DOWNLOADS: (470)

PLAYS: (6285)

Embed

This is why we can't have nice things. When a top campaign official not only admits, but boasts about spinning propaganda in the form of a campaign commercial, we're lost. Thomas Edsall of the New York Times got this straight from a top operative for the Romney campaign:

“First of all, ads are propaganda by definition. We are in the persuasion business, the propaganda business…. Ads are agitprop…. Ads are about hyperbole, they are about editing. It’s ludicrous for them to say that an ad is taking something out of context…. All ads do that. They are manipulative pieces of persuasive art.”

Of course ads are intended to persuade. But that doesn't really mean they should lie. As Heather pointed out, this was Lawrence O'Donnell's central point in his rewrite of the original ad. And Digby is even more pointed about it:

I'm not sure why we should be shocked by these Romney operatives taking credit for a dishonest campaign ad since operatives do it all the time, but I guess it's just the arrogant openness about their rank dishonesty that makes it remarkable:

[...]

Those Romney operatives aren't fools and they know they can get away with lying as long as the press decides they can get away with it. Whether it's because they want Romney to be the nominee or because it fits with their narrative about Obama or some combination of the two, they are very likely to let this pass or even allow it to become part of the CW, thus kicking in Cokie's Law, which says "it doesn't matter if it's true or not, it's out there." Fact checking only matters if the press wants it to matter.

Continue reading »

Here's Ron Johnson at the Green Bay Press-Gazette editorial board meeting on his plan, or lack thereof, to create jobs:

The disastrous meeting overall is, it's said, likely to have thrown the Press-Gazette endorsement to Feingold- along with, as of this past Sunday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Capital Times in Madison, the Oshkosh Northwestern, and the La Crosse Tribune.

It, along with several other refusals to detail his plans, have resulted in this fantastic TV ad from Camp Feingold out yesterday:

The ad is a simple yet brilliant mockery of Johnson's much-praised ads using whiteboards (an example of which can be found here). I've always thought taking a candidate's own words or images and using them against him/her- as we saw in Jerry Brown's devastating new ad demonstrating how Whitman is an "echo" of Schwarzenegger- hit the right buttons. And the closing line about who will stand up for Wisconsin is excellent. I'm not trying to play you or exaggerate when I say I really think this could be the game-changing ad of the campaign.

A few weeks ago I wrote a piece titled "The line between a mild headache and a severe hangover on November 3rd". As we approach the elections and forecasts are increasingly bleak, it may come down to- yes, a whiteboard. And so it's ever more important that Russ Feingold returns to stand tall. We're still 18 folks short of 100 supporters for Russ on our C&L ActBlue page. Surely we can do better. I've put mine in. Let's hit that goal and then some to make this ad the "closing argument" in Wisconsin.

Everyone who donates has their name put in a hat and the lucky winner gets a rare numbered Neil Young print (only a dozen were ever made).

Continue reading »

Here's Camp Feingold's latest ad on what we need less- and more- of in Washington:

It reminds me of something I read yesterady. I want to pull out a comment from Working Joe on yesterday's post:

One of my long time friends is a Fox News drone. A few months ago, he informed me that he just hates Russ Feingold. He couldn't give me any specifics. As a conservative, he should have been happy that Feingold cast the only vote against the Patriot Act, which contains clear constitutional violations. He should have been happy that Feingold voted against TARP. He doesn't even know those things.

Johnson is running ads that he'd be the only manufacturer in the Senate. Johnson got into manufacturing the old fashioned way - he married into a manufacturing family. Johnson is an accountant who married the business owner's sister. I knew Johnson must be quite vapid when the Green Bay Press Gazette, which I've only ever seen endorse one Democratic candidate at any political level, endorsed Feingold and blasted Johnson.

But that information won't drift down to voters like my friend who fits into the angry white male category. My friend is very angry when he drives his concrete truck into Milwaukee and sees a "ghetto rodent" (his comment) sitting on the front stoop drinking a beer at 9:30 a.m. and it infuriates him that these people are sucking off his tax dollars. Yet, when I pointed out that his concrete truck driving is seasonal and that he draws unemployment compensation in the winter months, which is sucking off my tax dollars as a business owner, he asks why I am personally attacking him. He doesn't see the contradiction in his views. He accuses Obama of vast overspending but ignores the OMB chart I sent him that shows the greatest costs to the deficits are two unfunded wars and the unfunded Bush tax cuts.

It's all emotional with my rightwing friends. This emotion is immune to facts and reasoning. And this emotion, these angry white people, will take down one of the best senators Wisconsin has had and will put a lesser man in his place.

My colleague at OpenLeft, Mike Lux, who served in the Clinton White House, once told me Tea Partiers were this decade's media's hype version of "angry white males". I certainly don't want to put all the anti-Feingold folks into one racial/gender category, but I'm with Workin' Joe that a whole lot of misdirected anger from teabaggers can take down one of the best Senators Wisconsin- and this nation- has. That's unacceptable to me. I hope it is to you, too.

If you didn't get to enter the contest yesterday, we're giving away a rare, numbered Neil Young print (only a dozen were ever made).

How do you enter? Simple. Chip in to Russ on our Blue America page and your name goes in the hat. It's a two-fer: you could win a cool piece of memorabilia, and you'll feel better on November 3rd- trust me.

well sir I believe THAT would be crossing the line into the realm of improbability Fafblog!

Oh, this can't be true!

Spying on you at the library, indefinite detainment, torture, preventive wars on the wrong country, oh sure I can see that. But nuking Iran? Well that'd just be crazy.

Legislating From the Bench   Balkinization

President Bush demonstrated his usual capacity for double-speak when he praised Judge John Roberts as a jurist who would "not legislate from the bench." As note on this blog and more extensively in Keck, THE MOST ACTIVIST SUPREME COURT IN HISTORY (mandatory reading during the confirmation hearings), the Rehnquist Court does nothing but "legislate from the bench" with Justices Thomas and Scalia being the most active judicial legislators. Consider the numerous areas in which they impose or would impose limits on state and federal officials.

1. They insist most campaign finance laws are unconstitutional.
2. They insist that most regulations of advertising are unconstitutional.
3. They insist that state legislatures can do little to protect abortion clinices from organized mayhem.
4. Thomas has suggested that elected officials have very limited capacity to regulate handguns.
5. They would use the fifth amendment to dramatically limit the capacity of local legislatures to pursue urban redevelopment.
6. They regard the fifth amendment as also limiting environmental regulations and limiting conditions that local legislatures can attach to private development.
7. They insist that affirmative action is unconstitutional, even though the persons responsible for the equal protection clause passed numerous laws providing special benefits to persons of color. nuking Iran? Well that'd just be crazy.

What is a Billion? essays & effluvia

The next time you hear a politician use the word "billion," casually, think about whether you want the politician spending your tax money.

A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into perspective in one of its releases.
a.. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
b.. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
c.. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the StoneAge.
d.. A billion days ago no-one walked on two feet on earth.
e.. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government spends it.

Why does this annoy me so much? According to Mother Jones, there's been a positive breakthrough in Congress' effort to roll back parts of the Citizens United decision and put light on funders of advertising and direct mail campaigns by outside groups.

House Democrats today reached a deal with the National Rifle Association that would roll back parts of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, the widely disdained legal precedent that opened the floodgates to corporate-funded political ads. The Dems' deal would require groups like the US Chamber of Commerce to disclose the top funders of their political ads, but would create loopholes for the NRA and other membership groups.

According to Politico, the deal would exempt any organization with over one million members in existence for more than ten years with members in all 50 states. They'd also have to raise less than 15% of their funds from corporate sources.

Assuming these requirements were met, they would not have to disclose the funding source behind the ad.

I realize that unions fall into the definition, but the NRA has not exactly been a shrinking violet when it comes to astroturfed campaign efforts. Giving them a pass bothers me almost as much as giving the US Chamber of Commerce a pass.

I can also imagine about sixty different ways for the US Chamber to walk around these exemptions. They're already putting a full-court press on small businesses to become part of the organization. Most small businesses are not incorporated. While I'm certain it will take awhile for that 15% funding requirement to be met, I'm not at all certain the US Chamber wouldn't find a way to meet it.

There is a little voice in my head which gets louder with every passing day. It screams this: There really isn't much excuse for any entity who is so passionate about political issues and candidates that they're willing to spend millions to elect/defeat them to actually STAND UP AND SAY SO.

DOWNLOADS: (1334)

PLAYS: (5714)

Embed

The Caucus Blog [New York Times]

A leading conservative legal advocacy group that has a played a prominent role in the debate over the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor has created a new ad accusing her of supporting violent terrorists and comparing her to former Weatherman Bill Ayers.

At one point, the ad ...shows a picture of Judge Sotomayor alongside the text: “SUPPORTED VIOLENT TERRORISTS.”

Mr. Levey said the ad was written by Chris LaCivita, who also helped create the Swift Boat Vets for Truth ads against Senator John F. Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee. The Swift Boat ads were riddled with unsubstantiated charges and led to a new political term for smearing a political opponent with lies: “swift-boating.”

Ben LaBolt, a White House spokesman, called the Sotomayor ad “an uniquely implausible act in wingnuttery.” Right Wing Watch, a division of the liberal People for the American Way, called it “over-the-top and nonsensical.”

Mr. Levey acknowledged that the ad presented a “caricature,” but it defended it as “factually true.”

In fairness, when I first saw this ad I was so sure it was a hoax, I asked the gang at Relaxed Politics to do a little digging for me. It's real.

And now Think Progress reports that Orrin Hatch has distanced himself from the ad, even though he's attended fundraisers for the group that produced it. Hatch claims this is "not the kind of ad he would run."

But did you help pay for it, Senator?

The Republicans on the Judiciary Committee should start a big fat file labeled "With Friends Like These..."

A Youtuber picks some favorite Superbowl commercials. Open thread below, for football, advertising, or anything else on your mind.

The Daily Kos is making great progress as Sylvan Learning Center pulls ads from Sinclair.

If we hurt them in the pocket book, they will cancel.

by Rakkasan

Tue Oct 12th, 2004 at 16:32:54 GMT

(From the diaries. A great morale boost and proof that our efforts are paying off -- kos)
As directed in this forum I sent emails to an advertiser saying that I enjoyed their products but that I was no longer going to use them, and that none of my friends and family were going to use them either because they advertised on Sinclair stations. I went on to tell them why I had a problem with Sinclair as well.

A few minutes ago I received a call from them telling me they were PULLING their advertising from the Sinclair stations.

Attytood: Why does John McCain hate trains?

Collateral News: There is more evidence that some of the 26,000 people held without charges by the US have been incarcerated on floating prisons.

The Real News Network: Our 'news' networks aren't telling the public about the deaths of Iraqi civilians since the invasion (anywhere from 600,00 to 1.2 million) or about the 5 million displaced Iraqis.

Lawyers, Guns and Money: Bobo

Sleuth: Politicians can finally get their MTV. The cable channel, which has declined political advertising since its inception in 1981, is reversing course. Advantage: Obama

Congratulations to our friend, Mad Kane. She's a finalist in the Robert Benchley Society Award For Humor Competition!