Blog For Arizona

Club for Growth (of the Dean campaign)

I've watched Club for Growth's Iowa "sushi-eating" ad several times now and given it a chance to sink in. My initial reaction was disgust at the smear, but on reflection, I hope they pay to run the ad a whole bunch, because I think it actually helps Dean is several ways.

Here's the script:

Announcer off-screen: WHAT DO YOU THINK OF HOWARD DEAN’S PLANS TO RAISE TAXES ON FAMILIES BY NINETEEN HUNDRED DOLLARS A YEAR?

Husband: WHAT DO I THINK? WELL, I THINK HOWARD DEAN SHOULD TAKE HIS TAX HIKING, GOVERNMENT-EXPANDING, LATTE-DRINKING, SUSHI-EATING, VOLVO-DRIVING, NEW YORK TIMES-READING . . .

Wife: . . . BODY PIERCING, HOLLYWOOD-LOVING, LEFT-WING FREAK SHOW BACK TO VERMONT, WHERE IT BELONGS.

Husband: GOT IT?

The first and immediate reaction is disgust with it's harsh, narrow-minded, condescending, and self-satisfied tone. These aren't people whom I would want to know. They're assholes, frankly. I think this alone could turn the message around on the GOP for a lot of people.

Secondly, the ad fundamentally misses key facts about the demographic they are targeting. First, only 18% of Democrats think Dean is too liberal according the latest Time/CNN poll. So this whole message is going to sail right past most, leaving only a negative impression of the sponsor of the ad and the Bush Administration. Second, the country's culture is rapidly homogenizing and integrating new experiences and cuisine. Through the media and the marketing power of franchise chains and national brands, Iowans are much less likely to actually associate "LATTE-DRINKING, SUSHI-EATING, VOLVO-DRIVING, and NEW YORK TIMES-READING" with any specific demographic, except perhaps affluence in general, than they might have been a decade ago.

Next, the commercial insults those it trys to appeal to. With the shrewish, utterly dislikable, wife's sobriquet, "LEFT-WING FREAK SHOW," she effectively alienates every Democrat who hears it. Conservatives have so thoroughly identified Democrats with 'liberal' and 'left-wing' that using that terminology when trying to smear a Democrat to an audience of Democrats is counter-productive.

This 1,900 dollar figure is misleading and people know it. All they have to do is look at the their tax returns. The Club for Growth people destroy their credibility before they even get rolling.

Finally, the nail in the coffin is that "TAKE HIS TAX HIKING, GOVERNMENT-EXPANDING... " demonstrably applies far-more aptly to Bush than to Dean. Dean held down taxes, provided tax relief, and balanced 11 consectutive budgets in Vermont. Bush has expanded government spending more rapidly than any previous President in the last 60 years. He expanded discretionary spending by 34% in that last three years. His expenditures on Iraq, the GOP's accounting tricks, and off-budget spending swell that impressive figure even more. Bush is the darling of any Big Government lover. While Bush many have trimmed income tax slightly, his major cuts to capital gains, dividend income, and estate taxes benefitting only a small minority of wealthy Americans have dumped the costs of many government services into State and local governments, who have raised taxes enormously and incurred massive public debt along with the Federal government to continue operation. Those debts do not pay for themselves, taxpayer dollars will eventually have to pay them down. Bush is the real tax hiker for people like these two nitwits in the ad.

So, let's hope that Club for Growth keeps pouring their money into this ad, and others just as inept. The only growth they will inspire is in Dean's grassroots army.

Got it?

posted by Michael Bryan @ 1/12/2004 03:53:00 PM