••• Democratic anti-Barton TV ad: Why are Democratic ads always so anemic? •••

[breadandwine]

Here's a new Democratic TV ad against Joe Barton and the GOP:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LmwbRjezh4


Story:


http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/democratic-party/democrats-on-joe-bartons-oil-s.html?wprss=thefix


This article says, first of all, that "It's a safe bet that the commercial does not have significant money behind it."

If this ad were in every Congressional district it might be one thing. But it won't be. They make the ad but they aren't making an ad BUY. This ad is just for show, to shut up the base who is demanding they get tougher.

Why is the national Democratic party such a kill-joy? Who in the party are they trying to impress by ALMOST putting this ad on TV? Is this so the namby-bamby DLCers can shut up the party critics who think these wimps should hit harder?


Secondly, I have a problem with the ad itself. People inside the Beltway may watch Sunday news shows and know already what this ad is talking about. But millions of Americans live empty lives, stopping off at the 7-11, getting sparse empty local news from some local TV station that concentrates on entertainment and weather before doing their laundry and rushing out to buy Pampers. Millions of trailer trash in this country haven't a CLUE who Joe Barton is and what exactly the $20 billion fund is all about and they don't know that Barton said the relief fund was a shakedown, his word. This ad is so obscure that only those who already know about what Barton said are going to understand it. What did Barton mean when he apologized? The ad doesn't explain.

Why can't a Democratic ad explain clearly, and why can't the party put money behind it instead of PRETENDING to do so?

The ad is so inarticulate that an uniformed viewer is going to think the ad is taking GOP comments out of context. Barton "must" have meant something else, these people will think. If you are already a Democrat, you get it. If you are a typical Republican voter living in a typical Republican bubble and getting your "news" from Rush Limbaugh, you are going to feel comfortable that what the ad is talking about couldn't possibly be accurate. The ad doesn't force you to face facts. The ad is too soft a sell and doesn't shove the facts in your face. It doesn't give enough of the Barton statement to make clear that his statement was that bad. The ad doesn't force, it doesn't deny conservative voters a respite from a guilty conscience. The voter can watch this and then go back to his gas guzzler and his beer and his football game and his pork rinds and forget the whole damn thing. It doesn't FORCE you to think. It doesn't MAKE you look at the truth whether you like it or not. It doesn't bash the viewer over the head with the truth the way GOP ads do. It is lame and wimpy. DCCC head Congressman Van Hollen is the same way. He speaks like a milquetoast and is much too soft spoken. There is no pounding of the podium the way the GOP does. We always have this idea that being shrill is a mistake. But outside our little bubble, being shrill WORKS and that is how the GOP has driven Obama crazy for months. But we don't have fire in our bellies and the voter can smell our wimpiness.

Democratic ads are never "in your face" while GOP ads ARE. That is how they swiftboat us and it is why we never swiftboat them. Watch. Some wimpy poster is going to post on this thread that it would be "wrong" to swiftboat the GOP and "we're above that."

Blah! Blah! Blah!

Democratic consultant Mandy Grunwald said it well during the Clinton campaign of 1992:

"This campaign scares the hell out of me because there is no one in this campaign who sits awake at night thinking how to F*CK the competition."

In other words, no cojones.

The Democratic party is a bunch of wimps and that is why we will lose seats in the Fall. Just look at that guy Green who is nothing but a GOP plant paid off to rig the election in his state and they obviously hacked the machines. But the Democratic party chose to do nothing about it.

What a bunch of wimps.

[opihimoimoi]

1. Giving BoD....maybe it was a trial baloon.....?

[breadandwine]

4. "Trial balloon" -- okay, what are they trying?

There is need to experiment? Why? If they don't know how to campaign it's only trial and error. Instead of trial balloon they should KNOW what they're doing, kick ass and DO it. These people have been wimping since taking over the White House and now the best they can do is ALMOST get tough.

After all. The GOP might get mad at them and hurt their wittle feelings!

Politics is a blood sport. If they didn't know that, they should step aside for Democrats who do.

[opihimoimoi]

7. I agree... as kinda wimpy

[breadandwine]

2. Thanks for the rec.

.....

[Swamp Rat]

3. To hell with the DLC and their ass-kissing sycophants!

I'll do MY OWN anti-Joe Barton ads!

[Sebastian Doyle]

5. Because Tim Kaine is another useless DLC weakling, like Terry McAwful

No Virginia "Democrat" :eyes: should ever be allowed to "lead" this party again.

[breadandwine]

6. Exactly. Tim Kaine is a weakling. Incredible that they sacked Howard Dean.

I'm waiting to see some flash news bulletin informing us that it has now been confirmed that Tim Kaine actually has a pulse. The whole party leadership is absolutely somnambulistic --- sleep-inducing.

[SoCalDem]

9. Kaine is too milquetoast

The ad should be as simple as Barton apologizing to Tony, with a side by side of that poor bird drowning in oil, and all the CLOSED signs on coastal businesses..
voice over at the end:

republicans like Joe Barton (then show the screengrabbed RNC page that used the same words) value the money they get from big oil, more than your health. livelihood, or the health of the Gulf of Mexico.

[breadandwine]

10. There's one thing wrong with your ad idea, SoCalDem. It's too good.

It is not suitably bland. It lacks that all important DLC quality of boredom. The DNC would never go for it. Putting a drowning bird in is too passionate for the DNC. Passion? Can't have THAT! Somebody might accuse us of being shrill! Emotional.

We must all be caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalm while the world goes to hell.

We must be SOBER surely!


Passion? Can't have THAT in politics! We might --- gag! --- move someone!



The powers that be want us all to be sedated and quiet and anesthetized while they screw up the world.

[blondeatlast]

21. I'll kick in a generous donation to get that one on the air.

I'm NOT kidding, either.

[SoCalDem]

26. Here's the pictorial version

[breadandwine]

30. There are also other GOPers defending BP. It isn't only Barton now. Why don't we see

national Democratic ads summing up ALL these jackasses?

It's all about the DLC / DNC wimpies always shooting with blanks.

[OHdem10]

8. Anemic--perfect description.

[babylonsister]

11. I've read it's going to be aired nationally...

A source sends over the script of the spot, which is paid for by the DNC and will run on MSNBC and CNN:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/06/new_dnc_ad_calls_on_republican.html

And sorry, I thought the ad was/is effective.

[breadandwine]

19. Thanks for the link, babylonsister. Even airing on MSNBC and CNN doesn't change that the actual BUY

is predicted to be very small.

This is standard operating procedure for the DNC. They are always shooting with blanks.

George Herbert Walker Bush had so little interest in "vision" that he called it "the vision thing" as if it were some afterthought he'd throw in. I'll have campaign donations, a treasurer, ad agency and, oh yeah --- a little of the vision thing.

The DNC could be described as having a little of "the fight thing." Fighting is an afterthought to them, a little something they throw in before they get back to the main event, cozying up to the corporations etc. For the DNC fighting is a little pinch of condiment they put on their hypoglycemic main event of starchy potatoes. Nothing more. They are really wimps.

And as for the ad's impact, MoveOn.org for years had ads that were "nice" and finally some over there decided they needed more in-your-face ads and formed an offshoot of MoveOn that officially had "in your face" ads that were a lot more effective. The group is Truthandhope.org.

Here's an example of their ads which illustrates what I'm talking about. This is an IN-YOUR-FACE ad that MAKES you face the truth WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwWhM1USJ5U


THAT'S an effective ad. THAT'S an ad that denies you a respite from a guilty conscience. THAT'S an ad that FORCES you to think and feel WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT.


Unfortunately they had access to very little money, unlike the DNC.

Why can't the DNC make ads like that?

Because they are DLC wimps.


Here is the famous 1964 "Daisy" ad President Johnson used against Barry Goldwater, who had said we should use nuclear weapons in Vietnam. ---


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtYpnGZr6TA&feature=fvst


This is how Democrats USED to fight. Not anymore. Now the party is run by compulsive wimps.

[madrchsod]

12. well i guess they can`t say--tell the republicans to go fuck off..

the democratic response is really clueless

[sendero]

13. Literally my first post on DU...

... was on this very subject, 8 years ago. Nothing has changed. It's no wonder that a lot of Americans think Democrats are wimpy, their rhetoric is laughable tame.

The idea that in-your-face ads backfire is a joke. In-your-face ads work, and that is why Republicans use them almost exclusively.

[blue neen]

14. I guess you weren't in Pennsylvania during our recent primary season.

The ads that our Democrats ran here were far from anemic!

[chimpymustgo]

16. Sestak - the guy the establishment DIDN'T support - ran some kick-ass ads!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

15. DNC = chronic anemia

I suspect that Obama's demands that they keep the tone lowkey is a big part of the problem.
This White House refuses to recognize that their hands across the aisle approach to bye-byepartisanship is simply not working. Until they do, you won't see any bite from the DNC.

[amb123]

17. New Slogan for American Politics today

Democrats: Wimpy! Wimpy! Wimpy! :yoiks:
Republicans: Crazy! Crazy! Crazy! :silly:

It's probabily better to be wimpy instead of crazy I guess. But, you're right, I also wish the Dems were more aggressive in attacking the GOP.

[LoZoccolo]

18. "trailer trash"?

Stay classy.

[breadandwine]

20. Okay. True. Um...... You know. Like, "small people."

.....

[blondeatlast]

22. I think the ad is effective, but I think they need to do more.I think the point is

to inextricably link the ReBPublicans to Big Oil and Hayward (really, is there ANYONE more universally despised right now?)

You have to have an impact in 20 seconds--and the viewer is NOT going to dwell on the issues you raise. It just hits at a weak spot and hangs Barton abd the ReBP. That's all it needs to do for now.

Still, tim Kaine is a gutless weasel, fwiw.

[derby378]

23. Gee, I miss Howard Dean...

I think we'd be seeing a little more fire in the DNC if he were still in charge.

[breadandwine]

27. Forget about Howard Dean, derby378. He can't be given any power in the Democratic Party.

After all.

He has a pulse.

Can't have that.......

[RBInMaine]

24. Actually, these are pretty damn good ads. We need MANY more, and yes, we do need to be tougher !

[breadandwine]

29. There is no prize for second place when the GOP is belting us and we are only limping along.

Second rate ads are garbage.



The Democratic Party is wimping out.

[Renew Deal]

25. I think it is a good ad

:shrug:

[breadandwine]

28. Renew Deal, for comparison, see links on my post 19 above.

Great Democrats of yesteryear would be rolling in their graves if they knew how wimpy this party has become.

[breadandwine]

31. There are also independent Democratic groups with ads, but they don't have enough funding.

....