"Do Ka-Ka!": ...3rd of 20 Buzzflash Editorials this month leading up

[Gloria]

to the Inauguration....

January 3, 2005

"Do Ka-Ka!": What the Democrats Have Never Learned from the Infamous Willie Horton Ad

Note: This January 3, 2005 BuzzFlash Editorial marks the third in 20 consecutive editorials BuzzFlash will be publishing through January 20th.

A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL

One of the greatest threats to democracy is the lack of historical context found in mainstream television news. In fact, news cycles turn over within 6-hour periods now. It's as though headline news, which is what most influences Americans today, is one giant eraser board that gets cleaned off at least three times a day.

For that reason, BuzzFlash has long made it one of our major goals to give historical background to how we arrived at this moment in time when political and national governmental "information" is conveyed to the American masses primarily through television image, branding, and headline slogans created by the White House.

But there is another key point to remember, which we have also mentioned many a time. Within a campaign cycle, negative ads, negative headlines and negative stories become blurred in the mind of many an American. In the 2004 campaign, the Kerry campaign made two crucial media mistakes: they failed to define Bush before Bush "defined" Kerry in a series of Spring "flip-flop" ads; and the Kerry campaign let the Swift Boat liars story get completely out of hand.

Democrats appear to fail again and again to understand the power of a defining image and negative caricature. Like television news, they appear to begin each campaign without incorporating lessons learned from previous ones.

MORE, including a joke about Dukakis that had Bush Sr. roaring with laughter...