‘Progress for America’ is back

September 8, 2006

Long time readers may recall that the biggest TV ad campaign of the 2004 election didn’t come from either of the two presidential nominees, or MoveOn, or ACT. It came from a right-wing 527 group called [tag]Progress for America[/tag] Voter Fund. With two weeks to go before the election, PFA launched a $14.2 million ad buy on Bush’s behalf with a spot called “[tag]Ashley’s Story[/tag].”

PFA had spent the preceding months spending over $10 million on eight attack ads against Kerry, but for the last 14 days, the message was that voters should vote for Bush because he hugged Ashley Faulkner, then 15, who lost her mother on 9/11. Bush enfolded Ashley in his arms and offered her comfort — and PFA created a massive multimedia campaign about it. (The 527 used emails, automated phone calls, and 2.3 million brochures, in addition to TV ads.)

Now, Progress for America is back with a new campaign. It’s called “[tag]They Want To Kill Us[/tag].”

It’s almost the perfect ad for the Bush era.

First, it’s an appeal that’s based on entirely on trying to scare the bejeezus out of you. In this sense, it’s almost a parody — the ad itself is called, “They Want To Kill Us.” You can almost taste the desperation.

Second, if you disagree with PFA, then you’ve “forgotten the evil” of 9/11. If you’d remembered the evil, you’d think like the PFA does. It’s just logical, right?

I particularly liked the “cut and run in the Middle East” line, as if critics of the war believe the U.S. shouldn’t even be in Afghanistan. Not to mention the claim that we “narrowly escaped another 9/11,” except for the minor details about how we were nowhere near another 9/11.

Nevertheless, it’s good to know what the right is going to bring to the table this year. It’s not a surprise, of course, that the message will be demagoguery and mendacity, but I was curious exactly what it’d look like. Now we know.

Any chance an ad like this will work?

Cute bunch of lies. I particularly like their referencing of FISA as helping the cause- even though the issue with B*&h is that he is VIOLATING that law…

  • I wonder how long it would take for Bush to hug all the parents of people he has gotten killed?

    Mass fear doesn’t really seem to be a sustainable emotion. I don’t think the ads will convince anyone but the already convinced and even they will yawn slightly as they nod their heads.

  • “I wonder how long it would take for Bush to hug all the parents of people he has gotten killed?” – Dale

    I wonder how long it will be before Boy George II flees the country after 20 January 2009 because all the family members are knocking on his door demanding he explain why their parents/siblings/children had to die.

    Maybe he’ll make the mistake of fleeing to a country that will turn him over to the Hague 😉

  • What an unmitigated bag of bullshit. The really is laughable. I hope Jon Stewart does something with this. I don’t think it deserves a serious rebuttal.

  • Today’s opening discussion topic on C-Span’s “Washington Journal” was “Has / How has 9/11 Changed You Personally?” I was astounded by the number of people who called in on the “Support President Bush” line who sounded absolutely unhinged and debilitated by their fear of terrorists. The emotion in the voices of some of the callers was palpable and disturbing. One could have been forgiven for thinking that this show had been taped 5 months rather than 5 years after that terrible day. This ad will work for people whom Bush has managed to keep fearful for five years. These folks were in his camp already; they are the unwavering 33% (give or take). FEAR: the dear leader stokes ’em and strokes ’em with it. He feeds them poisonous fear and has them convinced he is the only antidote for it. How nice to know that our President isn’t happy unless he knows we are peeing our pants.

    Those of us for whom this ad plays like an Al Franken parody – or better yet Stephen Colbert’s “Road to WWIII” – can only hope that critical thinking is on the upswing among our fellow citizens. I’m not even sure this thing deserves rebuttal from Jon Stewart. It is that patently insulting.

  • As Leela says on Futurama: “I’m not even going to dignify that with an ass whooping.” Clearly the Repugs have nothing left to say except that they’re the “trigger-happy war party.” They are the personification of the old axiom: “When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.”

  • You know, I watched this thing and actually started laughing. It reminded me so much of that commercial with that ‘voice-over guy from the movies’ spicing up an ordinary housewife’s story that’s been running for a while.

    They’ve literally become a parody of themselves, and it’s truly, if unintentionally, hilarious.

  • The bombing today in Kabul blows a humvee-sized hole through this silliness. The “they” they refer to in “they want to kill us” is back on the upswing in Aghanistan due to the fact that the “them’ we are now killing are Iraqis who played no part in any terror acts. This ad throws another pitcher of right wing kool aid to the thirsty who are already trying their hardest to believe this. I just can’t believe any TV stations would run this crap. Sounds like another “Path to 9/11” campaign needs to be used to snuff this garbage out.

  • For their next act, they will superimpose Osama bin Laden on some footage from a Godzilla movie:

    Look out, he wants to kill us!

    Rrraaarrr! Death to America! [Stomp, stomp!]

    No it won’t work, unless the point is to make people laugh so hard they suffer brain damage from oxygen deprivation and this in turn affects the way they vote.

  • Doesn’t it make you just want to puke? I think from now on, our platform should be FREEDOM FROM FEAR, with the immortal words in the voice of FDR playing in the background, “we have nothing to fear but fear itself”.

  • Give these bums a big fat dose of their own vitriol. It’s simple:

    “The screen begins dark, and brightens slowly to show a flag-draped coffin. The background plays videotape from the burning Pentagon, the wreck of Flight 93, and the collapse of WTC One and Two. Gradually, people file into view—dust-covered, tattered people in military uniform; people in firefighting gear; people in business-wear, and a commercial pilot or two. Gathered around the flag-draped coffin, thay take turns making simple statements, or asking questions. Examples:

    Progress for America stands on our graves, lies to you, and thinks they’re being “good Americans.”

    George Bush knew about Osama bin Laden more than eight months before 9/11—and, as President, did nothing.

    We went to Iraq because of a lie.

    Why did we have to die? (If you want to get these clowns by the cojones, have one of the firefighters ask this question.)

    PFA will not go away on request. They are a cancer within the body of America—and you don’t prescribe aspirin and bestrest, when invasive surgery is called for.

    People—it’s time to break out the scalpels—and if you’ve a chainsaw, bring it along….

  • I think from now on, our platform should be FREEDOM FROM FEAR, with the immortal words in the voice of FDR playing in the background, “we have nothing to fear but fear itself”.
    Comment by crk

    Yes and the fearmongers themselves.

    Just musing: I wonder if George starts his “air assault” bike rides by saying, “Let’s roll.”

  • good one, Steve (no. 13).

    Dale: I wonder if George starts his “air assault” bike rides by saying, “Let’s roll.”

    LOL, i can see it. he prolly thinks it’s cute or witty or whatever the fuck he thinks he thinks.

    ‘air assault.’ ‘let’s roll.’ ‘i thought you were gonna ask about the pig.’ preznit’l seals on his buckles and boots. fuckin’ nametags on his jackets. a pillow w/o which he won’t sleep which he calls ‘pilly.’ the entire dry drunk bullshit. The Optimistic Rug. and on and on and on. Freud would have a field day w/him. i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again: all pres. candidates should have to pass an emotional maturity as well as other personality tests /before/ they’re nominated or whatever.

  • Somebody should make an ad with this ad running in the background and an announcer simply asking, “Aren’t you tired of hearing this same song over and over from the radical right wing? Of course we all know why they keep playing it. I mean, what else have they got? Republicans can’t run on their record so instead, they run on and on and on like a broken record, hoping they can scare you into voting for them again…”

    Hey, how about a special celebration of Republican scare tactics for Halloween this year!

  • The ad claims we destroyed Al Qaida in Afghanistan and Iraq. So why are we still fighting there? And why are we afraid?

  • ***Hey, how about a special celebration of Republican scare tactics for Halloween this year!***
    ——————————————————CalD

    I suppose I could get one of those life-sized cardboard props of Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld—and hang them in one of the big trees out front. Maybe it’ll scare the trick-or-treaters away. More candy for me….

  • Hey, how about a special celebration of Republican scare tactics for Halloween this year! CalD, @16

    Wonder if WalMart will carry Bush or (by pref) Cheney masks… Would love to open the door in one of those.

  • THE PEOPLE THAT DO NOT LIKE THIS AD WOULD HAVE BEEN LAMPSHADES DURING WORLD WAR II.

    PUSSIES, I WOULD NOT WANT TO HAVE AT MY BACK WHEN THE SHIT REALLY GETS BAD.

    THEY ARE LITTLE FASCIST NAZIS THAT ARE NOT BRIGHT ENOUGH TO COME OUT OF THE RAIN.

    BASIC ELITISTS THAT DO NOT EVEN KNOW THAT THEY ARE FACISTS.

    AND WHEN THE ISLAMIC FASCISTS COME FOR YOU, I WILL BE LAUGHING MY LOVING ASS OFF.

  • Wow, I’m amazed that some of you DO NOT think that radical islamists want to kill us. Can you truly say that anything in the ad is NOT true? You should be alert and responsible enough to realize that there are people in our great country that want to kill us. That doesn’t scare you? Maybe you need to go to the Middle East as you feel such compassion for these folks and such hate for our leaders. But if you stay here, go get a job and take some personal responsibility and quit relying on someone else to take of everyone. And it just kills you that Bush does what he says he’s going to do and has protected you for the last five years. You just hate that, don’t you? It’s seeping out of your pores and out your mouth. Where were you when Saddam was torturing people? Peel that Free Tibet bumper sticker off your car and realize that TERROR is the connection between ALL radical islamists. Who gives a rip if they all worked together or not? Think about it.

  • to #22

    I have no doubt that there are groups of terrorists that want to kill Americans. like you, i also want my government to do everything it can to stop their efforts before they can do anything.

    unlike you however, i am unwillingly to give up my constitutional rights. tracking the phone calls of all americans is illegal, inefficient and frankly, a lazy way to conduct counter-terrorism. that commericial presents signals intelligence such as that illegally conducted by the white house as the reason the “peroxide bombers” were caught. however, wide”dragnets” such as the NSA phonecall tracking had nothing to do with it. that plot was thrwated because a british spy infiltrated the group, found out the plot and broke it wide open. that is difficult to do and requires PLANNING AND THOUGHT (something the white house is not interested in). the british government did not have to track the calls and emails of the entire country to accomplish this task.

    finally i want to respond to what you consider the “liberal hatred of bush.” this is completely wrong. i do not hate bush, as a matter of fact i don’t even dislike him. i DISAGREE with him on many matters and i do not feel he is an effective president. i also feel that his administration has made some major errors and misjudgements.

    #22, i am getting tired of people like you who think that people that disagree with them obviously must “hate” them. it is further reflected in the above commercial with that idea that “if you dont support the war in iraq you clearly want terrorists to kill americans in the streets of the US.” that is a bogus argument.

    terrorists are bad and want to do bad things to the US. however, to combat them we do not need to violate the rights of the US citizens we are trying to protect. furthermore we do not need to start wars in countries unrelated to terrorism (iraq: for clarification see speeches by bush) and tie up our entire military in an unwinnable war.

    we combat terrorists using our brains, our money and our time. ultimately, we win by convincing the young generations of muslims that it is wrong to join the terrorists and that muslim culture will thrive and flourish under peace.

  • It’s easy to make fun of this clumsy ad. Worse, perhaps, if you are a parent, was that its violent images came as a sudden shock. People who watch CSI regularly or who have seen the dead Zarqawi image many times maybe werent bothered by this advertisement — but that group doesnt include me or my preschool children.

    So I complained to the FCC about this ad and its grotesque use of mangled corpses to score political points being shown during daytime (Saturday afternoon) family programming.

    ||||||||||||||

    FCC Form 475B
    Confirmation Number FORM475B:
    Obscene, Profane, and/or Indecent
    Material Complaint Form (filed online)

    Dear FCC Profanity Department:

    On the early afternoon of Saturday, September 16, 2006, my family and I were watching a live broadcast of the Ohio State football game—arguably one of the most popular televised events of year in Columbus. This program was broadcast on WSYX, our local ABC affiliate, between noon and 3:30.

    During a commercial break, my very young children (ages 4 and 2) were exposed to an actual close-up of a mangled corpse, with visible wounds and bloody nostrils. Thousands of children of football fans from Ohio were surely exposed to this image, which appeared suddenly and without warning.

    I hereby request that you consider taking action against the station and the sponsors of this grotesque, profane advertisement.

    The advertisement using a corpse to make a point during an election campaign was sponsored by a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization called Progress for America. The full video of the advertisement and the image of the corpse may be viewed at http://progressforamerica.org/index.shtml.

    While some may consider the dead face of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi worthy of printing in newspapers and broadcasting on evening programs, the FCC must not tolerate the use of such images in political commercials to be broadcast during family programming and popular sports events, especially given that no warning of the graphic nature of the advertisement is offered.

    Please pursue my complaint about this obscene, profane, indecent use of violent, disgusting imagery and inform me of the actions you choose to take.

    Sincerely,

    [[XXX]]
    cc: WSYX-TV

  • Buckeye Fan,
    My wife and I saw the same spot with our children!

    READ: It aired on WBNS 10TV, NOT WSYX, Channel 6.

    I called and emailed to complain to everyone I knew at the station and elsewhere. I also contacted the media placement firm (http://www.mentzermedia.com/), and am considering writing Ohio State Athletics.

    Please make sure you keep the blame on Channel 10 – not that 6 wouldn’t air it too! In fact, maybe they did during preshow. But Channel 10 definately aired it 2 times during the game.

    This spot CANNOT be aired at family hours. That’s just flat out dirty and low.

    Another Buckeye Fan in Columbus.

  • From Buckeye Fan #1

    Yep, my mistake. To clarify: on 9.16.06 the Progress for America “they want to kill usssss” ad was aired on WBNS (our Columbus local CBS affiliate), not as I originally stated, on WSYX-6. I corrected my complaint to the FCC; thanks for the correction.

    Next: on Wednesday, 9/20, the Dispatch (which owns WBNS) ran a news item and a column noting that 1) many people complained and 2) WBNS general manager Tom Griesdorn agreed it was too gruesome and promised not to run the ad before 9 p.m. any longer.

    Yesterday, Saturday, 9/23/06, IMMEDIATELY after the next week’s Buckeye game played — this time on WSYX, Channel 6 — this Sinclair Broadcast Group owned station played the ad, thus committing the same offense.

    Did WSYX miss the Dispatch’s reports about the flap? Did they not care? Did I by accident predict they would do what WBNS did?

    Next prediction: the whole issue will go away with nothing being done about it at all.

    PS the PFA website has a new ad up; maybe they’ll stick with that one instead.

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