political ads at Brave New Films

TPMtv at Netroots Nation: Jeff Merkley

2008-07-19T08:44:20Z

Jeff Merkley

Worst. Poltical Ads. Ever!

2008-08-15T12:29:35Z

Tonight, Growth & Justice, an economic think tank, will hand out the awards for the worst political advertising in America. We'll bring you the winners of the non-partisan lampooning after they're announced. The UpTake's Mike McIntee gets a preview of some of the videos that are in the running from Growth & Justice President Dane Smith.

In our video preview we see examples of bad ads from the following categories: Improper Props, Guilt By Association, and Rated Sexxx. We also talk about ways to improve political advertising and how new media such as The UpTake may play a role in that.

There are many other categories and videos that will be seen tonight at the Pantages Theatre, 710 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis, MN and start at 8pm. The headliner of the event is veteran journalist Aaron Brown, formerly of CNN and currently the Walter Cronkite Professor of Journalism at Arizona State University.

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Email and the Patriot Act

2008-10-12T02:35:45Z

We ran this commercial in states that were closely contested between Republican and Democrats in 2004 and 2006. Unfortunately it still applies today! The Patriot Act is a bad deal. What good is a free country without civil liberties.

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Ouch

2008-01-12T20:23:20Z

Ads target top Dems during debate

WASHINGTON (CNN) - An association of doctors and nurses will air commercials criticizing the top three Democratic presidential candidates' health care plans during Wednesday night's debate.
The ads, paid for by the California Nurses Association, National Nurses Organizing Committee and Physicians for a National Health Plan, specifically target Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York and former Sen. John Edwards, D-North Carolina. They attack the candidates for including the option for Americans to choose their own private health insurance as part of their universal coverage plans.
"Being better than the Republicans on health care reform is simply not good enough," said Rose Ann DeMoro, Executive Director of CNA/NNOC. "All the candidates' proposals keep the insurance companies at the apex of power, and the health care industry uses their enormous wealth in lobbying and campaign contributions to corrupt the public debate."

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Blog comments used in attack ads

2008-01-12T20:22:18Z

Watch what you say, Commenters.

A Republican state legislator from Fairfax County has launched an attack ad on cable TV against his Democratic opponent that features unidentified, unverified quotes from a blog.

Unverifiable. That's always a good way to gain credibility.

The ad by Del. Timothy D. Hugo points to a new form of negative campaigning in which information for an attack ad is sourced to comments posted on the Internet instead of more authoritative sources such as news reports or public records.

Did you guys know you were that influential? And if you are, does that mean margaritas and disparaging remarks about Ryan Seacrest will make their way into attack ads? We can only hope so.

Raising Kaine, named after Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) but not connected to him, is a site where Democratic activists talk about Virginia politics. The site allows anyone to post an entry or comment on one, even anonymously, after registering.

Anyone? You mean, in America, anyone can comment on any given subject? Why, that's positively...democratic!! But, hey, just a durn minute, who says they can use us for their own political gain?

Lowell Feld, one of the founders of Raising Kaine, is calling on television stations to pull Hugo's ad, saying it misleads voters into thinking that Raising Kaine opposes Simmons.
Feld added that Hugo's ad signals "a dangerous precedent" that could affect all organizations that allow people to contribute anonymously to their Web sites.
"If someone is allowed to post on a blog, does that mean the organization is responsible and a political candidate can then source an ad to them?" Feld asked.

Wait, didn't I just say that? That's okay, you tell 'em, Lowell.

Here's the bottom line:

[S]everal people who study political advertising said Hugo's ad appears to violate a well-known standard in political campaigns that a charge against an opponent should be easy to verify.
"In political advertising, you always have to have a source, and that source has to be credible," said Sean T. O'Brien, executive director of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership.

Agreed. This guy Hugo is really grasping at straws.

Karen S. Johnson-Cartee, a political science professor at the University of Alabama who has written several books on negative television ads, said [...] "To me, it is like quoting graffiti off the underside of an underpass and using it in a political ad."

I take exception to that last part. I can personally attest to the fact that none of our commenters ever used spray paint.

They've nearly always limited their medium of choice to either lipstick or crayon. And for that we are grateful.

Democrat/Republican VI: Terror

2008-07-09T20:01:01Z

Republican and Democrat Fight the War on Terror!

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