It’s not at all bracing, doesn’t advance the conversation, is purely political and not about policy, dividing not uniting, not worth the attention of serious commentators, below his station, certainly going to be refuted by Polifact, and personally hurtful to a brave and thoughtful new voice, but Obama and the Democrats are going to make Paul Ryan pay for his plan to end Medicare:
“When Paul Ryan says his priority is to make sure, you know, he’s just being America’s accountant …,” Obama said in remarks taped through an open microphone by CBS reporter Mark Knoller, “this is the same guy that voted for two wars that were unpaid for, voted for the Bush tax cuts that were unpaid for, voted for the prescription drug bill that cost as much as my health care bill — but wasn’t paid for. So it’s not on the level. And we’ve got to keep on, you know, keep on shining a light on that.”
Then last week in California, Obama reacted almost with anger when asked to respond to pundits who credit Ryan with being bold and courageous in making the first detailed proposal to cut deficits.
“The Republican budget that was put forward I would say is fairly radical. I wouldn’t call it particularly courageous,” Obama said. “I do think Mr. Ryan is sincere. I think he’s a patriot. I think he wants to solve a real problem, which is our long-term deficit. But I think that what he and the other Republicans in the House of Representatives also want to do is change our social compact in a pretty fundamental way.”
That ad is fairly stupid and crappy, but ignore the low production values. It’s the 30 seconds of damning facts, easily expressed, that make it a compelling preview of coming attractions.
stuckinred
“fairly stupid and crappy”
Well, they know their audience.
RosiesDad
That has been the Republican messaging mainstay and it’s good to see that the Democrats are figuring it out.
Intellectual arguments don’t work for >80% of the voting public who aren’t engaged enough or just don’t care enough. (And it may very well be >90%)
Linda Featheringill
I like it.
Get the message out quickly, get it out often, and don’t turn loose.
Ryan is not the only guilty party, of course, and the rest of them should also be targeted.
And perhaps we could become slicker and more elegant as time goes on. :-)
Yevgraf (fka Michael)
We need a set of soundbite accusations along the lines of what GOPers used to great success 2002-2005. You remember all that – “Why do you hate America? Why do you want the troops to get killed by the terrorists? Why are you criticizing the Commander in Chief in time of war?”
Of course, it took grotesque overreach in the Schiavo case, the eventual realization that there was no real occupation plan for Iraq and the grotesque mismangement of Katrina to wake people the fuck up, but they had a couple of free years to run with.
EconWatcher
This should be like shooting fish in a barrel. Really.
If Ryan had offered a plan with just the deep budget cuts, that would be good material. But combining it with deep cuts in marginal rates for the richest, and then getting almost every House Republican to sign on? Wow.
Hermione Granger-Weasley
@Albus Percival Wulfric Brian mistermix Dumbledore
hmm…..maybe you are the real Dumbledore.
The “gritty” and “realistic” quality of the video clip is prolly a feature, not a bug. The deatheater base regards slick video messaging as an attempt by the “elite” wizards to scam them.
WereBear
May this prove to be just as unpopular as W’s attempt during his second term.
Ironically, this is the Republicans telling the truth about what they want to do. They’ll pay for that.
stuckinred
@EconWatcher: Yea and we don’t know of any “major party” that could fuck it up now do we?
nitpicker
My one sentence argument about the Ryan plan, “Just because Ryan got a shit sandwich to the table before Obama delivered a meatball sub doesn’t make Ryan a better cook and it certainly doesn’t mean we should eat it.”
suzanne
@Hermione Granger-Weasley:
Yes. We already know they’re threatened by decent graphic design. Hence Romneys Aquafresh monstrosity with the reprehensible kerning. And who could forget the “presidential seals” comment McCain made. The nerve of Obama, having a name that begins with an O.
Svensker
I think it’s great. More like this, please.
Brian R.
Works for me. Where can I send money to get these on the air?
Xantar
Because I play a media professional on TV, I already know that this ad is stupid and does not work. It doesn’t contain nearly enough movement to hold the attention of the average viewer. There’s too much text to read and we all know Real Murkins don’t read. I despair at the Democrats ever getting their act together.
SteveinSC
Not shrill enough for my tastes. They need to have that “mature” woman at the end smack the son-of-a-bitch in the face with a bedpan.
cleek
glad they’re fighting back.
but the election is so far away. i hope they keep up the fight for another 18 months.
OzoneR
@EconWatcher:
so you would think, but people are stupid
Villago Delenda Est
Yes, more like this. Short, factual, punchy, to the point.
If Republicans run on their actual intentions, they lose. Point out their actual intentions…steal from the poor, give to the rich.
Captain Howdy
Isn’t it way past time we retired the “phonograph needle scratch” noise from the discourse ?
Culture of Truth
You’ll know the Dems are winning when the GOP swarms your tv with complaints that the Dems are being mean and divisive
OzoneR
oh boy, I can’t wait to read how many things are wrong with this ad and how this proves how wimpy Democrats are.
Omnes Omnibus
@OzoneR: Okay, if, as you say, people are stupid, how does one get a message out that is more straightforward and clear than “Republicans want to fuck over medicare to fund tax cuts for the rich?” If you are saying that message is too complicated for Americans, then you are saying we should just give up. Is that what you are saying? To me, this ad has two main selling points; it is simple and it is true. I think it works.
rikryah
more of these crappy 2 by 4 ads smack dab in the middle of the forehead for the American populace please.
MTiffany
Strong until the end.
No, call Congressman Ryan and ask “Why do you want to kill grandma?” or “How much is Humana paying you for this?”
Hermione Granger-Weasley
@suzanne:
not threatened. Suspicious of. Slick production just screams hollywood elites to the deatheater base.
;)
cat48
GOP is going to try and change the Subject instead of debating the Merit of their Budget. Next week & all thru May……GAS is too expensive b/c Obama ______________ You can make up your own Horror that he has or has not done.
arguingwithsignposts
@Omnes Omnibus: Exactly, OO. Frank Fucking Luntz proves that there is a way to message the American public.
stuckinred
Huff has a story about a new one the dccc is releasing.
DCCC Video Says Republicans ‘Lied’ About Protecting Medicare
stuckinred
@Hermione Granger-Weasley: See what happens when you get some rest? You say relevant, lucid stuff, nice.
rikryah
it should be renamed VOUCHERCARE immediately.
Hermione Granger-Weasley
@stuckinred: I have not said anything anything untrue.
It was a fucking waste of spacetime for EDK and mistermix to devote TWO frontapage posts to a fucking libertarian asswipe that is anti-union, a racist, anti-Roe, and an AGW denialist and a tenther. They only did it to concern troll Obama on his anti-war chops.
And thass the facts, jack.
Don’t pet me. I’ll take your arm off at the elbow.
/grrrr
Why the fuck are half the front pagers here blatant Obama concern trolls?
WTF?
cat48
Wendell Potter, HuffHo says we underestimate what the Goopers have planned:
Citizen_X
@rikryah: Where’s the care?
I vote for VOUCHERDEATH.
THE
It doesn’t always need clever graphics:
The power of words.
h/t Barry Ritholz
aimai
@stuckinred:
I think they very deliberately choose an old woman’s voice, with a slight quaver. It remains to be seen whether its effective since those of us who are heading towards old woman-hood know that the first tones that men tune out are in the higher female registers–or at least thats what the doctors tell us when we refer our husbands to hearing specialists.
Also, I like riryah’s “Vouchercare” although I think we could come up with other even more damning things. How about “LifeTax” ? I was thinking about the ways that all this cost shifting–like demanding that seniors spend hours pouring over formularies, was a kind of life tax deducting hours from people’s lives for the benefit of insurance bait and switch.
Or just go right for the jugular and point out that the “real death panels are coming! show senior citizens sitting in front of insurance company executives who are saying “now we’ll be able to offer you insurance in just one moment. Can we see your current bank statements. And can you offer us proof that you have no pre-existing conditions? Here’s our sliding scale of costs. And here’s what we cover. With graphic images of the various things.
aimai
stuckinred
@Hermione Granger-Weasley: Sheeet, you ain’t takin nothin off nowhere. Amyway, what is space and how do you waste it?
Hermione Granger-Weasley
@cat48: that is why Obama needs a billion dollars in his campaign chest.
Hermione Granger-Weasley
@stuckinred: i said spacetime, not space.
Citizen_X
@cat48: Tell ’em to fucking bring it, then.
All I want for the Dems to do is punch back. They’re doing it? Great. They’re going to be the ones with the truth on their side in this fight. That’s one advantage you can’t fake.
BOSS BITCH
Ahem, before anyone else continues to trash (national) Democrats, this ad is from a PROGRESSIVE group.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/04/significant-new-progressive-ad-campaign-targets-republicans-for-voting-to-end-medicare.php
I’m just glad that outside groups are doing something other than sitting on the sidelines. good for them.
stuckinred
@Hermione Granger-Weasley: You went back and changed it!
aimai
I’m in moderation, and for why? I didn’t mention any dread words and no swearing, I swear.
Here’s the thing about the messaging–it almost doesn’t matter what the production values are of any given spot. Its the consistent, on time, delivery of the message from every possible venue and at every possible time that matters. If one message doesn’t hit the sweet spot for one set of viewers, another message will. The problem with the dems, historically, has been that they are all over the place with their messaging or they settle on one stupid thing (This was Kerry’s problem when I went door to door for him in NH. We were ordered to talk only about one thing when the voters clearly wanted to know what his plans were about a whole lot of things) and then they weakly defend it.
CUND Gulag had a great sample spot about “Family Values” in which the grandparents pull up in their RV in their children’s driveway and move in because they can’t come up with the extra 6000 dollars and each member of the family (father, mother, teenage kids) realize that their own way of life has gone down the tubes as the grandparents independence based on SS and medicare has dissapeared. YOu could do it beautifully or you could do it horribly, of course, but the question is will the dems do it at all?
aimai
aimai
Also, how about a Democratic version of the infamous Jesse Helms “white hands” ad. The one where “white hands” crumple up a letter because the white guy has been denied a job by some black guy somewhere. Instead you’d have “Old Hands”–shaky old woman’s hands crumple up the insurance letter that tells her that her husband’s hip replacement/heart operation has been canceled. Shift to old man sitting at the table laboriously doing his budgeting (a la WaPo real murkins shtick). He asks her if there’s any news from the insurance company and she calls back…Oh, honey, its bad news…
aimai
artem1s
@rikryah:
that’s actually a great idea and a perfect parody, tongue in cheek dog whistle that will appeal to both the wonkish younger voter AND fear based reactionary voters.
I like it. Or even better RyanNoCare. And make it sound like a really bad thing when you say it. use their own tried and trues against them.
Linda Featheringill
@stuckinred:
DCCC has some videos of ads targeting individual Republicans. You have to dig a little to find them. They aren’t as accessible as they should be.
Omnes Omnibus
@aimai: Worth pursuing, I think. I also wonder if an ad in which an elderly couple discusses medical treatment vs. being able to leave something for the kids would work. If handled well, I think that dilemma could hit home.
Edited for coherence.
Hermione Granger-Weasley
@stuckinred: no i didn’t. time travel to the past is impossible, foo’, because of closed form timecurves.
;)
stuckinred
@Linda Featheringill: Yea I saw that.
BOSS BITCH
Here is new video from the DCCC (hope they put it on TV)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8FM-tvstas&feature=player_embedded
Linda Featheringill
@Hermione Granger-Weasley:
Spacetime cannot be destroyed or created.
–Linda’s Law of Thermodynamics.
Cacti
Much more to the point than the cutesy, grandpa has to become a stripper ad.
More of this please.
Linda Featheringill
@BOSS BITCH:
Day-um. Cool. Like it.
Bulworth
Plans to provide universal health care coverage are “radical”. Plans to slash Medicaid and end Medicare as we know it are “bold”.
stuckinred
@BOSS BITCH: Sucky audio
Cacti
Don’t look now, but the “moderates” are already running for cover…
Susan Collins says she won’t vote for the Ryan budget.
ppcli
By all means, grant that he is a patriot and concede other feelgood but basically content-free labels. Makes the people who state or hint the opposite about Obama look bad. But he shouldn’t have conceded this, because the plan makes it clear that the deficit is an *excuse*. As Obama points out – this guy joined in with the drunken-sailor spending and tax cutting of the Bush administration, and then he offers a budget which, instead of actually *addressing* the deficit, delivers on a vision that the John Birch Society has been dreaming about since the New Deal of crushing Medicare and cutting taxes so low that effective social programs will be impossible. See also Walker’s union-busting.
This point cannot be hammered enough. These people claim to be concerned about the deficit. But they in fact are not. They created a situation where they could howl about a “spending crisis” in order to take the actions they have always wanted using the purported crisis as a smokescreen. But the tell is that their actions do nothing to address the crisis at all.
jinxtigr
Vouchercare. No doubt of it. None of the proposed alternatives are any good- ‘voucherdeath’ will never get taken up by the media though it might be a good protest rally chant, ‘ryannocare’ is too complicated and you can’t include a negative in a name like that, it gets overlooked and reads like ‘ryan cares’.
VOUCHERCARE. It’s a direct echo of ‘Obamacare’ using the primary concept that’s dead center in the argument. It’s exactly the right kind of inflammatory. Can’t you see media presenting their pet ‘false equivalence’ meme with the lead, “Obamacare versus Vouchercare? Some people say…”
Vouchercare.
Omnes Omnibus
@jinxtigr: Exactly this.
aimai
Well, there’s something I don’t like about vouchercare–its too indirect for me. There are a lot of people in this country who have been trained to react, pavlovianly, with liking for the word voucher since it has played such a huge part in the perennial left/right struggle over “choice” in schools. How about
“CutCare?” We have “Obamacare” which was itself a smear but the dems weren’t able to counter Obamacare with the ACA because it was too experience distant. What we need is hundreds of Democratic activists to agree on something really catchy, like “Throw Grandma From the Train Care” and just keep hammering it home. The first person, like Weiner, says it as a joke and then everyone after him repeats it “As some are saying CutCare is like “Throw Grandma From the Train Care.” I’d go farther, I’d say its forcing Grandma and Grandpa into a tightrope walk without a safety net…”
aimai
Omnes Omnibus
@aimai: Generally, our side has the nuance and explanations and the right has the bumpersticker friendly phrasing. It is reversed right now. I say take advantage of this fact and don’t over complicate anything. State simply, over and over again, that the Republicans want to end/cut medicare to pay for tax cuts for the super rich. Graft it onto every statement that Democratic politicians make for the next 18 months. Find one or two more issues that can be beaten like a drum and beat them like a drum as well.
aimai
Yeah, I agree Omnes Omnibus, soundbite them to death.
aimai
R-Jud
@jinxtigr: “CouponCare”.
catclub
I still like “abandoning Grandma to the tender mercies of the private insurance companies.”
OzoneR
@Omnes Omnibus:
what you think is straightforward and clear, does not necessarily mean it is to others. Working class voters who vote Republican often do knowing they want to fuck over Medicare and give the rich tax cuts, and they don’t care because since said Republican goes to church and their pastor approves, they must be doing it for a good reason.
rikryah
some suggestion for websites
Medicare
Vouchercare.com
GOPVouchercare.com
PaulRyanVouchercare.com
Medicarecoupons.com
and for the proposed Medicaid cuts
ThowMomAndDadOutTheNursingHome.com
evinfuilt
I’m sorry that our president either believes that or feels he has to say that. Without a fiscal “disaster” the Republicans have nothing to run on (not that they should be able to run on fiscal solvency judging by the last 30 years.)
Gut and Cut, thats what Ryan is doing, and its what the Republicans want. Heck, they’re quite happy to be kicked out of office every few years so they can blame the dems and gut and cut again.
licensed to kill time
Late to this thread, but I was thinking along the lines of “Maybecare”…maybe you’ll get it, maybe you won’t.
“The Republicans want to replace your guaranteed Medicare with Maybecare…are you willing to take that chance?”
Phoebe
Well “Paul Ryan looks like a nice young man” is a big fat hilarious lie.
He looks like that other creepy light eyed guy, Robert Chambers (The Preppie Killer!).