I think the ad is very thought provoking and should be considered when voting. Feeling optimistic is good, but we must be realistic with the way the world is today. |
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Have beene exploiting kids for years but this ad takes the cake. Is someone going to call Hillary for a burguarly? I tend to believe Hillary is losing because men can't stand her but her campaign mamagers have been absurdly bad also. If i was running the Hillary show i would have chosen to made her a 'sensible centrist' candidate. She would have looked more electible in the general. The problem is the libs think they can't be beat no matter who thier nom is because of the 2006 election.What they are wrong about is republicans just sat the election out because of scandals.The Dems have never ran this far to the left since Mcgovern. usually they try to masquerade behind thier liberal hood.As terrible as McCain is on many fronts he represents stability which may be what most people want in trying times. This is really no time for liberal experimentation.Old people the most reliable voters will go for McCain overwhelmingly because they don't want threats to thier SS checks and medicare.Most people realize this country can't afford universal healthcare, the dems do also and once they get in office they'll make excuses not to do it. "Oh we didn't know the budget was this bad because of Bush". |
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Note to republicans: Fearmongering doesn't work anymore. Senator Clinton doesn't get that, and it will hurt her efforts. She now looks as desperate as the GOP with this kind of trademark rightwing attack. I'm surprised she is groveling at this level to keep above the rising tide for Senator Obama, but it would seem that the desperate will stoop to great depths and it doesn't always have to be the republicans lining the gutter |
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First, you're accusing someone of surfing other sites for c&p material, but just above that, you posted something from politico.com. Also, it comes off as a bit ironic when you play the "high-school" remark while resorting to name-calling.
Anyway, my favorite thing about the Clinton ad was that it's about who will answer the phone...but the phone keeps ringing and ringing through the ad, until FINALLY Hillary picks it up. So even if she were the right one to have answering it, we have to question just how long it would take her to answer it. Seems like she doesn't have an excuse for the delay, since she's all dressed up, with full make-up, at 3 AM. |
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All I can say about a call at 3 AM is that it is probably a Bill rape victim - with Hillary's finger ready to push "the button". |
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