Yesterday I mentioned the substantive and political distortions made by the Republican National Committee in its new television commercial that has generated quite a bit of controversy.
It turns out, however, that the ad is misleading in yet another way.
The New York Times reported today that the GOP ad, which features excerpts from Bush’s State of the Union address, was digitally enhanced to correct the president’s verbal gaffes.
Specifically, the ad shows a video of Bush saying, “It would take one vial, one canister, one crate slipped into this country to bring a day of horror like none we have ever known.”
Except that’s not exactly what was said at the time. As the Times noted, Bush “became tongue-tied at an inopportune moment.” Between the words “one” and “vial,” Bush apparently lost his place and paused. Worse, when he tried to get back on track, he pronounced the “v” in “vial” as a “w.”
I’m not picking on Bush for flubbing the line. We all misspeak and I imagine it’s easy to make this kind of mistake when you read from a prepared text that someone else wrote.
That said, I think it’s inappropriate for the RNC to use technology to make it seem as if the mistake never happened. In the Republicans’ version of history (one might even call it “revisionist”), the pause is gone and the “v” actually sounds like one.
The Times reported that the GOP acknowledged the digital touch-up, saying the ad was edited “to ensure the best clarity.”
Clarity, of course, had nothing to do with it.
The change was originally discovered by Howard Dean’s presidential campaign (nice catch, guys) and was brought to the attention of the DNC who retrieved the tape for reporters.