HEY OBAMA CAMPAIGN!

by: tremayne

Fri Sep 12, 2008 at 00:41


I know most people have seen this video but if you know somebody in the Obama campaign or somebody close to somebody important in the Obama campaign, please send them the link to this video and see if they can't edit something shorter and air it:

Sarah Palin said two things which can be pegs for an attack ad of this kind:

1. War with Russia could happen over the Georgia conflict

2. Soldiers going to Iraq are fighting the people who killed thousands of Americans on Sept. 11.

The Obama camp needs to launch a fresh, timely attack that will make the McCain campaign splutter. This is it.
tremayne :: HEY OBAMA CAMPAIGN!

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HEY OBAMA CAMPAIGN! | 36 comments
Wow. (4.00 / 1)
This needs to go viral if it hasn't already. Strong as mustard gas.  

John McCain doesn't care about Vets.


Wow redux (0.00 / 0)
Incredible.
I Hadn't Seen It! (4.00 / 1)
Of course I've seen (or, in Ritter's case, heard) significant elements of it, but it was really wll put together.

Obviously not ad-length, but more like a video mini-essay.

Intense.

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

This is unbelievable (4.00 / 1)
that you and others have not seen this video. its about time it was front pages, because this video and other great videos have been in the quick hits the past few days, and look not even Paul has seen it. I'm glad this was finally front paged, like i've been bitching to matt and chris this week amidst their complains about Obama. there is so much good stuff to promote - and here it turns out that its really important to front page this stuff because not even the most informed of readers are seeing these videos. the grassroots can't be influential when its not even fully armed. like i said before, the complaints about the campaign are fine, but I feel the site editors of big sites like this one need to be equally diligent in front paging all helpful media that can go viral.

Michael Bloomberg, prince of corporate welfare
[ Parent ]
Well, It Has 431,722 Views On You Tube (4.00 / 1)
So, somehow I think it's done just fine without me.

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3
[ Parent ]
That's how it's done (4.00 / 3)
scare the crap out of the people...it works for the GOP
Things that work for the Republicans don't always work for Democrats (0.00 / 0)
Apologies if dfr1417's comment is sarcasm; hard to tell on teh internets.

Isn't trying to act like a Republican what has gotten Democrats in trouble before?

I'm not saying that we shouldn't hit them hard where they think they're strong; that part makes sense.  I'm just confused as to why everyone on this thread thinks that scaring people will work for Democrats.  When people get scared, they vote Republican.

There has to be a way to highlight McCain's failings and inability to lead without resorting to scare tactics.  See Stewart/Colbert.

[ Parent ]
No (0.00 / 0)
They vote Republican because they think the Democrat is going to get them killed.

This is how we turn it against them. Vote Republican and our cities will be nuked and you will be vaporized.

Remember, Goldwater was a Republican.  

[ Parent ]
This will work with women (0.00 / 0)
Especially that line about wanting their sons and daughters.  Really.  They ought to condense this nby taking out Scott Ritter and the Iraq casualties (I know, but it has to be cut, and Ritter, though correct, is kind of over the top) but leave in all of the McCain comments and Pat Buchanan.  

Run it on Lifetime and Oxygen and the Food Network.

John McCain--He's not who you think he is.

[ Parent ]
yes (0.00 / 0)
and it's too long with him and his point doesn't really work in short form.
[ Parent ]
Wow!!! (4.00 / 2)
That's all I could say after watching that video.

Your suggestion strikes me as a potential game changer in terms of the focus of the debate and as a powerful antidote for the trivial smear strategy of the McCain camp. It's a wake up call to our humanity, and a powerful window into McCain's dark side and its implications.  Using Palin's recent expressions of dangerous and bellicose ignorance strikes me as an appropriate and powerful way to cut right through the McCain-Palin mythology and reveal its dark and dangerous core.

And, if done well, launching something like this shortly after 9-11 COULD be a way to turn the whole national security debate around, from the right's delusion, manipulation and misplaced anger to the deep sense of humanity and unity that exploded amidst the initial shock and grief.  That very real, powerful and deep human reaction is, in my view, a very natural compliment to Obama's core message and appeal.

One concern I have with this is that it may be too deep and real for the MSM to digest.  They seem to have a relatively stunted ability to ingest and report genuine human emotions.  That makes their reaction to something like this a real wild card that's pretty hard to predict (at least for me).  That suggests this should be done with a lot of care and planning, and as part of a coordinated strategy that could increase the likelihood that the game changing nature of this wouldn't backfire due to an MSM allergic reaction to something that cuts so deeply beyond the superficial, cynical realm they usually relate to.

Let me repeat, WOW! (I've actually never seen that video)

Someone tell me (4.00 / 5)
how I contact the campaign and offer my services as a TV producer to cut a 30 second ad like this to run in the swing states. I'll do it, I swear and it can run the whole month of October.

I really need to get involved somehow and honesty, canvassing and phonebanking is not working for me.  

It's Up to Us Now (4.00 / 1)
You know, if you can cut a commercial, man, just do it. No reason to wait. We're in an age (and a campaign) where it has come down to us.

One of the problems is that people who might be influenced by a viral video often aren't out looking for them. And something dramatic like the one above can easily turn people off.

But you could do a funny spot just as easily... it doesn't even have to be THAT funny. (Hell, STEAL a joke!)

Or you can just put together some facts and pictures in a funny email, something people could easily forward around... and presumably it would have the added value of being true.
We've got to be throwing everything at the wall -- thousands of us -- and seeing what sticks.

The campaign is sure they're doing all the right things, but to us it feels like they're laying back. A LOT. It's feeling a lot like Kerry in 04 to many of us this week. Maybe now that 9/11 is over, we're going to see some sharp elbows. But I don't know... we keep waiting.

So: no more waiting. I'm doing three non-phonebanking things  tied to the campus where I work. (I also kind of hate phonebanking.) I'll be working with other grad students and undergrads in ways that are easy and fun. I know a lot of us are freaking out, even getting down. And time IS definitely slipping away. But we're not finished yet!

As the man says: Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

http://www.jibjab.com/view/137226

This situation requires a really stupid and futile gesture be done on somebody's part... and we're just the guys to do it!

Go! Go! Go! Go!  

[ Parent ]
I don't think it is the campaign's fault that it is up to us. (0.00 / 0)
We're in an age (and a campaign) where it has come down to us.

The ReThugs have the entire Noise Machine (TeeVee, on-line scurrilous email circuit, radio; and nobody reads the print media much anymore). There have been some really terrific ads from the Obama campaign -- the reason for their results-wise flop is that the echo chamber of the Noise Machine will not pick it up and run them on endless loops in breathless, seemingly reluctant, admiration.

Wake up:  our candidates and campaigns fine enough.  What they lack is the amplifying support of a noise machinery and some good surrogates on TeeVee.  Nothing wrong in us picking up what is really our duty, considering how good our candidate(s) is(have been).  

[ Parent ]
My advice to you is to start drinking heavily. (0.00 / 0)
Toga! Toga!  
[ Parent ]
A way to get it done (0.00 / 0)
I agree with you that doing little things does not seem like enough.

With a good ad and only 50K it is possible to have it go national.  What I have seen Republican groups do is to buy airtime in DC, announce the ad and then rely on free news reporting to get the ad seen by many more people.

Create or find a 527 to work with.

Remember that the visuals of the ad are what is important.  Show Ritter saying "which American City" then show a map of the US with a red impact area changing positions on all of the major cities.  Show a mushroom cloud. Also find a spot of John McCain being angry and strongly imply that he is mad enough and crazy enough to use nuclear weapons.  That he is a war-monger and we do not have enough troops to just send troops.  OK, now I am getting too wordy.  Two of the most effective adds were the wolves add and the Johnson mushroom cloud.  Few words - great images.

McCain on the minimum wage

[ Parent ]
It's the music (0.00 / 0)
It's the music that gets you guys. Is it from the ending of 'Requiem for a Dream'? Great movie.

Anyways, watching it I didn't think it was that great. The ending could be usable IF done MUCH better. Making Americans scared of McCain's trigger finger may work but that video won't get the job done.

Lux Aeterna (4.00 / 1)
Is it from the ending of 'Requiem for a Dream'?

Yes

[ Parent ]
More horrifying... (0.00 / 0)
She's saying we'll accept a potential military showdown with Russia to get Georgia into NATO. That's bonkers.

She also says that we're worried about Ahmadinejad letting terrorists have nukes, not Iran having them itself. Very strange.

Her foreign policy foundation? You can see Russia from land in Alaska. She also talks about "years" as governor, when she of course has about 1 1/2.

Sry to play the spoilsport (4.00 / 3)
But don't some others here think, too, that this is too long and flowing at a too slow a pace to attract undecided voters? Imho this is a good effort of preaching to the choir, but I don't think anybody whon is looking for information about McCain's foreign policy stance will watch this beyond the first minute, where the video is looking as just another one of the anit Bush/Cheney ads. Look, folks, we have witnessed recently at the polls how little attention mayn people pay to the political discourse. To reach them, you have to take their short attention span into account and use short, catchy statements that are memorizable enough to influence their opinions. This is a situation where less is more.

McCain's horrible casualness when dealing with the Iran situation ("bomb, bomb, bomb") is one of those strong, memorable visuals. Contrast this with pictures of the coffins of US soldiers and the suffering of civilians in Iraq, add the information about casualties and costs, boil it down to thirty seconds and you have a strong message, imho. But leave the stuff about Bush, Cheney and the other warmongerers out of it. Yeah, it's true, and it should tell people something about republican lies in general, but I'm afraid that it will simply bore swing voters who seem to hold the view that McCain is different from the GOP in general.

So, use McSame's own words against him, don't waste precious video time with trying to make a rational case of guilt by association. It's unnecessary, after all, because McCain's own statements show how dangerous his hot tempered apporoach to national security is. Contrasting his quotes with images of the horrors of war will have a strong emotional appeal. This should have an impact, if you can manage to channel it to undecided voters. TV ads by 527s or Chris' google ad strategy (when it has been perfected) look like good ideas.

The best would be (4.00 / 3)
Simply putting up a donation link to fund it and pass it around.  I would contribute.

Though I do agree that it should start off stronger.  

Start off with "bomb bomb bomb iran".  Talk about the price of gas going to 20 dollars a gallon and a major city being nuked as a result.

End with the "I know how to handle the Iranians and a bit of clark's criticsm about him being reckless.

Perhaps add in Palin's war with russia remark, but thats probably getting too long already.

End with something like "A McCain/Palin presidency would result in the destruction of America" (making it too long)

The liberal wiki
Send an email to terra@liberalwiki.com

[ Parent ]
Good critique and suggestions (0.00 / 0)
In terms of an ad targeted to low-information, low-attention-span undecided voters, I think you're probably right.  The link to Bush's lies and all the associated footage would need to be cut.

I also think this might be a good spot to be funded by a 527 or some other independent effort.  Do what the Repubs do...run it once or twice in some media market, then try to go viral with it and get the free media to cover and rerun it.

They can try to scare people based on lies and smears about Obama being a "scary black man."  We'll scare people by reminding them of the truth that McCain is a hot-headed irresponsible war-lover and has picked a similarly dangerous and clueless "soul-mate" as his VP.

How about something like this?

McCain: pre-Iraq quote showing his Bush-like cluelessness and expectation of a cake-walk (several already in circulation)
McCain:  100 years OK
McCain: most potent among the "there will be other wars" clips
McCain:  I know how to deal with Iran
McCain singing: Bomb, bomb Iran (Brave New Films may have a better clip of this)
(If possible): Palin telling Gibson war with Russia is a possibility
Coffins, horrible human suffering, plus brief but potent stats on suffering and cost
Brief refrain of "there will be other wars" and maybe even "bomb Iran"
Closing: Do you want (John McCain's?) "other" wars?

I'd love to see a piece of Clark's critique included, but that would use a lot of time.  Maybe even a Buchanan snippet, but that could backfire.

Probably still a lot longer than 30-sec, but maybe getting a lot closer?

[ Parent ]
The base does not equal the general population. (4.00 / 3)

It's undoubtedly a strong and moving video, but just because it speaks to us doesn't mean it'll speak to independents or swing voters. (Ditto the recent community organizer video, which wasn't going to convince anyone who wasn't already voting for Obama.)

 I do think the Obama campaign should simply put up McCain's 100 years comment and run that endlessly in states where the war has hit hard -- West Virginia, for example.



John McCain thinks we haven't spent enough time in Iraq
i like it (0.00 / 0)
Yeah, the 100 years, SS is a disgrace, Phil Gramm saying America is a "nation of whiners"....
[ Parent ]
Simplicity is the key (0.00 / 0)
The GOP have always done an incredible job at oversimplifying the issues and reaping the benefits for talking to the "common man" If we can all still agree that this race is still about the economy, health care and security, simplifying the message would be easy for the Obama campaign to accomplish; as a bonus, we can do this by telling the truth and steer the race back to the issues, instead of the "small things".

For instance,

John McCain wants to lower taxes.
Barack Obama wants to lower them more.

John McCain considers health care a priority.
Barack Obama wants to insure every American.

John McCain hopes to keep America safe.
Barack Obama wants to make the world a safer place.

Sick of the same, worse with McCain.

Quick, simple and to the point.

[ Parent ]
notice the similarities (4.00 / 1)
to goldwaters 60's rhetoric and mccains now, goldwater was smart enough to change his opinion mccain won't be, mccain was a poor midshipman, a poor pilot, and will be a disaster as a pres.
we laugh at the religious fanatics in other nations but we elect those same types here at home to lead us to oblivion and beyond, they believe.
some here at home talk tough but watch the bluster turn to cowardice when they see we can be bloodied with similar weapons, america had better wake up and smell the daisys while they can, that reminds me, wouldn't a daisy political ad go a long way to putting a little common sense into a nation of extremists and religious fanatics, and yes that is us.  
The Obama campaign won't like it... (0.00 / 0)
...it doesn't have happy go lucky clown music...  'cos that's what they insist on using in their "attack" ads...

REID: Voting against us was never part of our arrangement!
SPECTER: I am altering the deal! Pray I don't alter it any further!
REID: This deal keeps getting worse all the time!
The Obama camp can do an even simpler Ad: (0.00 / 0)

McLame keeps saying he "knows how to handle Iran, knows how to catch Bin Laden".  Why won't he tell his own President right now, so we can go ahead and do it?

Does he want to win an election more than he wants to capture Bin Laden and handle Iran?  Or does he actually not know and is only BSing?  Which one is it, McLame?

AND/OR:

McLame claims he has been a participant in every national security issue of the last 3 decades.  How good has that been?  By his own admission, he is a significant contributor to our current foreign "policy" disaster.  Why do you want more of the same?

Can someone explain this video to me? (0.00 / 0)
John McCain made a joke about bombing Iran.  That's good footage.  What else does this video contain that would appeal to anyone?

Scott Ritter talks about nuclear weapons being used against Iran.  Obama says all options are on the table.  Obama says he will take a hard line against Iran.  If you take the two candidates at their word, both might use tactical nuclear weapons against Iran.  Ritter can make the same claims against Obama.

Ritter goes on to say the genie won't go back in the bottle.  The genie was let out of the bottle sixty years ago.  I think that the possibility that an American city would be taken out by a nuclear device is more related to who has the devices and American policies, than specifically whether America has used a device.  Anyway, this is what Bush and McCain are arguing - no nukes for Iran, means no cities taken out.  Ritter is engaging in Republican-style fear-mongering, with about as much coherence.

Ritter looks like a raving lunatic in the video, and what he says doesn't make any logical sense.

Compound that with the quote from a longstanding certified lunatic, Pat Buchanan, who says he can't see McCain as a peacetime President - that proves what exactly?

From the standpoint of someone who is concerned about McCain's foreign policy, it isn't very substantive.  As a matter of strategy, it has easy answers from the other side: Obama isn't really that different than McCain on Iraq, and if he is, he is weak on defense, wants to see the Iranians take out Israel, and will lose the war on terror.

Did someone here see some logical argument or good point?  Or is it just a bunch of disconnected clips strung together by creepy music?

Obama should resign from the Senate (0.00 / 0)
Its a gutsy move that will demonstrate that he has confidence in his ability to win the election as President.

It may get the narrative back on him and off of Palin.


"It sounds wrong...
     ...but its right."

I actually like this idea (0.00 / 0)
though it didn't help Bob Dole much.  
[ Parent ]
Obama ain't no Dole (0.00 / 0)
It would put some pressure on McCain.

Of course, it would complicate things for Biden and Palin.


"It sounds wrong...
     ...but its right."

[ Parent ]
I had not seen this either, but am surprised at (0.00 / 0)
how many comments say it is too long, some of it is not right, etc...,

Hey, didn't Tremayne say can someone make a short and potent version of this clip. This was meant to be a long clip. And it is powerful. And I think any 30 second ad spot needs to use a simple message.

Camp Obama would love to run any ad that could get people to debate about the war, or 8 years of Bush.

But the MSM is giving us "Obama called Palin a pig", and other lies. Welcome to America in 2008.

I will be happy if he just decides to fight instead of taking sticks to gun fights all the time.

Hey tremayne! (0.00 / 0)
using fear tactics is part of the republican brand and it represents more of the same.

chill out, obama will be ahead in the polls by the end of september.

more of the same (0.00 / 0)
would be the Democrat claiming they're not going to let the Republicans get away with their tricks and then losing a close but somewhat honorable race.
[ Parent ]
do you want obama to (0.00 / 0)
sell his soul in order to win an election? if he does, he's not worth having. the clintons sold their souls long ago.

if obama chooses not to sell his soul, then there is little else he can do except keep plugging away. we already know the media are in bed with the republicans.

think about it, obama is a man who was a relative unknown until 4 years ago (still is in some respects), yet he and his team beat the clinton brand and are now a short step from the presidency. give the campaign some slack. i think they know what they are doing. if they happen to lose, it won't be because they weren't trying. hell, his campaign has raised the most money ever, and it sounds like their voter-registration is off the charts. his campaign packed invesco field, could you imagine kerry, dukakis, or even pre-inconvenient truth gore doing that. i don't think so.

obama's campaign is not more of the same and you should know better. what you are proposing is straight out of rove's textbook. have you sold your soul?  

[ Parent ]
HEY OBAMA CAMPAIGN! | 36 comments
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