The Discerning Texan
All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke
-- Edmund Burke
Saturday, September 25, 2004
A walking train wreck
John Podhoretz, writing for the New York Post, discusses John Kerry’s brilliant idea to go windsurfing, the Bush ad that took advantage of this “photo op”, and the incredibly juvenile response by the Kerry campaign. He argues that watching Kerry is analogous to watching a Ben Stiller movie. I can see his point:
The tough, clever ad capitalizes on Kerry's foolish decision to let himself be photographed on a windsurfer during the Republican Convention. Instead of hitting back with a comparable lightness of touch, the Kerry people went berserk. Mike McCurry, Kerry's spokesman, called it a "shameful advertisement that shows a disturbing disregard for those fighting and sacrificing in Iraq."
So…let me make sure I understand here… they are saying that an advertisement showing Kerry windsurfing shows a “disturbing disregard” for our troops in Iraq?? Did anyone else in their right mind actually have that reaction when they first saw the ad? Podhoretz continues:
Then the Kerry campaign offered up a counter-ad with an American flag in the background making the same point: "In the face of the Iraq quagmire, George Bush runs a juvenile and tasteless attack ad."
So the Kerry camp is trying to argue with a straight face that because there is horrible news from Iraq, Bush has no right to tease or make fun of Kerry. In this vein, McCurry told reporters, "People do not want to see lighthearted advertising when families are very heavy-hearted about what's happening to their loved ones." Such a complaint seems to draw a parallel between the campaign hardships of John Kerry and the personal hardships of military families, which is frankly a pretty stupid direction to go in for a struggling presidential campaign. It seems far more plausible that the heavy-hearted families to whom McCurry is actually alluding bear the surnames Kerry, Heinz and Edwards. Political ads that complain about other political ads are rarely very effective. They're a tricky proposition because they threaten to make the complainer sound, well, more like a complainer than a leader.
Worse still, all they do is serve to call attention to the original attack itself. Most people who see the Kerry ad won't know what it's whining about, but the whining may make them curious about the supposedly offending ad.
He's right; we can do better.
The tough, clever ad capitalizes on Kerry's foolish decision to let himself be photographed on a windsurfer during the Republican Convention. Instead of hitting back with a comparable lightness of touch, the Kerry people went berserk. Mike McCurry, Kerry's spokesman, called it a "shameful advertisement that shows a disturbing disregard for those fighting and sacrificing in Iraq."
So…let me make sure I understand here… they are saying that an advertisement showing Kerry windsurfing shows a “disturbing disregard” for our troops in Iraq?? Did anyone else in their right mind actually have that reaction when they first saw the ad? Podhoretz continues:
Then the Kerry campaign offered up a counter-ad with an American flag in the background making the same point: "In the face of the Iraq quagmire, George Bush runs a juvenile and tasteless attack ad."
So the Kerry camp is trying to argue with a straight face that because there is horrible news from Iraq, Bush has no right to tease or make fun of Kerry. In this vein, McCurry told reporters, "People do not want to see lighthearted advertising when families are very heavy-hearted about what's happening to their loved ones." Such a complaint seems to draw a parallel between the campaign hardships of John Kerry and the personal hardships of military families, which is frankly a pretty stupid direction to go in for a struggling presidential campaign. It seems far more plausible that the heavy-hearted families to whom McCurry is actually alluding bear the surnames Kerry, Heinz and Edwards. Political ads that complain about other political ads are rarely very effective. They're a tricky proposition because they threaten to make the complainer sound, well, more like a complainer than a leader.
Worse still, all they do is serve to call attention to the original attack itself. Most people who see the Kerry ad won't know what it's whining about, but the whining may make them curious about the supposedly offending ad.
He's right; we can do better.
