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With
less than one week to go until the nation elects a new president, the
desperation on the part of Al Gore’s camp is leading to some
distasteful and offensive ad tactics. Of course Gore supporters have their own complaints about a
recent pro-Republican ad, which has received more free airplay on the
networks than it ever did on paid slots. The
pro-Republican ad is the work of a previously unknown entity calling
itself “Aretino Industries.”
It mirrors the famous “Daisy” ad that Lyndon Johnson’s
campaign ran in 1964. The
original ad features a little girl plucking a flower. Her image fades into an atomic bomb exploding, and is meant
to suggest that Barry Goldwater, Johnson’s Republican opponent,
would act recklessly with his finger on the nuclear trigger. The
pro-GOP ad, as the original, was exaggerated and unnecessary, to be
sure, but Gore’s attacks range from viciously unfair to what can
only be called libel. And
the difference in the two sides’ reactions to the respective ads
reveals much about the current state of the two campaigns, and
ultimately, the character of the men seeking our vote. The
images in the two “Daisy” ads are similar, but the new ad’s
narrator talks about the Clinton/Gore administration giving nuclear
technology to China’s communist government in exchange for campaign
contributions, for which the Clinton/Gore administration has been
under investigation. So far, only four stations have actually run the
“Daisy II” ad at a cost of about a thousand dollars to Aretino
Industries. Still, the ad
was featured prominently on every news show and network. Meanwhile,
thanks to a $10 million dollar anonymous donation, the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People is running an ad
featuring James Byrd’s daughter.
Byrd was the black man who was dragged to death from a pick-up
truck by racists in Jasper, Texas.
His daughter, Renee Mullins talks about George W. Bush’s
“opposition” to hate crimes legislation.
"It was like my father was killed all over again,” she
says. Not only is
associating a Governor with the crimes of individuals who live in the
state he governs irrational, in this case it’s downright slanderous
and repulsive. The NAACP
should be ashamed of itself for running that ad, when a Texas court
has already sentenced two of the men involved in that brutal crime to
death, and the third to a life-sentence.
Substantively, it’s just not clear what additional
punishments the NAACP and Ms. Mullins would have the state of Texas
inflict on criminals like those who murdered her father. And
in the critical state of Michigan, the Democratic National Committee
is using automated phone systems to play a tape for thousands of
voters that seek to blame Governor Bush for yet another death.
"My husband passed away nearly four years ago from an illness
that his nursing home attendants failed to notice,” a woman says.
“He could be alive today if it weren't for the neglect he
experienced." The
woman seeks to blame Bush himself for a Texas bill that partially
deregulated nursing homes, as if not signing the legislation would
have somehow made the nursing home attendants more attentive to her
husband. Gore
has substantially more influence over which ads are run on his behalf
than Bush in these cases. One ad is being run by Gore’s own party and the other by
the NAACP, which has become, in essence, an arm of the Democratic
Party. Even Senator Bob
Kerrey, a Democrat, called the ad "offensive, divisive and
counterproductive."
The Gore campaign has refused to pull the ads, and insists that
blaming Governor Bush for these two deaths is fair and accurate. For their part,
the Bush camp made moves to address the “Daisy II” ad.
Bush spokeswoman Karen Hughes’ statement to reporters:
"Governor Bush condemns those types of anonymous attack ads.
Our campaign has called this morning -- our campaign political
strategist, Karl Rove, has called the individual who was quoted in the
newspaper about that ad and urged that group, whoever they are, to
pull down that ad." The
two situations are hardly equivalent, though.
The DNC and NAACP anti-Bush ads are far more ruthless and
prominent than the “Daisy II” ad.
Gore could easily make a phone call to the party he now
controls or the NAACP and request an end to the ads and taped phone
messages. Chances
are voters in swing “battleground” states have yet to see the end
of these desperate ad tactics from Gore and his supporters.
His whole life, Gore has toiled to achieve the most powerful
office in the world. He
has gone through numerous reinventions, taken credit for too many
achievements he wasn’t part of, mouthed too many falsehoods, and
traveled too far to stop now. Ever
since Gore was caught in one of what he euphemistically calls
“exaggerations” in the first debate, Bush supporters have been
fond of pointing out that when Gore is under pressure, he simply makes
things up. That alone is
a character flaw that should influence your decision to vote. But Gore’s current inability to deal with his fading
presidential aspirations is proof of his inability to lead our nation
for the next four years. © Mario H. Lopez, 2000
See our latest columns: View expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Political USA.
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