Just a month ago, Bush committed himself to a positive, constructive agenda, free of negative campaigning.
“I’ll continue to work hard to unite the country. I don’t speak ill of anybody in the process here. I think if you went back and looked at my comments, you’ll see I don’t attack.” [emphasis added]
One month and a few discouraging polls later, Bush has reversed course. Never mind all that other stuff; that was before. Now it’s time to speak ill of people and start attacking.
Bush has unveiled two new TV ads to complement the widely-panned ads rolled out last week. Unlike the previous three, however, these ads target John Kerry — by name — for criticism.
While these ads don’t exploit the 9/11 attacks, and as such, probably won’t generate the same level of scrutiny as the last batch, there’s still plenty of things wrong with them.
* It’s incredibly early to go negative. I like to joke about the White House panicking over Bush’s recent political troubles, but I had no idea they were this nervous. Going negative and naming the opponent in early March? Rove & Co. must really be scared out of their minds.
* The ads are almost comically vacuous. The Bush campaign has unveiled a total of five very slick TV ads, but not one mentions a single accomplishment from this administration. Literally none. It’s almost hard to believe, but it’s true. The president is seeking a second term, but in creating ads, he can’t point to a single achievement. Amazing.
* The ads are factually incorrect. One of the spots argues that Kerry “wanted to delay defending America until the United Nations approved.” This is complete nonsense and an obvious lie. As Howard Dean never tired of saying, Kerry reluctantly backed the same war resolution that authorized Bush to go to war in the first place. So Bush’s ad is not only negative; it’s false.
* Does he really want to go there? One of the new ads, titled “Forward,” features Bush saying, “We can continue to work to create jobs, reform education and lower the cost of health care.” Is this some kind of bizarre joke? Let’s see, under Bush’s watch, we’ve seen the worst job loss in 70 years, his education plan has been universally criticized, and the cost of health care has grown as millions of Americans have joined the ranks of the uninsured. I’m not a high-paid advertising executive, but I kind of thought the idea behind campaign ads was to avoid one’s obvious weaknesses.
* The ads are racist. Say goodbye to the Arab-American vote, George. One of the new ads, titled “100 Days,” features a scary-looking, dark-skinned man intended to appear as a terrorist. As Ryan Lizza noted:
The ominous slow-motion footage comes about halfway through the 30-second ad. A female voiceover darkly warns about John Kerry’s agenda, charging, “On the war on terror: weaken the Patriot Act used to arrest terrorists and protect America.” On the left of the screen flash the words “John Kerry’s Plan.” On the bottom a red box warns, “Weaken Fight Against Terrorists.” If you look closely, on the right side of the screen you can see an airplane taking off.
The center of the screen is filled with three different rectangles of slow-motion video. In the top panel travelers at an airport study the arrivals and departures monitor. In the center panel there is a shadowed image of a person wearing a gas mask. And on the bottom there is a close-up of a swarthy, somewhat sinister-looking man with darting eyes who slowly turns toward the camera. He is clearly the terrorist in this scary montage.
The Bush campaign held a conference call for the press this afternoon to unveil the ads, and one reporter asked whether it was appropriate to use an Arab-American to depict a terrorist. Campaign aides said the actor in “100 Days” wasn’t Arab-American. One official on the call insisted it was just a “very generic” image.
No, it’s not. The Arab American Institute has already called on Bush to pull the ad and I can’t say I blame them. It’s obvious demagoguery.
For more, the Kerry campaign has a prepared a helpful fact check page to respond to Bush’s attacks.