Reply #98: Great minds think alike? [View All]

[progressive_realist]

This morning I was daydreaming while riding the bus to work. An image popped into my head of the perfect political ad for Democrats. It was almost exactly what you wrote at the end of your post, although my version is simpler and to the point, so that even the deliberately obtuse will understand it. Imagine this properly formatted:

Republican leadership...

...failed to prevent 9/11
...failed to respond to Hurricane Katrina
...failed to catch Osama Bin Laden
...failed to stabilize Iraq

Republicans talk tough on national security. But when it comes time to deliver results, they fail.

Vote for change in November. Vote Democrat.

The list can be made as long as needed -- there are plenty of Republican failures to choose from. The TV version of this should have all the iconic images: the plane crashing into the Twin Towers, photos of flooded New Orleans, Bin Laden's face, the aftermath of a car bombing in Iraq. Intermixed with these, the commercial can have clips of Bush reading My Pet Goat, looking out the airplane window at New Orleans, saying that he would catch Bin Laden "dead or alive", maybe the "Mission Accomplished" photo-op...

Point is to neutralize the one card the Republicans have left -- the perception that they will protect the American public. This approach would make freeper heads explode left and right, and the talking heads would positively froth at the mouth about us exploiting the images of 9/11, Katrina, etc. But it doesn't matter one bit -- anything they respond with will only make them look weaker. And besides, for what it's worth, the charges are all true.

It should be emphasized over and over that Republicans have failed at every turn. Once this meme gets planted in people's heads, it will be like quicksand; every attempt to get out will pull the Republicans further under. And any conveniently timed "October surprise" terrorist attacks or scares will backfire and make people even less likely to vote Republican.

By November, the first word everyone should think when they see or hear "Republican" is "failure". Then perhaps we will have a sea of blue to look forward to on Election Day.