Posted on 09/07/2004 3:23:27 PM PDT by B-Chan
“Daisy” (:30)
Forty years ago today.
[FREEZE-FRAME; ZOOM to CHILD's pupil in time with voice of MAN]
MAN: Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero.
[CUT to long shot of exploding hydrogen bomb]
[SFX: Bomb explosion sounds]
PRESIDENT JOHNSON [VO]: These are the stakes: To make a world in which all of God's children can live, or to go into the darkness. We must either love each other, or we must die.
ANNOUNCER {VO]: Vote for President Johnson on November 3rd. The stakes are too high for you to stay home.
************
This is the advertisement that cost Senator Barry Goldwater the 1964 Presidential election, and in so doing arguably changed the course of United States history.
“Daisy” was produced by Doyle Dane Birnbach for the Democratic National Committee and broadcast on 4 September 1964.
Reminds me of the joke, "I was told that if I voted for Barry Goldwater we would get ourselves in a terrible war, and dang if they weren't right."
As I understand it, it was paid for once and shown repeatedly thereafter as "news," while people argued about it. A great deal of bang for the buck.
Course, I was pretty little at the time.
As someone who as a kid distributed campaign lit for AuH2o, I'd amend that to read that the ad was one of the reasons Barry lost. IMHO.
I think the most effective political ads have been the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads. Seriously. I can't think of ads that have been more effective in actually moving the numbers, Willie Horton included.
While that commercial certain worked well, especially since it was only paid for to be shown once but made the news all over the palce, Goldwater got his butt thuroughly trounced and it takes a lot more than one commercial to lose by 23% of the popular vote.
How about an ad with the scenes of the Terrorists with the Russian school children with a voice dub in of Kerry "Wrong War, Wrong time, Wrong..." and then Bush cuts in and says "I respectfully disagree and I approved this ad".
The most effective political advertisement in history... until these came along:
http://www2.swiftvets.com/index.php?topic=Ads
That this commercial could be made about Goldwater is why he lost the election in 1964. But the ad did indicate why he lost the election. The irony is the Democrat ended up doing what Goldwater was said to be planning and in a worse way, but alas that was how people felt at the time.
But, if you can get over the fact that it espoused a candidate who was anathema to conservatives, it was a great ad. It was the prototype of modern attack ads. I can admire the artistry even if I take exception to the message.
My favorite boss ever always told this joke: they told me that if I voted for Goldwater we'd be at war in Viet Nam inside a year... I did and they were right.
And who was responsible for this ad? Why, none other than far-left propaganda meister Bill Moyers. Thanks Bill, it's another reason you're a total sphincter.
My favorite boss ever always told this joke: they told me that if I voted for Goldwater we'd be at war in Viet Nam inside a year... I did and they were right
_________________________________________________________
Great story/line. VietNam is really a sad tale. We were on the right side of it, but had not be attacked. There were limits to what we would tolerate to keep others free.
This time it is a matter of self-defense. We let Afghanistan smolder and look what it got us. Now we have to make sure things are not out of control in Iraq for a good bit of time.
I don't think the ad cost Goldwater the election (and Miller - remember him? - what the h@ll ever happened to Miller)? The economy was in great shape and getting better, and LBJ was the incumbent. No one saw any reason to make a change. Johnson effectively campaigned on a platform of "let the good times roll for everyone," while Goldwater was telling everyone "beware, the forces of doom and darkness are nearly upon us." Daisy became a liberal icon later, and I think has taken on much more significance than it deserves as a factor in the election.
I was a junior high school (they had them in those days) "Youth For Goldwater" volunteer at the time. Vicious as the ad was, I do not think it in any sense cost Barry the election. Coming on the heels of the JFK assassination and LBJ taking advantage of the temporary liberal tilt of the voters, Goldwater never really had a chance. Much as we on the right loved him, he was not an effective campaigner in a country that did not appreciate straight talk. There was also the ad signed by 75 psychiatrists claiming that Goldwater was clinically insane. There was so much hysteria surrounding his nomination, you would have thought Kim Il Chung was running for President. The only states he carried were his home state of Arizona, plus five Southern states resentful of LBJ's various federal civil rights acts. The country was in love with big government at the time, to a degree unimaginable now.
Of course, Goldwater did not run in vain. It marked the start, rather than the end, of an evolving conservative takeover of the GOP. From the 30s onward, it had been pretty well under the thumb of what we would now call RINOs. Whatever complaints we have now, it was worse then. Even though in old age Goldwater began to drift ideologically (probably his Alzheimer's and liberal second wife pushed it along), there always has to be a soft spot for the pure, unadorned, completely honest Barry of 1964 vintage. AuH2O.
The saddest part to me is that we never fought it to win. Once you get in the war, right or wrong, you've got to fight it to win it. We spent 11 years dickin around in a country we eventually beat (at least got them to sign a treaty that had been on the table for 6 years) with just 2 weeks of bombing, if we'd have started with that level of resolve a lot of misery could have been avoided both here and in Viet Nam.
I even know a lot of liberal Arizonans that continued to respect Goldwater til the end. They disagreed with him about everything but admired his honesty and directness.
Ah yes, "Landslide" Lyndon. Scurrilous stories about the infamous Box 13 were required telling around our family dinner table.
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