In the next one, you could have some Peggy Noonan look alike sitting at a bar, obviously drunk and nursing her martini, when there’s a tap on her shoulder, “OK, Grandma, the pole’s free. Start dancin’! And this’d better be good, ’cause on top of the health care you gotta pay for, you owe me for those two double’s you just downed.” Then you see the Grandma in support hose and Depends, hobbling up to the pole with her walker.
My comment went “POOF!”
Gulag, you and I see eye to eye on most everything, but gotta tell you, I thought that was a crappy ad. The Republicans have handed Dems soooo much ammo with which to hoist them by their own petards, and they go for cute, but too obscure, methinks, for conservative oldsters to connect the dots.
Could be, course, that I’m just feeling grumpy today.
Yeah, I’m conflicted about the ad myself. It made me laugh, but I’m not sure it really drove the point home.
I concur with muldoon, although it was cute, it was way too upbeat.
I submit:
black and white/silhouettes of an older couple at a table looking over bills.
“How are we going to pay for this hospital stay?”
“I don’t know, honey. All I know is that it didn’t used to be this bad. We should never have voted for those republicans. They’re too busy taking from the poor and giving to the rich, I don’t know how they can call themselves Christian…”
Voice-over: “Republicans- Not looking out for your best interests.”
We have 18 months, and I hope the ads will get better. This was OK for an opening salvo.
I was astounded and delighted that Ryan packaged tax CUTS for the rich together with slashing Medicare. In the same plan. Note that none of the GOP presidential contendors has yet committed. We need for them to commit fully to the crazy before they become aware of the risk.
My biggest fear is that the GOP will consult polls and moderate their approach.
Maybe my bar was set low because the Democrats actually had something, anyyhing, ready in response.
Are the Republicans wanting the Dems to win; or am I missing something here. They know any screwing around with Medicare is the, I guess, fourth rail after the SS third rail. Why would they hand over the most likely voting population in the country to us? I’m not getting this. They know it’s DOA in the Senate, they know Obama will veto it if it by some miracle get past the Senate. What, so Obama can be the man who saved Medicare for the old folks? Someone please explain, or is this the repugs being true to their Randian inner child?
Someone please explain, or is this the repugs being true to their Randian inner child?
Many others are asking the same question. I personally think it’s a classic case of over-reaching.
Yeah, the ad is too cute. But, as Gulag points out, the fact that it exists at all is good. Which in itself is a sad commentary on the Dems.
It’s a start.
I would have preferred a scene where an obvious rich healthy young white guy kicks the walker out from in front of an old lady, knocking her to the ground, and then pulls money out of her purse, sticks it into his already bulging wallet and walks away laughing. Extra points if he climbs into a GOP campaign van and drives away.
It’s not just that they’re cutting Medicare, it’s that they are doing it to line their own pockets.
I’m inclined to think the ad could be a bit darker and more dystopian. You don’t want to fear-monger (that’s Republican territory), but the world is rather dark and dystopian right now.
How about an ad showing Grandma enjoying a bowl of catfood, at her new cardbox home beneath the freeway overpass? And driving by is a bunch of fat-cat Republicans in a stretch limo, smoking cigars, listening to Rush Limbaugh on the car radio, and laughing about their new big tax cut and how those who voted for them are just dumb suckers.
Yes, the over-reach here in WI could make a (fill in your own fictional character here) blush. Walker continues with items that will make even dye hard Republicans vote Dem. The rumored martial law which isn’t really martial law law will only make others think of over-reach. Believe me Scottie, those that don’t pay attention don’t give a shit if you didn’t REALLY say you weren’t creating the law, but a private law firm was. They don’t see the distinction. Are they this stupid?? The over/under is about a 65% approval for Walker, and we’ve already recalled 4(four), quatro, qatra, state senators. Vanna, can we buy a clue. If there was ever a lesson that these DB’s don’t listen to anyone else it is Scottie Walker. Keep it up folks, we’ll take back the gov’t in less time than is electorally possible.
Sorry, that should say 65% DISAPPROVAL for Walker.
bucky, I get the feeling you guys are going to eventually prevail in Wisconsin, but I am much less optimistic about the other states.
I guess the ad was OK for a start – I liked the compelling opening scenes – but I didn’t get the ending/punch line. That’s where everything should come together in a focused, killer punchline, but this dissipated the energy gathered earlier, instead.
Moonbat: How about “REPUBLICANS, THE REAL DEATH PANEL”.
Barbara, I agree with the observation about over-reach. I would add that any leadership that is so stupidly sectarian will ultimately fail because of the inability to lead in the context of the system as a whole. We can always depend on ethnocentric “us vs. them” perspective to fail in the long run because they cannot move beyond the dominant and adversarial behavior. That applies to our team as well it is important to remember.
I actually think there might be a logic to the approach of this ad. The Democrats are aiming at a younger demographic. Young people are probably more likely to watch something that is amusing rather than scary. There is already enough fear in the system. Young people are fearful because of uncertainty and old people are fearful because the experience of life has made them doubtful and occasionally cynical. Liars, grifters and con-men have that effect on people.
It may be time to test whether there is some “fear fatigue” out there in response to fear saturation. I know I am ready for a break. Maybe we’re seeing the baggers succumb to outrage fatigue and that’s why their numbers are falling. (That’s probably a good thing because I can’t see how the physiology of older people could withstand such longterm stress without busting a blood vessel.)
Using humor against authority is effective because it disarms the weapon of intimidation. (“Springtime for Hitler”) It also seems more likely that people who are undecided or even mildly opposed to a more progressive vision of America might actually watch the ad for the amusement instead of dismissing it immediately as partisan.
The ad sweetens the pill with a bit of humor, but the older people are sympathetic characters and the comical nature of their situations quickly becomes absurd and a kind of tragedy emerges. Look at the sequence where the man with the walker is pushing the lawnmower. It makes your back hurt if you have any empathy in you. We hear the annoying young man point out that he “missed a spot” and think “You’ll be here someday yourself, you just don’t know it yet.” With any luck, young people will begin to know it or to see that the care of their aging parents will be a responsibility that they will have to shoulder, and that sickness, infirmities and injustice don’t just happen to individuals, but to families and communities.
Maybe I am making too much of this, but the themes are all there. If this turns out to be the ONLY response to the attempted murder of Medicare, then certainly it would be inadequate, and maybe a bit of fearmongering would have carried the day better. But as a beginning it may be able to get people to listen and eventually, to consider the consequences of losing medicare, instead of having them dismiss the message out of habit.
goatherd — I thought about the demographic and the “fear fatigue” also. My sense of things is that the “fear” ads have been so overdone that increasing numbers of people tune them out. I have read that televised political ads are becoming less and less effective with every election cycle, and that may be because they are all so much alike. At least this one is different.
And yes, I think this is aimed at younger voters. The people who need to be scared are those born after 1956, I understand, because the Ryan plan keeps the old Medicare in place for people born before 1956. But people born after 1956 will continue to pay FICA taxes to pay for Medicare for older folks, and I wonder how that’s going to fly.
How about an ad that would scare both young and old?
You see a couple in their early 40’s, dealing with their kids in their house.
Then, the doorbell rings.
They open up the door, and there’s the wife’s parents.
She seems glad to see them.
She welcomes them in, asking if they’ll stay for dinner.
They say, they’re not only staying for dinner, the staying permanently since they can’t afford to live alone since Republicans voted to kill Medicare.
And the point to a U-Haul truck outdoors.
The husband and wife look at one another in horror.
And just then a second U-Haul pulls up, and it’s the husbands parents, ready to move in too.
Now, that might open up some eyes.
Or drive people to tears.
And just then a second U-Haul pulls up, and it’s the husbands parents, ready to move in too.
I’d like to see a family sitting at the kitchen table explaining to son Jimmy that Grandma’s medical bills just wiped out his college fund, not to mention Mom and Dad’s retirement fund.
Yeah, and then Grandpa coughs, and they look at little Sally and say, “You’d better pray Grandpa doesn’t get sick, or there goes your prom dress fund, too.”
“How about an ad that would scare both young and old?
You see a couple in their early 40′s, dealing with their kids in their house.
Then, the doorbell rings.”
Cundgulag, you’re a genius. We mortals can only stand by in awe.
Why don’t you do a youtube version?
a) I think fear-mongering still works and I support it. I’m tired of rolling over and showing my belly a la Jimmy Carter.
b) yesterday I talked to one of my beer buyers. He thinks Germany is a socialist country and that socialism is why all those socialist-European countries are in the shitter. I point out that Germany and France are doing pretty well, although they might want to rethink those 6 weeks of vacation they get a year. “Yeah, but they are the only ones.” he says (how about Sweden, GB, Austria?)
Then I try my new theme on him “Isn’t a christian society interested in taking care of children and elderly?” (I live in the bible belt) he comes back with “It’s not the government’s job.” “Well then, who’s job is it?” I ask him. He doesn’t really have an answer so he shrugs. He works at the foundry and if he thinks he can take care of his extended family on that pay, or after he is injured or sick, he hasn’t thought it through.
So what’s the next level up if he can’t take care of his family? The church? Local society? Yeah, local society: we set up bank accounts all over the place for the drunken beer-brawl face reconstruction (true story) bills or the kid with leukemia. So many that we are numb, paying into these accounts.
If government builds roads and bridges, maintains (damn few) post offices (oh, no I forgot – they privatized that), prints money and defends our borders, why – oh -why – can’t we collectively help every one? What is so offensive about a safety net? What is so undemocratic about it?
I ended up shrugging and saying “OK, so I’m a socialist.” He smiled and drove away. How do you get through to people that it IS government’s job to organize society? I understand that they hate the thought of helping the meth-heads, or people of color, but how do you show them that THEY gain from this, too? When did government become evil? And why are all the people calling government evil in the government (or trying to get elected)?
I love this ad!!!
In the next one, you could have some Peggy Noonan look alike sitting at a bar, obviously drunk and nursing her martini, when there’s a tap on her shoulder, “OK, Grandma, the pole’s free. Start dancin’! And this’d better be good, ’cause on top of the health care you gotta pay for, you owe me for those two double’s you just downed.” Then you see the Grandma in support hose and Depends, hobbling up to the pole with her walker.
My comment went “POOF!”
Gulag, you and I see eye to eye on most everything, but gotta tell you, I thought that was a crappy ad. The Republicans have handed Dems soooo much ammo with which to hoist them by their own petards, and they go for cute, but too obscure, methinks, for conservative oldsters to connect the dots.
Could be, course, that I’m just feeling grumpy today.
Yeah, I’m conflicted about the ad myself. It made me laugh, but I’m not sure it really drove the point home.
I concur with muldoon, although it was cute, it was way too upbeat.
I submit:
black and white/silhouettes of an older couple at a table looking over bills.
“How are we going to pay for this hospital stay?”
“I don’t know, honey. All I know is that it didn’t used to be this bad. We should never have voted for those republicans. They’re too busy taking from the poor and giving to the rich, I don’t know how they can call themselves Christian…”
Voice-over: “Republicans- Not looking out for your best interests.”
We have 18 months, and I hope the ads will get better. This was OK for an opening salvo.
I was astounded and delighted that Ryan packaged tax CUTS for the rich together with slashing Medicare. In the same plan. Note that none of the GOP presidential contendors has yet committed. We need for them to commit fully to the crazy before they become aware of the risk.
My biggest fear is that the GOP will consult polls and moderate their approach.
Maybe my bar was set low because the Democrats actually had something, anyyhing, ready in response.
Are the Republicans wanting the Dems to win; or am I missing something here. They know any screwing around with Medicare is the, I guess, fourth rail after the SS third rail. Why would they hand over the most likely voting population in the country to us? I’m not getting this. They know it’s DOA in the Senate, they know Obama will veto it if it by some miracle get past the Senate. What, so Obama can be the man who saved Medicare for the old folks? Someone please explain, or is this the repugs being true to their Randian inner child?
Many others are asking the same question. I personally think it’s a classic case of over-reaching.
Yeah, the ad is too cute. But, as Gulag points out, the fact that it exists at all is good. Which in itself is a sad commentary on the Dems.
It’s a start.
I would have preferred a scene where an obvious rich healthy young white guy kicks the walker out from in front of an old lady, knocking her to the ground, and then pulls money out of her purse, sticks it into his already bulging wallet and walks away laughing. Extra points if he climbs into a GOP campaign van and drives away.
It’s not just that they’re cutting Medicare, it’s that they are doing it to line their own pockets.
I’m inclined to think the ad could be a bit darker and more dystopian. You don’t want to fear-monger (that’s Republican territory), but the world is rather dark and dystopian right now.
How about an ad showing Grandma enjoying a bowl of catfood, at her new cardbox home beneath the freeway overpass? And driving by is a bunch of fat-cat Republicans in a stretch limo, smoking cigars, listening to Rush Limbaugh on the car radio, and laughing about their new big tax cut and how those who voted for them are just dumb suckers.
Yes, the over-reach here in WI could make a (fill in your own fictional character here) blush. Walker continues with items that will make even dye hard Republicans vote Dem. The rumored martial law which isn’t really martial law law will only make others think of over-reach. Believe me Scottie, those that don’t pay attention don’t give a shit if you didn’t REALLY say you weren’t creating the law, but a private law firm was. They don’t see the distinction. Are they this stupid?? The over/under is about a 65% approval for Walker, and we’ve already recalled 4(four), quatro, qatra, state senators. Vanna, can we buy a clue. If there was ever a lesson that these DB’s don’t listen to anyone else it is Scottie Walker. Keep it up folks, we’ll take back the gov’t in less time than is electorally possible.
Sorry, that should say 65% DISAPPROVAL for Walker.
bucky, I get the feeling you guys are going to eventually prevail in Wisconsin, but I am much less optimistic about the other states.
I guess the ad was OK for a start – I liked the compelling opening scenes – but I didn’t get the ending/punch line. That’s where everything should come together in a focused, killer punchline, but this dissipated the energy gathered earlier, instead.
Moonbat: How about “REPUBLICANS, THE REAL DEATH PANEL”.
Barbara, I agree with the observation about over-reach. I would add that any leadership that is so stupidly sectarian will ultimately fail because of the inability to lead in the context of the system as a whole. We can always depend on ethnocentric “us vs. them” perspective to fail in the long run because they cannot move beyond the dominant and adversarial behavior. That applies to our team as well it is important to remember.
I actually think there might be a logic to the approach of this ad. The Democrats are aiming at a younger demographic. Young people are probably more likely to watch something that is amusing rather than scary. There is already enough fear in the system. Young people are fearful because of uncertainty and old people are fearful because the experience of life has made them doubtful and occasionally cynical. Liars, grifters and con-men have that effect on people.
It may be time to test whether there is some “fear fatigue” out there in response to fear saturation. I know I am ready for a break. Maybe we’re seeing the baggers succumb to outrage fatigue and that’s why their numbers are falling. (That’s probably a good thing because I can’t see how the physiology of older people could withstand such longterm stress without busting a blood vessel.)
Using humor against authority is effective because it disarms the weapon of intimidation. (“Springtime for Hitler”) It also seems more likely that people who are undecided or even mildly opposed to a more progressive vision of America might actually watch the ad for the amusement instead of dismissing it immediately as partisan.
The ad sweetens the pill with a bit of humor, but the older people are sympathetic characters and the comical nature of their situations quickly becomes absurd and a kind of tragedy emerges. Look at the sequence where the man with the walker is pushing the lawnmower. It makes your back hurt if you have any empathy in you. We hear the annoying young man point out that he “missed a spot” and think “You’ll be here someday yourself, you just don’t know it yet.” With any luck, young people will begin to know it or to see that the care of their aging parents will be a responsibility that they will have to shoulder, and that sickness, infirmities and injustice don’t just happen to individuals, but to families and communities.
Maybe I am making too much of this, but the themes are all there. If this turns out to be the ONLY response to the attempted murder of Medicare, then certainly it would be inadequate, and maybe a bit of fearmongering would have carried the day better. But as a beginning it may be able to get people to listen and eventually, to consider the consequences of losing medicare, instead of having them dismiss the message out of habit.
goatherd — I thought about the demographic and the “fear fatigue” also. My sense of things is that the “fear” ads have been so overdone that increasing numbers of people tune them out. I have read that televised political ads are becoming less and less effective with every election cycle, and that may be because they are all so much alike. At least this one is different.
And yes, I think this is aimed at younger voters. The people who need to be scared are those born after 1956, I understand, because the Ryan plan keeps the old Medicare in place for people born before 1956. But people born after 1956 will continue to pay FICA taxes to pay for Medicare for older folks, and I wonder how that’s going to fly.
How about an ad that would scare both young and old?
You see a couple in their early 40’s, dealing with their kids in their house.
Then, the doorbell rings.
They open up the door, and there’s the wife’s parents.
She seems glad to see them.
She welcomes them in, asking if they’ll stay for dinner.
They say, they’re not only staying for dinner, the staying permanently since they can’t afford to live alone since Republicans voted to kill Medicare.
And the point to a U-Haul truck outdoors.
The husband and wife look at one another in horror.
And just then a second U-Haul pulls up, and it’s the husbands parents, ready to move in too.
Now, that might open up some eyes.
Or drive people to tears.
I’d like to see a family sitting at the kitchen table explaining to son Jimmy that Grandma’s medical bills just wiped out his college fund, not to mention Mom and Dad’s retirement fund.
Yeah, and then Grandpa coughs, and they look at little Sally and say, “You’d better pray Grandpa doesn’t get sick, or there goes your prom dress fund, too.”
“How about an ad that would scare both young and old?
You see a couple in their early 40′s, dealing with their kids in their house.
Then, the doorbell rings.”
Cundgulag, you’re a genius. We mortals can only stand by in awe.
Why don’t you do a youtube version?
a) I think fear-mongering still works and I support it. I’m tired of rolling over and showing my belly a la Jimmy Carter.
b) yesterday I talked to one of my beer buyers. He thinks Germany is a socialist country and that socialism is why all those socialist-European countries are in the shitter. I point out that Germany and France are doing pretty well, although they might want to rethink those 6 weeks of vacation they get a year. “Yeah, but they are the only ones.” he says (how about Sweden, GB, Austria?)
Then I try my new theme on him “Isn’t a christian society interested in taking care of children and elderly?” (I live in the bible belt) he comes back with “It’s not the government’s job.” “Well then, who’s job is it?” I ask him. He doesn’t really have an answer so he shrugs. He works at the foundry and if he thinks he can take care of his extended family on that pay, or after he is injured or sick, he hasn’t thought it through.
So what’s the next level up if he can’t take care of his family? The church? Local society? Yeah, local society: we set up bank accounts all over the place for the drunken beer-brawl face reconstruction (true story) bills or the kid with leukemia. So many that we are numb, paying into these accounts.
If government builds roads and bridges, maintains (damn few) post offices (oh, no I forgot – they privatized that), prints money and defends our borders, why – oh -why – can’t we collectively help every one? What is so offensive about a safety net? What is so undemocratic about it?
I ended up shrugging and saying “OK, so I’m a socialist.” He smiled and drove away. How do you get through to people that it IS government’s job to organize society? I understand that they hate the thought of helping the meth-heads, or people of color, but how do you show them that THEY gain from this, too? When did government become evil? And why are all the people calling government evil in the government (or trying to get elected)?