Battle of the 527's

pegwinn

Top of the Food Chain
Apr 17, 2004
2,558
332
98
Texas
I won't see them because Texas is a Bush Lock. Someone let me know how they go..........

Liberal group unveils slew of anti-Bush ads
By Mark Memmott, USA TODAY
Fourteen new video ads from the liberal group MoveOn PAC are about to add to the debate about whether independent groups' commercials are poisoning politics.

Hack humor: Donal Logue as Jimmy The Cab Driver explains that if President Bush lets a logging company cut down trees, a forest fire couldn't burn them.
MoveOn PAC

Unveiled Tuesday night in New York, the 30-second videos are the work of artists including directors Rob Reiner, John Sayles and Benny Boom, musician Moby, comedians Margaret Cho and Al Franken, and actors Kevin Bacon, Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson.

MoveOn PAC plans to have at least a few of the ads run on television in key states. The first to go on TV, "Everybody," was written and directed by Boom. He's best known as a director of videos for such rap and hip-hop artists as P. Diddy, Lil' Kim and Nelly. The ad is to start airing Friday in a still-to-be-determined number of states.

"Everybody" follows a young African-American man who leads a group of his friends to a polling place. A white police officer stops them to ask, "What's the problem?" The young man replies, "No problem, we're here to vote." Neither Bush nor Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry is mentioned. "It's not an attack ad, it's an enlightenment piece," Boom said in an interview.

But most of the other videos end with the phrase "George Bush, he's not on our side." They will be posted on the group's moveonpac.org Web site at the rate of one or two a week. They're part of a "10 Weeks: Don't Get Mad, Get Even" push by MoveOn PAC to defeat President Bush. Which ones will also run on TV will be determined in coming weeks, says Laura Dawn, MoveOn PAC's event and cultural director.

The most memorable of the videos could be four starring "Jimmy the Cab Driver." Actor Donal Logue reprises a role he has played in MTV promos, as a maniacal New York City hack. Jimmy regales his passengers with his political opinions. In one, he talks about how he doesn't earn enough to take much advantage of tax cuts signed into law by Bush. "But I appreciate the gesture," Jimmy says of the cuts.

MoveOn PAC's videos follow weeks of controversy over the role played by ads produced by groups outside the presidential campaigns.

The debate grew with an ad paid for by a group calling itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The organization says that Kerry has lied about his military record and about the extent of atrocities committed by U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War. Kerry served with the U.S. Navy during that war, earning three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star.

Kerry responded with ads charging that the Bush-Cheney campaign is illegally allowing a "front group" to unjustifiably attack his military record. He also called on President Bush to denounce the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ad. Veterans who served with Kerry came forward to rebut the Swift Boat Veterans, who say they stand by their charges and that Bush has nothing to do with their campaign against Kerry.

Bush has not condemned that ad, but he has called on Kerry to denounce all so-called attack ads produced by groups independent of the campaigns or major parties. Steve Schmidt, a Bush-Cheney spokesman, said Tuesday that Kerry has "hid behind" tens of millions of dollars worth of independent groups' "attack ads" against Bush

Eli Pariser, MoveOn PAC's executive director, rejects Bush's criticism.

"They have no business criticizing anyone for running a negative campaign, given that they've run one of the most negative ad campaigns in history," he said.

Since early March, liberal groups such as the Media Fund and MoveOn PAC have spent about $40 million on anti-Bush ads. Spending by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and other anti-Kerry groups has so far totaled just a few million dollars.

A new conservative group called the November Fund announced Tuesday that it plans an ad campaign "to tell the truth about trial lawyers," including Sen. John Edwards.




Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-08-24-moveon-ads_x.htm
 

Forum List

Back
Top