MoveOn.org ad
Oct. 22nd, 2004 10:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thebratqueenI was completely offended back when Bush did his "looking for WMD under the couches" joke, so right now I am thrilled that somebody's doing an ad to call him on it.
I'm cutting and pasting this directly from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
boniblithe's LJ:
Dear MoveOn member,
With 12 days to go and a dead-heat race, it's time to pull out all the stops. Luckily, we've got a secret weapon -- a final television spot that tests better and sways more swing voters than almost any advertisement we've seen.
"He Just Doesn't Get It" was created by Win Back Respect and features their Band of Sisters, a courageous group of women whose family members served or died in Iraq and who are speaking out. It seizes on outrageous footage of President Bush joking about not being able to find the WMDs in Iraq, with a slide showing him looking under tables in the Oval Office. "My brother died in Baghdad on April 29th," Brooke Campbell says in the spot. "I watched President Bush make a joke, looking around for weapons of mass destruction. My brother died looking for weapons of mass destruction."
The ad is simple, powerful, and true, and it captures in 30 seconds what's wrong with George Bush's leadership. We need to get it on the air THIS WEEKEND -- we're aiming to air it for $1 million in the swing states where it can make the biggest difference. But we can't do that without your help. Can you help us raise $1 million today to put this ad in front of voters?
http://www.moveonpac.org/donate/doesntgetit.html
In the final days before the election, President Bush and his allies are getting desperate. Dick Cheney is telling voters that electing Kerry could put major cities at risk of obliteration by a nuclear bomb. Sinclair Broadcasting Corp. tried to pre-empt prime-time programming to air a special on the allegations of the Swift Boat veterans. After claiming that 527s were illegal and "shadowy," the Bush camp has now embraced them, and a new 527 called Progress for America is running an emotionally manipulative ad featuring George Bush hugging a 9/11 family member.
Out in the field, though, hundreds of thousands of volunteers are fighting back, through Leave No Voter Behind and a vast array of other get-out-the-vote programs. We're knocking on doors, making phone calls, and pounding the pavement to get out every last Kerry voter. You should join them if you can. But if you can't, helping to run this ad is one of the last, best ways to fight back and make an impact before the most important election of our life time.
You can give now at:
http://www.moveonpac.org/donate/doesntgetit.html
One of the reasons we think this ad is so effective is that the depiction of George Bush as smug and out of touch with reality rings true. And it's a theme that others are beginning to pick up on and amplify. On Monday, former Vice President Al Gore gave his "closing argument" in a passionate and powerful finale to his MoveOn speech series. The address focused on this same reality gap. Here's a short excerpt:
The President's aversion to doubt is sometimes interpreted as proof of the strength of his convictions. But in truth, it is nothing more than his refusal to even consider alternative opinions and conflicting evidence. The president ignores the warnings of his experts. He forbids any dissent. He is arrogantly out of touch with reality. He refuses to ever admit his mistakes. Which means that as long as he is our president, we are doomed to repeat them. It is beyond incompetence. It is recklessness that risks the safety and security of the American people.
How could a team so skilled in politics be so fumbling and incompetent when it comes to policy? The truth is that the same insularity and zeal that makes him effective at smash mouth politics, makes him terrible at governing. The Bush-Cheney administration is a rarity in American history, it is simultaneously dishonest and incompetent.
George Bush has neutralized Congressional accountability by intimidating the Republican leadership and transforming his majority into a true rubber stamp, unlike any that has ever before existed in our history. He has appointed judges who help insulate him from accountability in the courts. He has sidestepped the press by refusing to conduct the public's business openly.
There is now only one center of Constitutional power capable of holding George W. Bush accountable. Only we, the voters, can take our country back.
You can read the whole speech at:
http://moveonpac.org/gore5/
We have 12 days left to hold George Bush accountable. Everything you've done so far has set the stage for victory -- we wouldn't be neck-and-neck right now if it weren't for you. The end of the Bush Administration is within sight. And if we all push hard for 12 more days, we'll elect a new President on November 2nd.
Sincerely,
--Adam, Eli, Hannah, James, Laura, and the whole MoveOn PAC Team
October 21st, 2004
P.S. Brooke Campbell and the Band of Sisters are traveling the swing states, talking about the war in Iraq and their loved ones. For more information about the sisters, their tour, and their other projects, you can check out their website at:
http://www.sistersspeakout.com/
Ms. Campbell got involved with the Band of Sisters after she wrote a very powerful open letter following the Republican National Convention. Here's that letter, in its entirety:
To Whom it May Concern,
I found out that my brother, Sergeant Ryan M. Campbell, was dead during a graduate seminar at Emory University on April 29, 2004. Immediately after a uniformed officer knocked at my mother's door to deliver the message that broke her heart, she called me on my cell phone. She could say nothing but "He's gone." I could say nothing but "No." Over and over again we chanted this refrain to each other over the phone as I made my way across the country to hold her as she wept.
I had made the very same trip in February, cutting classes to spend my brother's two weeks' leave from Baghdad with him. Little did I know then that the next time I saw him would be at Arlington National Cemetery. During those days in February, my brother shared with me his fear, his disillusionment, and his anger. "We had all been led to believe that Iraq posed a serious threat to America as well as its surrounding nations," he said. "We invaded expecting to find weapons of mass destruction and a much more prepared and well-trained Republican Guard waiting for us. It is now a year later, and alas, no weapons of mass destruction or any other real threat, for that matter."
Ryan was scheduled to complete his one-year assignment to Iraq on April 25. But on April 11, he emailed me to let me know not to expect him in Atlanta for a May visit, because his tour of duty had been involuntarily extended. "Just do me one big favor, ok?" he wrote. "Don't vote for Bush. No. Just don't do it. I would not be happy with you."
Last night, I listened to George W. Bush's live, televised speech at the Republican National Convention. He spoke to me and my family when he announced, "I have met with parents and wives and husbands who have received a folded flag, and said a final goodbye to a soldier they loved. I am awed that so many have used those meetings to say that I am in their prayers and to offer encouragement to me. Where does strength like that come from? How can people so burdened with sorrow also feel such pride? It is because they know their loved one was last seen doing good. Because they know that liberty was precious to the one they lost. And in those military families, I have seen the character of a great nation: decent, and idealistic, and strong."
This is my reply: Mr. President, I know that you probably still "don't do body counts," so you may not know that almost one thousand U.S. troops have died doing what you told them they had to do to protect America. Ryan was Number 832. Liberty was, indeed, precious to the one I lost-- so precious that he would rather have gone to prison than back to Iraq in February. Like you, I don't know where the strength for "such pride" on the part of people "so burdened with sorrow" comes from; maybe I spent it all holding my mother as she wept. I last saw my loved one at the Kansas City airport, staring after me as I walked away. I could see April 29 written on his sad, sand-chapped and sunburned face. I could see that he desperately wanted to believe that if he died, it would be while "doing good," as you put it. He wanted us to be able to be proud of him. Mr. President, you gave me and my mother a folded flag instead of the beautiful boy who called us "Moms" and "Brookster." But worse than that, you sold my little brother a bill of goods. Not only did you cheat him of a long meaningful life, but you cheated him of a meaningful death. You are in my prayers, Mr. President, because I think that you need them more than anyone on the face of the planet. But you will never get my vote.
So to whom it may concern: Don't vote for Bush. No. Just don't do it. I would not be happy with you.
Sincerely,
Brooke M. Campbell
Atlanta, GA
PAID FOR BY MOVEON PAC www.moveonpac.org
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
I'm cutting and pasting this directly from
boniblithe's LJ:Dear MoveOn member,
With 12 days to go and a dead-heat race, it's time to pull out all the stops. Luckily, we've got a secret weapon -- a final television spot that tests better and sways more swing voters than almost any advertisement we've seen.
"He Just Doesn't Get It" was created by Win Back Respect and features their Band of Sisters, a courageous group of women whose family members served or died in Iraq and who are speaking out. It seizes on outrageous footage of President Bush joking about not being able to find the WMDs in Iraq, with a slide showing him looking under tables in the Oval Office. "My brother died in Baghdad on April 29th," Brooke Campbell says in the spot. "I watched President Bush make a joke, looking around for weapons of mass destruction. My brother died looking for weapons of mass destruction."
The ad is simple, powerful, and true, and it captures in 30 seconds what's wrong with George Bush's leadership. We need to get it on the air THIS WEEKEND -- we're aiming to air it for $1 million in the swing states where it can make the biggest difference. But we can't do that without your help. Can you help us raise $1 million today to put this ad in front of voters?
http://www.moveonpac.org/donate/doesntgetit.html
In the final days before the election, President Bush and his allies are getting desperate. Dick Cheney is telling voters that electing Kerry could put major cities at risk of obliteration by a nuclear bomb. Sinclair Broadcasting Corp. tried to pre-empt prime-time programming to air a special on the allegations of the Swift Boat veterans. After claiming that 527s were illegal and "shadowy," the Bush camp has now embraced them, and a new 527 called Progress for America is running an emotionally manipulative ad featuring George Bush hugging a 9/11 family member.
Out in the field, though, hundreds of thousands of volunteers are fighting back, through Leave No Voter Behind and a vast array of other get-out-the-vote programs. We're knocking on doors, making phone calls, and pounding the pavement to get out every last Kerry voter. You should join them if you can. But if you can't, helping to run this ad is one of the last, best ways to fight back and make an impact before the most important election of our life time.
You can give now at:
http://www.moveonpac.org/donate/doesntgetit.html
One of the reasons we think this ad is so effective is that the depiction of George Bush as smug and out of touch with reality rings true. And it's a theme that others are beginning to pick up on and amplify. On Monday, former Vice President Al Gore gave his "closing argument" in a passionate and powerful finale to his MoveOn speech series. The address focused on this same reality gap. Here's a short excerpt:
The President's aversion to doubt is sometimes interpreted as proof of the strength of his convictions. But in truth, it is nothing more than his refusal to even consider alternative opinions and conflicting evidence. The president ignores the warnings of his experts. He forbids any dissent. He is arrogantly out of touch with reality. He refuses to ever admit his mistakes. Which means that as long as he is our president, we are doomed to repeat them. It is beyond incompetence. It is recklessness that risks the safety and security of the American people.
How could a team so skilled in politics be so fumbling and incompetent when it comes to policy? The truth is that the same insularity and zeal that makes him effective at smash mouth politics, makes him terrible at governing. The Bush-Cheney administration is a rarity in American history, it is simultaneously dishonest and incompetent.
George Bush has neutralized Congressional accountability by intimidating the Republican leadership and transforming his majority into a true rubber stamp, unlike any that has ever before existed in our history. He has appointed judges who help insulate him from accountability in the courts. He has sidestepped the press by refusing to conduct the public's business openly.
There is now only one center of Constitutional power capable of holding George W. Bush accountable. Only we, the voters, can take our country back.
You can read the whole speech at:
http://moveonpac.org/gore5/
We have 12 days left to hold George Bush accountable. Everything you've done so far has set the stage for victory -- we wouldn't be neck-and-neck right now if it weren't for you. The end of the Bush Administration is within sight. And if we all push hard for 12 more days, we'll elect a new President on November 2nd.
Sincerely,
--Adam, Eli, Hannah, James, Laura, and the whole MoveOn PAC Team
October 21st, 2004
P.S. Brooke Campbell and the Band of Sisters are traveling the swing states, talking about the war in Iraq and their loved ones. For more information about the sisters, their tour, and their other projects, you can check out their website at:
http://www.sistersspeakout.com/
Ms. Campbell got involved with the Band of Sisters after she wrote a very powerful open letter following the Republican National Convention. Here's that letter, in its entirety:
To Whom it May Concern,
I found out that my brother, Sergeant Ryan M. Campbell, was dead during a graduate seminar at Emory University on April 29, 2004. Immediately after a uniformed officer knocked at my mother's door to deliver the message that broke her heart, she called me on my cell phone. She could say nothing but "He's gone." I could say nothing but "No." Over and over again we chanted this refrain to each other over the phone as I made my way across the country to hold her as she wept.
I had made the very same trip in February, cutting classes to spend my brother's two weeks' leave from Baghdad with him. Little did I know then that the next time I saw him would be at Arlington National Cemetery. During those days in February, my brother shared with me his fear, his disillusionment, and his anger. "We had all been led to believe that Iraq posed a serious threat to America as well as its surrounding nations," he said. "We invaded expecting to find weapons of mass destruction and a much more prepared and well-trained Republican Guard waiting for us. It is now a year later, and alas, no weapons of mass destruction or any other real threat, for that matter."
Ryan was scheduled to complete his one-year assignment to Iraq on April 25. But on April 11, he emailed me to let me know not to expect him in Atlanta for a May visit, because his tour of duty had been involuntarily extended. "Just do me one big favor, ok?" he wrote. "Don't vote for Bush. No. Just don't do it. I would not be happy with you."
Last night, I listened to George W. Bush's live, televised speech at the Republican National Convention. He spoke to me and my family when he announced, "I have met with parents and wives and husbands who have received a folded flag, and said a final goodbye to a soldier they loved. I am awed that so many have used those meetings to say that I am in their prayers and to offer encouragement to me. Where does strength like that come from? How can people so burdened with sorrow also feel such pride? It is because they know their loved one was last seen doing good. Because they know that liberty was precious to the one they lost. And in those military families, I have seen the character of a great nation: decent, and idealistic, and strong."
This is my reply: Mr. President, I know that you probably still "don't do body counts," so you may not know that almost one thousand U.S. troops have died doing what you told them they had to do to protect America. Ryan was Number 832. Liberty was, indeed, precious to the one I lost-- so precious that he would rather have gone to prison than back to Iraq in February. Like you, I don't know where the strength for "such pride" on the part of people "so burdened with sorrow" comes from; maybe I spent it all holding my mother as she wept. I last saw my loved one at the Kansas City airport, staring after me as I walked away. I could see April 29 written on his sad, sand-chapped and sunburned face. I could see that he desperately wanted to believe that if he died, it would be while "doing good," as you put it. He wanted us to be able to be proud of him. Mr. President, you gave me and my mother a folded flag instead of the beautiful boy who called us "Moms" and "Brookster." But worse than that, you sold my little brother a bill of goods. Not only did you cheat him of a long meaningful life, but you cheated him of a meaningful death. You are in my prayers, Mr. President, because I think that you need them more than anyone on the face of the planet. But you will never get my vote.
So to whom it may concern: Don't vote for Bush. No. Just don't do it. I would not be happy with you.
Sincerely,
Brooke M. Campbell
Atlanta, GA
PAID FOR BY MOVEON PAC www.moveonpac.org
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
