Forums dot lukpac.org

Remember way back earlier in the year when MoveOn had their ad contest? And a bunch of people sent in entries, which MoveOn posted? And a couple went a bit over-the-top and juxtaposed images of Bush with images of Hitler? And the right threw a conniption and somehow tried to make it sound like it was an official Democrat ad that was equating Bush and Hitler?

OK, fast forward to today. There's a sad little video ad on the georgewbush.com site that tries to show us what a bunch of raving loons the left are. They have Gore's Iraq speech, Gephardt calling Bush a "miserable failure," and some other stuff. (Surprisingly, I don't remember seeing the Dean Scream.) In amongst all that, they have clips from the Bush-Hitler ads from the MoveOn contest. Obviously, they're trying to make the point that John Kerry wants you to think Bush is Hitler.

However, not everyone is as nuanced in the political vocabulary as you and I and georgewbush.com. People are thinking that Bush is comparing Kerry to Hitler, since in context Hitler is just shown along with Gore and Gephardt and the others. Within the ad, Hitler is just another member of the loony left -- the fact that the image is from an ad made by someone trying to win a MoveOn contest is never explained.

I just got a solicitation from the Kerry campaign trying to capitalize on this (even though they surely know the real intent of the Bush ad):

Dear Ryan,

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

So Bush attacks Kerry for an independently produced ad that compared Bush to Hitler, but does it in such an inept way that looks like Bush is comparing Kerry to Hitler, and Kerry in turn attacks Bush for comparing Kerry to Hitler.

Got it straight? Good, because no one else will.

Ryan

The Bush ad fascinates me for two reasons:

1. In some of the clips, the "angry" lefties are making substantive arguments against Bush that I wouldn't think Bush would want to publicize. I'm thinking specifically of Al Gore talking about the Abu Ghraib scandal and Michael Moore talking about the "fictitious reasons" for invading Iraq. And yeah, they look really angry while making these arguments. But isn't Bush taking a bit of a risk here in assuming people will notice only the anger and not the substance?

2. Although they're trying to blame all this anger on John Kerry, the actual clip of Kerry shows him looking rather calm. He almost seems like the voice of reason in comparison with Gore, Moore, Dean, and Gephardt! The only "offensive" part of the Kerry clip is his use of mild profanity ("kick your ass"). But how much is that going to resonate at a time when Dick Cheney is telling Patrick Leahy to go fuck himself?

Yeah, it's a very strange ad. I realize I'm biased, but it didn't seem to make a very compelling case for Bush. It just says, "Vote for Bush because he pisses people off." I suppose I can see how that would appeal to parts of his base, but in terms of wooing those on the fence, it's a stumper.

Ryan

Is that intro about Kerry not denouncing the others a new thing?

Yes. It wasn't there Friday.

Since Kerry is apparently now responsible for everything anyone says against Bush, I look forward to Bush denouncing all the crackpots out there spreading garbage on his behalf.

Ryan

I love the emphasis on denouncing. It's like people think this is early-twentieth century Russia, or something. Three Muslim kids stage a mock beheading, and instantly everyone at WCF's like "Why isn't xxx denouncing this? Why aren't the liberals screaming about this? Fucking libs." Excuse me, I wasn't aware that one had to register one's outrage officially at everything. It isn't the great Muslim's community's job to officially denounce everything Al Qaida does; occasionally, one assumes a reaction is implied.

The second Nazi clip now says "image from moveon.org ad." I don't think that was there before.

And I could have sworn the Kerry clip went on a bit longer originally. It now cuts him off mid-word.

I guess I was wrong about the Kerry clip being altered. The original version can be seen here:

http://www.video4clark.com/vidclips/KCOWE_256k.rm

Umm...yeah, after seeing that, it doesn't seem to make any sense. "Let's show how mad people are about Bush."