I watched McCain’s ad recently, and once I stopped reacting as a person, and instead regarded it as a Brand professional… I was astonished.
The Republicans are running away from their Brand.
That’s why they are running McCain as an “American.”
Because if they run him as a Republican, they will lose.
Where to start?
The contaminated pet food and toys that strikes the most vulnerable of those we love?
The senseless war that has killed, damaged, and endangered the least vulnerable element of our society, the military, and left it unable to do its job?
The ridiculous tax cut and deregulation policies which crumble the foundations of our roads and bridges, our education and our skills, our business and our dollars?
It’s everywhere. It’s huge. How do we sum up ALL the cronyism, corruption, and callousness?
Republican.
They bought it, they broke it, and now they own it.
Republican.
They’ve been whining about it, flooding our airwaves with it, and screaming about it for long enough. Let’s hang it around their necks.
Republican.
For thirty years the Republican party has been defining our brand for us. We are the “tax and spend” party, the “wimpy on National Defense” party, the “elitist, latte drinking, Volvo driving,” party. The fearsome, horrible, ineffectual, nanny state people who have been damned with the label “liberals.”
It’s time we took our Brand back. We’ve already started.
Democrats want to fix all the stuff the Republicans broke.
No more of this sidling over to the Republicans. No more of this “me too” campaigning. What distinguishes the different dish soaps, laundry detergents, and other cleaning products that fill the aisle in the supermarket? Not much, frankly. And they know that. So they hammer at Their Brand. They never, never, never say their dish soap is in any way like another dish soap.
Because that’s not how you capture the market. The way to capture the market is to say, loudly and clearly and constantly, that their brand is Different! and thus… Better!
So we must do the same.
The Republicans have destroyed their brand. They hope the electorate will not notice. That’s why McCain is campaigning as an American’s American in America for Americans who are proud of being Americans.
McCain, the Republican, isn’t campaigning as a Republican. They know their brand is screwed. They’re hoping the voters won’t notice. They’re hoping we won’t notice.
We can’t make this just another stunt they get away with.
They bought it, they broke it, they own it.
Republican.
End this talk of “Bush administration,” and “the conservative mindset” and the “Neocons,” and the “religious right.” These are holes, ingredients they can label as something their brand no longer has. Of course, it’s lies. That’s why they say it. But unless and until they change the name of their party, they can’t take the Republican out of the party. That’s what they are. That’s what they all are.
All the lies, betrayals, treason, secrecy, mayhem, and bloodshed they have perpetrated is Republican.
It’s ALL Republican.
The falling dollar, bleak economic picture, and high prices at the pumps and produce counter?
Republican.
The malfeasance and bribery and contempt for our press, our government, and our freedoms?
Republican.
The ruthless destruction of our homes, our children, and our lives?
Republican.
Make that word the horror it is. Create in the electorate the same revulsion the word has come to mean for us, who understand it, who realize what’s going on, who know how important it is that we break the linkage between what people think they are getting, and what they actually get when they vote:
Republican.
Every complaint on the street or at the checkout counter, every political discussion, every cry of disillusionment and despair, must be countered with their Brand.
Republican. That’s the problem.
We can’t let McCain run away from it. He’s gone along with everything they did. He’s sucking up to their movers and shakers. He’s literally embraced Bush.
He’s a Republican.
All this maverick stuff is just talk. Maverick started as a designation for unbranded calves, which anyone could pick up. But, of course, calling him a maverick is a lie. He’s sooooo branded.
Republican.
It’s not just Bush, or imperialism, or deregulation, or Katrina or Iraq. It’s all of it; every looted dollar and dead soldier.
They bought it, they broke it, and they own it.
Republican.
Let no one forget.