While none of us Progressive Democrats applaud the Citizens United case unleashing Super PACs, it is a fact of life. So we can either play by the rules as they are at this moment, or we can sit still like little lambs waiting to be slaughtered.
So I’ve started a new Democratic Super PAC devoted to helping Obama and all Democrats have a better chance of wining this year. We’ve created three new ads and I’d like your help in deciding which one to put on the air on New Hampshire TV stations this week.
The Republicans might huddle with Karl Rove and the Koch Brothers in secret back rooms to decide strategy, but I am trying to create a participatory, crowd-sourced PAC that can tap the best of pro-democratic minds.
First, here are our assumptions:
1. Romney is the greatest threat to Obama.
2. Romney is still the likeliest GOP nominee.
3. If we can attack Romney causing him to fail at getting the GOP nomination, that would be a huge benefit for Obama because all of the other GOP candidates would be weaker in a general election.
4. If we attack Romney now, and he still wins the GOP nomination, we can still help Obama if we begin to lay the ground work for general election voters holding negative views toward Romney.
5. Romney has already been attacked for being a flip-flopper, so we can’t just do the same old thing.
6. While attacking Romney for being a rich guy who looks out for the top 1% may help in the general election, that message might actually help Romney in a GOP primary.
7. Based on reading a variety of polling data and anecdotal conversations with many conservatives and GOP strategists, the number one negative on Romney is that he is inauthentic and, in a word, “plastic.”
8. We have decided to create a series of negative ads that attempt to brand Romney as literally “plastic” through the metaphor of dolls.
We initially crowd-sourced the idea at Daily Kos a week ago and the community suggested a couple of ideas beyond our initial idea of “GI Joe.” These ideas included “Ken Doll” and “Stretch Armstrong.”
So we’ve put together 3 ads (below) and we’d like you to vote on which one you think would be most effective with Republican voters as well as general election voters. Whatever ad gets the most support, we are committed to putting on the air in New Hampshire this week.
While the ads use humor and can appear childish, please realize that we are deadly serious. We are trying to have an impact on public opinion toward Mitt Romney and we are trying to connect at both an intellectual and emotional level. So please give us feedback on which ad you prefer and feel free to give script or production suggestions too. But please, spare us any tedious diatribes on how our approach isn’t intellectual or fact-based enough for your tastes.
Also, please feel free to put your money where your mouth is. If you like an ad and want to see it get more air time, Please click here and donate, even if it’s $3. www.americanlp.org/donate
Here are the three ads.
I fully acknowledge that the Constitution is silent on restricting any members of the clergy from serving in elective office in the federal government. On the other hand it is in the American voter’s interest to be fully aware if the person that he/she is choosing for the highest office in the country has other religious obligations that can sharply influence many unforeseen future critical presidential decisions.
Any such advertisement raising this conflict of interest (COI) question for voter consideration must be done with a great deal of sensitivity and in the best taste possible. (In other words the ad must get the COI question message across to the public without DENIGRATING the LDS Church.) The COI question must remain stark and pure to be answered in one and only one strict context without getting confused or muddied up by some ad creator’s sophomoric sense of humour. I would highly recommend a simplistic style of ad on the order of Lyndon Johnson’s famous “daisy” ad that was used in 1964 most effectively against Barry Goldwater and his steadfast affinity for America’s use of the nuclear bomb.
Lastly, I believe that raising this question in an ad against Romney would be the most effective ad possible against the Romney campaign simply because the question/message raised in the ad would be reinforced daily by Romney himself through his style of politicking out there on the stump. If one analyzes Romney’s style his presentation is exactly what one would expect from a highly persistent determined Jehovah’s Witness standing on the front doorstep with the Watchtower magazine in hand. IMHO Romney welcomes all of the so-called attacks on him as a flip-flopper, or big time capitalist from Bain. Further if he wins the Republican nomination his campaign will over-use his image as a moderate Republican during his service as Governor of the State of Massachusetts. This will be the image which he will use to attract independents and Democrats away from Barack Obama.
The reason why Romney appears plastic and hollow is that his real levels of creativity, dedication and purpose are inextricably bound up in the LDS Church.
Please accept my apology and disregard my comment above as only one half of it made it into publication, so it is missing the first half. I will publish the entire piece as a stand alone post later.