DNC cartoon ad focuses debate on SS

Yesterday I added a link on the left column to the DNC's new cartoon ad. If you haven't checked it out, do so. It's pretty good. The Dems are finally starting to show some cojones, and it's great that the GOP is starting to get a taste of its own medicine.

The GOP is predictably outraged -- how could Democrats show "disrespect" to the President??? Dems are laughing it off. As MyDD notes:

This DNC cartoon ad is catchy. What's keen about it, is that it forces the Republicans into a debate about social security-- something they don't want to do (Iraq, Iraq, Iraq). The Democrats are moving the privatization rhetoric up a couple of notches nationwide on social security, forcing the Republicans to either let them get away with it, or enter into the debate. It comes right through in the DNC's response to the Republicans whining that the Democrats' Ad on Web Has Bush Mistreating Elderly:

"Do they think it's disrespectful?" she asked. "I don't think they were really worried about being respectful to the president when Clinton was in office. If they are objecting to the artwork and not the substance, that's a problem right there. We are trying to have people visualize in a humorous way the reality of the Social Security privatization plan." Told that the Republicans had found the presentation of the message objectionable, she responded: "It's a cartoon. Please."

The presentation is what pulls the Republicans into debate, putting the issue front and center.

I'm thinking the GOP should've just ignored the ad. Voters don't make a habit of visiting democrats.org in their daily surfing. And, most voters won't visit partisan blogs like this one. Had the GOP's Racicot just ignored the Flash ad, it would've been lost in the clutter and relegated to irrelevancy. By attacking the ad, as MyDD notes, it has just shifted the entire debate from Iraq and New Jersey to the Dems number one issue.

Posted October 04, 2002 12:22 PM | Comments (6)