I’m not sure I really like this video because it just shows Romney insulting the president for about 60 seconds. It does get the point across that Romney is a thin-skinned hypocrite, but it comes at too high of a cost for my taste. Watch it and tell me what you think.
I am more interested in stuff like this, and not just because I do some consulting work for Democracy for America. I want to stick to asking why Mitt Romney will not release his tax returns. I mean, Christ Almighty, even the Republican governor of Alabama is demanding that Romney release his tax returns. Think about that for a minute.
You have a situation where Romney’s father released twelve years of tax returns because, as he said, one year could be a fluke, and then the son is basically telling us to trust him that he’s not a felon or a tax cheat. Remember when we trusted that John Edwards wasn’t a scoundrel? How’d that work out?
I think we all know better than to trust politicians, especially when they are so obviously hiding something from us. Sign the petition that demands that Romney come clean with the American people.
As a reward, you can watch an indisputably great commercial.
Someone is not playing games.
my guesses about the tax returns:
1. not only did he pay a low tax rate, he paid NO TAXES for MANY YEARS.
2. He paid more in TITHES TO THE MORMON CHURCH than he did in TAXES to the country he wants to be elected President of
3. Remember when the Obama Administration gave a ‘ grace period’ to tax cheaters that had their money overseas – I bet he’s on that list.
remember this above all else:
4. John McCain saw 23 years of tax returns…AND CHOSE PALIN
there’s a genius in the tax return thing. it’s so simple. just keep asking over and over
WHAT ARE YOU HIDING IN THE TAX RETURNS, WILLARD?
the lowest of the lowest information voters can grasp that.
I’d like to see an aggressive ad targeted to point #4 above.
KAPOW
KAPOW
KAPOW
I like ’em both. They address the weakness of Romney’s campaign and his failure to come clean about his financial holdings. And why Romney says one thing and does something else, like when he accuses the President of lowering the bar in campaign discourse, but won’t acknowlege he’s already curbside with his attacks.
I don’t think the Romney “team” was expecting this type of ad, and it’s gonna hurt them. Anything they come back with will be weak sauce compared to these.
They will not be swiftboating this President. Gloves off. Good for our side.
Oh, and just this second the lead story on NBC News this evening is the new Obama ads.
They’re framing it as Obama on attack against Romney, and saying that Obama refused to apologize for his ads. The overall news report is pretty good for Obama, actually. It makes Romney look like he’s on shaky ground.
heh.
Team Obama should definitely not use that latest one. Fails to hit the intended message — and as you pointed out, unintentionally gives the Romney image free air time.
The second one is good except I question whether sticking with Romney singing throughout was the best choice.
I think the music is perfect. He sucked so bad at singing it; it’s a juxtaposition of how much he destroyed the song with how he would destroy America.
See? This is all they’ve got LOL:
“Every day, President Obama hits a new low. It is sad and shameful that President Obama would mock America the Beautiful.”
~Andrea Saul
Someone should tell Ms. Saul that Obama isn’t the one singing it.
Oh. My. God.
That ad at the bottom is a fucking A-bomb.
If I was Mitt Romney, I would be curled up under my bed.
KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Yes, one of the very best I have ever seen. Freaking gold.
Listen to how they made Romney’s voice echo – and the echo change based on the shot – to suggest empty spaces when they showed the mills and factories and office buildings.
Just outstanding on all levels.
Booman, you know how you’re always pushing liberals to act like we should have power and be in charge? This ad is what that looks like.
I can only conclude that the Romney campaign decided that the heat they are taking for not releasing his tax returns is less than the heat they would take if they were released.
There must be something in there. No candidates willingly inflict this much damage on themselves without a good reason.
“It is capitalism and freedom that makes America strong.” How dumb do you have to be to believe a vulture capitalist?
Top ad is not my style but may work, I can’t tell. Second one is brilliant.
I think that top ad is for online and for supporters. I doubt it sees the light of day on air. The only ones who are gonna watch them are the political junkies.
The last one though, woof! That was a kidney blow.
Also, when I see video like this, that’s when you know that Obama is gonna be a formidable campaigner. First of all, I imagine that Mittens would never had gone out in the rain, or he’d have had a canopy or some butlers with umbrellas. Secondly, can you imagine Mittens’ hair holding up in rain. Third, whenever he invoked Michelle’s name, it’s a crowd pleaser I don’t imagine that Mittens invoking Ann’s name does the same.
Obama campaigning in Virginia in Rain.
http://youtu.be/1R4pdac0Apw
Having said all that, I’d prefer he stay out of the rain so as not to get sick or catch a heal cold, but that’s the microbiologist in me.
I got that impression as well. ….and they all stood there in the rain and went forward! all of them….
Nah, the best in the Virginia rain was this ad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OofHuLW6xdM
amazing, thank’s for posting.
campaigning in rain – great. as far as the video goes, some nice ad potential. no umbrella and no insults to the crowd about their garb. (just kidding, I think the focus on Bain with its intersection of Willard’s personal narrative with the destructive growing USA gap between rich and poor – think Venn diagram here- is the way to go)
I don’t know if this has been brought up, but there is a wicked karma going on here.
Willard only sang America the Beautiful, because he was trying to imitate the President after he sang Al Green.
That the campaign would turn around and then use his mimicking the President against him in this way….
Karma remains undefeated.
The first ad is a serious mistake. People don’t care about the hypocrisy, they will wonder about the charges. People don’t really object to negative ads. They just say they do. Otherwise, they wouldn’t work. If Obama actually uses that ad on air, it would be one of the few serious campaign stumbles I’ve seen from him. Perhaps the only one.
Negative ads work on a small, malleable percentage of the voting public – the rest of the voting public hates them, at least when the ads are pointed at their guy.
The problem with the new ad isn’t that it’s based on a bad strategy–not necessarily, anyway–it’s just not that well done. They give Romney tons of oxygen to make his accusations and then at the end say, “Wow, he sure does make a lot of accusations,” without making any particular point about the validity of his statements. A Romney supporter or -leaner might see that ad and come away more solidly in his support.
If Team Obama wants to run an ad allowing Mitt Romney to show what a dick he is, there’s tons of better material out there for them to draw from, and plenty of different angles to take with it.
What I like about all of this, though, is how it shows the potential effectiveness of a viral-video campaign with little more than cost of production involved in an era when advertising via traditial obsolescent television media is so enormously expensive and intrusive to the viewer. A well-made video on YouTube will find its way to the evening news and generate millions of voluntary views just to see what the fuss is about; a barrage of TV and radio ads, otoh, can result in a sense of being invaded, and result in a backlash effect against the candidate behind the ads. Sometimes.
What I’d like to see is a s**t-hot team of web video directors and writers, and a grass-roots contest of sorts inviting Obama supporters to submit ideas for ads–not the sort of contest like MoveOn and others have done in the past requiring people to submit actual ads, but just asking for good ideas from good thinkers who don’t know anything about video production and etc.
Of course, vetting the ideas presents a logistical nightmare, but there’s a way to get it done, and maybe even an elegant solution to that problem. But increasingly, I think web-based advertising is where it’s all going; I don’t know how anybody manages not to just unplug their tvs during campaign season anymore.