When would you bring out the My Pet Goat TV ads?

[Chomskyite]

You know what I'm talking about. The ads that would show pictures of Bush listening to those kids in Sarasota read to him after Andy Card told him both towers were burning. The ads that show him frozen up while the clock ticks 7 minutes down and while people are jumping from the buildings.

Kerry can't be anywhere near them, of course. But one of our groups should have that ad locked and loaded.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. They should be out now

to show Bush as the liar he is.

[Warpy]

4. Nope, October

We don't want to give the smear team time to come up with excuses, do we?

[Seabiscuit]

23. NOW AND OCTOBER

Why wait? Pound the hell out of the media with those ads day in and day out through 11/2.

[liberalnurse]

2. The documentary, F911 was good enough for me.

The professional presentation had serious impact.

[Catfight]

3. Every night at 6pm. Right after a Bush commerical. n/t

[Chomskyite]

5. I'd bring them out in mid-October.

So that there's enough time for discussion to percolate through the culture. I really think very few Americans have seen this footage, despite its being the center of Fahrenheit 911.

[jeff30997]

6. They will never do it.

I'm afraid that they are not aggressive enough to do it.

[quaoar]

7. How about right after

the ad that shows Cheney testifying before a congressional committee and listing all trhe weapons systems he wants to cut or eliminate.

And how about right after the Bush Flip-Flop ad that has clips of Bush saying the war on terror is winnable, then it's unwinnable, then the next day it's winnable again.

[BillZBubb]

8. Last week in October.

Don't give them any time before the election to trot out the "he was weighing his options" or "gathering his thoughts" baloney.

I'd run them in every state where the polls showed +/- 4 percentage point or less differences.

I would also include a short preamble to the ad, where you see the back of Shrub's head, and an aide says, Mr. President, the CIA says that "Osama Bin Ladin is determined to strike inside the US soon. He will hijack airplanes and attack other targets. What do you want to do?" Then fade into the school room.

[DBoon]

11. I agree

This is a strong visceral attack. It must be done in the two weeks before the election - enough time to make sure it sinks in, and close enough to maintain its impact.

I'm afraid it would lose its impact if it ran for more than 2 weeks, and it would give Rove time to counter attack. Fewer than two weeks, it wouldn't have the same impact.

Personally, I'd prefer a split screen of Bush with the WTC in the other half of the scree, and a timeclock to empahsize these events are happening at the same time.

[BillZBubb]

15. Yep, the split screen is definitely the way to do the classroom.

The clock has to be done in such a way as to emphasize that seven minutes is a long time. I'm not sure how to convey that in a 30 second, or even a 60 second spot. I'm sure some good ad designers could do it.

I also like the idea on sounds from NYC in the background. No talking, except when Bush* is told we are under attack.

[DBoon]

17. Like the LBJ "girl picking flowers" ad

That I was too young to remember, but have read was incredibly powerful

[quaoar]

21. Daisy Girl

It only ran one time on one of the national networks. But the other networks picked it up and did stories about, just like what happened with the Swift Boat Liars' ad.

Daisy Girl showed a small girl in a field picking off the petals of a flower and counting. The screen suddenly freezes and you hear a military-type voice starting a countdown. When it gets to zero there is a nuclear detonation. And then you hear LBJ talking about peace,etc. He never mentions Goldwater.

But Goldwater went nuts and demanded equal time from the networks.

[Spinzonner]

20. I would be very concerned about shots of the WTC

People might focus on and relive their horror at that and not focus on Bush and the message. It's distracting.

And some other people might find it exploitive and crass and find it offensive. You might lose some people at the same time you're trying to get them.

The focus should be on Bush himself. People know what was happening and don't need to have it shoved at their faces again.

[aaronbees]

22. Exactly

I think something like that would work, though I agree with a poster below about showing the WTC. The ad has to hit hard at Bush's perceived strength, which is the handling of 9-11. He's been able to wrap himself up in that flag -- and Kerry needs to take it down.

[Chomskyite]

9. Maybe I'm overstating this

. . . but I think if this ad gets run, Bush wouldn't survive. It's more incendiary than five Willie Hortons.

[BillZBubb]

18. The image of Bush* sitting there frozen and in shock

Is incredibly powerful. Anyone who has ever seen someone frozen with fear will immediately recognize the look. Military people will know it.

To me it was the most damning moment in F911.

[Chomskyite]

27. And it isn't a petty attack

This goes straight to the heart of his competence to be president in an age of terror and in the age when weapons of mass destruction are available and proliferating quickly.

[Awsi Dooger]

31. Agreed, so this is one "negative" piece I support

Endless possibilities for voice-over sarcasm:

"The decisive leader of the free world sat motionless for 7 minutes, in the biggest crisis this nation faced since Pearl Harbor. Would YOU sit motionless for 7 minutes?"

The spot needs to run very late in October. All our ammo this year has been frontloaded to the spring and early summer, and therefore wasted. Fahrenheit 9/11 obviously had much more ability to depict time lapse than a 30 second to 1 minute commercial. But you probably need at least 15 seconds of soundless footage, focused squarely on our great leader and his clueless expression.

Of course, we will be assailed for exploiting 9/11.

[nikatnyte]

10. Even if they do run such an ad

the die-hard repugs will have some sort of rationale for Smirky's behavior. We've heard it already -- "He was formulating a response." "He was waiting for more information to become available." My favorite -- "He didn't want to frighten the children." Of course, anyone with any kind of a brain could see that for what it was -- a scared idiot suddenly realizing he was in over his head.

[DBoon]

12. The visual impact of a good commercial

Would just override any explanation (oops, rationalization...)

[Spinzonner]

19. The trouble with that explanation is

that he had already heard that the first tower had been hit. Did he just wipe that fact from his mind and have to start over mentally ?

And somehow the fact that he claimed to have seen the first plane hit needs to be introduced while no video of that was available until much later. It's goes to the credibility of statements and excuses they have made about his behavior at that time.

[Chomskyite]

25. Those sound idiotic, though.

Everybody has been in an emergency situation in their lives. Very few of us freeze up to that degree. We should expect better of our presidents.

[Nashyra]

32. They shoul close the ad

with "just trying to get out of harms way"

[goondogger]

13. Don't forget

the ad that shows * saying: OBL - wanted dead or alive, then later, "I don't know where he is and I don't care."

[Kahuna]

14. They shouldn't. What they should have done from the very beginning

is place ads that would show what a liar bush is. They should have labeled HIM the flip-flopper instead of the other way around. People already know about "My Pet Goat" and they don't care. Especially when the repukes can counter with an ad featuring Teresa saying, nobody can say what was going on in the president's mind. :puke:

[oasis]

16. Teresa can't speak for Bush. He's supposed to spring into action like

any "decisive" leader would do. And it's not like he can say there was no previous info on who it might be.

"My Pet Goat" punches a hole in Chimpy's "I'm in charge" image.

[Chomskyite]

24. People who've seen f-911 know about it

I can't tell you how many people I run into who have to have it explained to them and still don't believe me afterward.

[NightOwwl]

26. But a lot of those people who say they don't care

haven't seen the actual footage. And the excuse "I didn't want to scare the children" won't cut it when faced with the sight of him literally paralyzed by fright.

[RevCheesehead]

28. I'd rather see it on the Daily Show...in mid-October

"an obvious pandering to get out the Goat Vote"
"the sheep are fearful"
"sacrifices still to come"

[RevCheesehead]

29. to be followed with the sequel: My Pet Scape-Goat

[Curtis]

30. Funny I was just talking about this today

with my wife, Nellie. Here's my idea.

Start off with Bush saying that the only time he would would touch Social Security would be in the event of recession, war, or a national emergency.
Show the split screen
Zoom to the side with the people jumping from the towers
Have a voice over of Bush saying "Lucky me--I hit the trifecta!" (doesn't even have to be Bush but a sound alike or even just the words as reported in the media)
Then cut to the towers collapsing with the voice over asking, "can we afford for Bush to get lucky again?"

[tedoll78]

33. What the ad should include:

First, a timeline-->
It should be noted in the timeline the fact that he knew of the first plane crash before going into the classroom.
It should then be noted of when and what Card tells Bush.
It should then note how Bush sat there for 7 minutes and did nothing.
Then, it should show evidence that Bush went from the classroom to a 20-minute photo-op - all while knowing that the nation was under attack.

Next, the visual and audio portion of the commercial-->
At the beginning, we should see and hear the words: "George Bush. Was he really that strong a leader on the day of September 11th?"
It should show Bush sitting in the classroom for the entire commercial.
In a corner of the screen, newspaper and periodical quotations and titles can be shown as citation for the timeline's details, which are being narrated at the same time.
At the end, the screen of the commercial should fade to black; during this blackout, we should hear the voices of television anchors asking throughout the day, "Where is the President?" "We still haven't heard from the President?"

If we were to do this commercial with 10 days left in the campaign, we'd win. I'm that confident of it.