The idea of Republicans using deceptive ads to exploit the war is not new. Many of us still chuckle remembering that the Bush campaign manipulated a photo of troops in uniform for one of their end-of-the-campaign commercials.
But as Slate’s John Dickerson discovered, the Republican National Committee has taken image manipulation one step further.
The RNC’s new Web video “Retreat and Defeat” starts with a flat-screen TV playing clips from Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, Sen. Barbara Boxer, and Sen. John Kerry. As they speak, a white flag waves over their faces while ominous music moans. Dean says the war in Iraq can’t be won; Boxer says withdrawal should start after the Iraqi election; and Kerry says U.S. soldiers shouldn’t be “terrorizing kids and children, you know, women.” Then the camera pans back, and we learn that we’ve been watching these clips over the shoulder of a U.S. soldier dressed in desert camouflage, his service rifle strapped to his back. Candy canes hang on the wall just above the screen, which flashes the message: “Our soldiers are watching and our enemies are too.”
Watching the ad, the RNC message has obviously been added to the screen the soldier is watching. But what was he really watching? The original picture, taken two years ago, shows him watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas. And Bill O’Reilly’s hysteria notwithstanding, Howard Dean wasn’t in that one.
As it turns out, of course, it’s hardly the most offensive part of the web video, which even Republicans have suggested be taken off the air. Dickerson summed up the problem nicely:
What neither party has done — until now — is inject the idea that the other party is undermining our troops overseas. The RNC is pimping a mute and unnamed soldier not just to defend the Iraq war but to imply that Democrats are white-handkerchief-waving cowards who want the United States to lose.
Out of context quotes and character assassination, just what we’ve come to expect from the RNC. It’s probably the party’s worst ad since the RNC insisted that Democrats would ban the Bible if elected to Congress.