On the back of yesterday's post concerning the management of political persona, here are some of the most vicious political attack ads ever committed to television.
Starting with one of the earliest and most famous, as Lyndon Johnson uses the 'Daisy Girl' to attack Barry Goldwater's more aggressive stance to the Cold War. The ad opens with a young girl innocently picking petals from a daisy, while Chris Schenkel's voice (which may have had somewhat of a 'southwestern' accent similar to Goldwater's) performs a countdown to zero. It then zooms in to an extreme close up of her eye before cutting to an image of a nuclear explosion! These people clearly put the 'b' in subtle.
How about the famous 'Wille Horton' ad from the rancorous 1988 presidential campaign? The ad begins with a simple statement of Vice President Bush's support of the death penalty. Then it starts describing the case of Willie Horton who was a black man convicted of murder. The ad continues to explain that Dukakis's prison furlough program (unsupervised weekend passes from prison) released Horton 10 times and on one of those furloughs, he kidnapped a young couple, stabbed the boy and "repeatedly" raped the girl. Then the ad ends with this line "Weekend passes for convicted criminals, Dukakis on crime." There is also the notorious 'Dukakis in the tank' effort released around the same time.
Less high profile but no less demented, Mark Barnett suggests Steve Kirby bought up the world's excess skin supplies to prevent burns victims from receiving the help that they need. George Allen accuses James Webb of abusing his position of leadership when he fingered all female naval academy veterans as being whores. The there's Vernon Robinson's Twilight Zone inspired assault on the modern world, where he randomly fires vitriolic verbal buckshot in the hope of catching stray gays and Mexicans.
The quality of an attack video can often be determined by what the attacker is doing during their endorsement at the end. They should either be performing a serviceable act (building a house in New Orleans) or holding a kid. The younger the better. Ideally, an attack ad would end with a politician pulling a baby from the birth canal. In this one it’s just Nancy Johnson sitting at her desk, alone, slowly creeping closer to death. Also, who’s more insulted by this ad: Chris Murphy, or drug users everywhere?
Lastly, the RNC batters Harold Ford Jr (again) with the slogan "he's just not right". You know, you go to one party at the Playboy Mansion and suddenly you’re being accused of liking Canada. Politics can be a cruel, cruel business.
Starting with one of the earliest and most famous, as Lyndon Johnson uses the 'Daisy Girl' to attack Barry Goldwater's more aggressive stance to the Cold War. The ad opens with a young girl innocently picking petals from a daisy, while Chris Schenkel's voice (which may have had somewhat of a 'southwestern' accent similar to Goldwater's) performs a countdown to zero. It then zooms in to an extreme close up of her eye before cutting to an image of a nuclear explosion! These people clearly put the 'b' in subtle.
How about the famous 'Wille Horton' ad from the rancorous 1988 presidential campaign? The ad begins with a simple statement of Vice President Bush's support of the death penalty. Then it starts describing the case of Willie Horton who was a black man convicted of murder. The ad continues to explain that Dukakis's prison furlough program (unsupervised weekend passes from prison) released Horton 10 times and on one of those furloughs, he kidnapped a young couple, stabbed the boy and "repeatedly" raped the girl. Then the ad ends with this line "Weekend passes for convicted criminals, Dukakis on crime." There is also the notorious 'Dukakis in the tank' effort released around the same time.
Less high profile but no less demented, Mark Barnett suggests Steve Kirby bought up the world's excess skin supplies to prevent burns victims from receiving the help that they need. George Allen accuses James Webb of abusing his position of leadership when he fingered all female naval academy veterans as being whores. The there's Vernon Robinson's Twilight Zone inspired assault on the modern world, where he randomly fires vitriolic verbal buckshot in the hope of catching stray gays and Mexicans.
The quality of an attack video can often be determined by what the attacker is doing during their endorsement at the end. They should either be performing a serviceable act (building a house in New Orleans) or holding a kid. The younger the better. Ideally, an attack ad would end with a politician pulling a baby from the birth canal. In this one it’s just Nancy Johnson sitting at her desk, alone, slowly creeping closer to death. Also, who’s more insulted by this ad: Chris Murphy, or drug users everywhere?
Lastly, the RNC batters Harold Ford Jr (again) with the slogan "he's just not right". You know, you go to one party at the Playboy Mansion and suddenly you’re being accused of liking Canada. Politics can be a cruel, cruel business.
