Kerry should put out flip-flop ads on Bush.

[Renew Deal]

Bush is the flip-flopper in cheif. He has refined positions on all of the most important issues. The Kerry gang should hit him hard on this. I don't know why they haven't already, but they should do it ASAP. Bush is a joke. I am not sure why the Kerry people don't want to point that out.

[JI7]

1. maybe after the debates or during the debates expose it

[ropi]

2. exactly

I agree with what you are writing here Bleachers7. That's why I have put my posts in about the framing used by Bush and Cheney at the Republican Convention.

He showed in his article dated on 3 Sept 2004 that:

"Over the first three nights, the Republican speakers carefully crafted a tri-partite frame for George W. Bush's Thursday acceptance speech:

• Night 1: The Global War of Terror defines our lives and our generation.
• Night 2: With enough discipline, all Americans can pull themselves up by their bootstraps and become prosperous. Those girlie men have only themselves to blame.
• Night 3: Kerry is weak, unpatriotic, antimilitary, against national security, without resolve, soft-hearted, confused, and totally unfit to be commander-in-chief."


Then Lakoff shows:

"The code words from conservative Christianity are easy to decipher: 911 was God's test of our mettle. Did we have enough inner strength? The response in New York (led by Mayor Giuliani) and the courage of our military shows that we have so far. Our Nation is like every good person, every disciplined individual: it too can pull itself up by its bootstraps, "can achieve anything." The Resurrection of New York City signals the Resurrection of America in this election. God is calling to us "from beyond the stars to stand for freedom." To meet God's call, we must show our inner strength and resoluteness by voting for a leader with that character —not the flip-flopper, but George W. Bush!"


Kerry's team is going to have to work fast to learn about using the framing technique. It's sad that Lakoff's book (no I don't work for the publisher or Lakoff) is not published until sometime this month. They should get with him asap.


edit: quote added

[the Kelly Gang]

3. if they said it enough people would begin to believe flip-flop was

all about Bush

[goclark]

5. Leave off the flip and just tell the TRUTH-He is a FLOP

They should have said it LONG ago.

Flop on the war
Flop on the economy
Flop on Health Care
FLOP, FLOP, FLOP

It should not matter if you are a flip,that is the mark of an intelligent person when they gain additional information.

They need to pound it in that the problem is that when Bush FLIPS he really FLOPS.

That would not be hard at all for the No Doz American to understand.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

4. Like this one?

http://www.johnkerry.com/video/console.php?video=090504_immediate

[Renew Deal]

9. That one doesn't make the point I am making.

But it's a good ad.

[Kahuna]

10. Not like that one. That one is weak. Inthat it only highlights one..

point and is something that is just happening now as opposed to all the lies over the past three plus years.

[wtmusic]

6. No

It's tit for tat and still comes off as defensive.

Kerry should attack on his own terms.

[Sparkly]

7. Was it MoveOn that did a "Bush vs. Bush" ad? Or Jon Stewart?

It was a while ago -- Bush saying one thing then, Bush saying the opposite thing later.

That'd be a good ad, and the focus should be on his being a fake, a pretender, a phony, untrustworthy, selfish liar.

[Renew Deal]

12. It was a Daily Show skit.

It would need to be cut down. But that would be perfect.

[Kahuna]

8. Absolutely. Without FURTHER delay. The biggest mistake from

my POV was to let * label him as a "flip-flopper." If the Kerry campaign had been honest with themselves and done a real strengths and weaknesses assessment, they would have seen it coming. Heck! I said when Kerry began running that I couldn't support him because he would certainly be labeled, "wishy-washy." If I (and others on DU) could see it coming, why couldn't they???

A lot of people already had doubts about bush's honest. It's just incredible that they didn't effectively define bush as dishonest by pointing out what he says as opposed to what he actually does.

Bush who is the biggest liar and flip-flopper known to man has successfully defined Kerry as a "flip-flopper." It may even be to late for the Kerry campaign to begin to point this out. Voters may perceive it as a desperation move at this point and wonder why he is just pointing it out now. Still, we have nothing to lose.

[readmylips]

11. Big Whooper Ads ....

fighting the wrong country...is the biggest Whopper of this century, committed by bush...bush's war whopper.

[Snellius]

13. I wish they'd get the Jon Stewart crew to do some outright ridicule

Or Moore. The video record is full of clips of Bush himself handing out his own rope. My favorite to a hall of wealthy supporters: "Some call you the Elite, I call you my Base."

[John_H]

14. a CLASSIC example of the "old campaigns" letting Kerry down

they should have put those ads up the second the words flip and flop left rove's lips. Instead, they let the meme sink in, and unfortunately, it isn't going away.

[Kahuna]

17. Yep. "Old campaigns" is the key term here. NEW RULES...

When fighting the bushies. It's got to be no holds barred.

[liveoaktx]

15. A few video clips of Flip Flops to PASS ON

Have a mailing list? Send them links so they can WATCH.

Kerry on Olbermann
Kerry Points out Flip Flops

Jeanne Shaheen on Cspan
Shaheen 87 Bill Flip Flop

Maher on Tavis Smiley
Maher-Bush a bigger flip flopper

IF the media isn't or won't accurately portray Kerry, be the media at local levels/email/internet.

[BootinUp]

16. Wes Clark pounded on this in Tacoma, Wa

last week. I agree with you, we need a good attack ad to point out that the media image of Bush is bullshit. We need to raise these questions. I don't think Kerry needs to speak to it, but some of the more respected surrogates he has.

[kentuck]

18. Flip-flop has already been taken - maybe he could use "misleader"

"Misled" means to deceive and is an appropriate term to describe Bush. He misled on the war. He misled on the WMDs. He mislead on the threat to our country. He misled on the cost of the war. He misled on the cost of his Medicare "reform" which came in about $400 billion more just a few days after it was passed. He has misled on the unemployment figures. He has misled with his statements about the war on terrorism. He is a "misleader".

[Kahuna]

19. True. We can't use the same term. Also, "mislead" has a harsher

meaning to it than, "flip-flopper."

[kentuck]

21. But they would respond quickly....

So, I would suggest they come out with two waves of the ads - one with ads at small costs to get Repubs to spend their money responding - and then come with a second wave by spending a good amount after the Repubs have spent their response. :)

[Kahuna]

23. Riiiight. I've also believed that they should have been running...

two-thronged ads such as you described. I know it's costly. But I don't think they have been getting the bang for their bucks. An example is the "immediate ad." Where they are showing a clip from the RNC convention (good) about bush boasting about Medicare spending. The problem is it only addresses one recent issue which does not reach out to a broad segment of voters. I think the way this ad is done is a waste of resources. It could have been done better if it would have pointed out other issues of concern to voters other than seniors.

[liveoaktx]

20. Wny not? Remember the movie *In and Out*-

where everyone stands up and says *I'm gay".

We have seen REPEATEDLY where Bush steals the themes and buzzwords from Kerry's campaign to frame them the way HE wants to. I see no reason, since they are using flip flops, to use the exact same term with him. If we ALL, for example, starting using the term colloquially for every single person, it would lose any meaning and sting.

[BootinUp]

22. Well, a good effort to deunk Kerry's flip flop meme

Would include showing there is changes in policy positions by republicans all the time. I wouldn't spend a ton of money on it, but in the battleground states every little bit could help.