(President) Bush Ad Uses Wolf Image to Attack Kerry

AP on Yahoo ^ | 10/22/04 | Liz Sidoti - AP

[NormsRevenge]

WASHINGTON - President Bush (news - web sites)'s campaign, using powerful imagery of prowling wolves, suggests in a new TV ad that the country under John Kerry (news - web sites) would be vulnerable to terrorists because "weakness attracts those who are waiting to do America harm."

Countering, Kerry's campaign accused the president of employing "the politics of fear" out of desperation.

Reminiscent of Ronald Reagan (news - web sites)'s Soviet "Bear" ad that was credited with helping frame the 1984 race, the commercial shows a dense forest from above. Scurrying is heard as the camera plunges deeper into the woods and pans sunlight-speckled trees. Shadows move through the brush before animals are seen amid the forest.

Then, the ad reveals the type of animal: A pack of wolves rest on a hill. As the commercial closes, the predators stir, moving toward the camera.

"In an increasingly dangerous world, even after the first terrorist attack on America, John Kerry and the liberals in Congress voted to slash America's intelligence budget by $6 billion," an ominous voice says in the ad. "Cuts so deep they would have weakened America's defenses. And weakness attracts those who are waiting to do America harm."

It implies that terrorists would take advantage of a Kerry presidency and the country could face another attack, which Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) have implied on the campaign trail. The vice president said last month the country was likely to be "hit again" if voters made the "wrong choice" in November.

The ad also seeks to make the case that Bush's opponent doesn't understand the threat terrorists pose to the United States and it attempts to undermine Kerry's credibility by portraying him as someone who shouldn't be trusted with keeping the country safe.

"It's certainly playing to fear," said Darrell West, a Brown University political scientist who studies campaign advertising. "It builds logically on other things they've been saying for months."

Kerry spokesman Chad Clanton accused Bush of trying to distract attention from his record. "These are desperate days for the Bush campaign with the president's job approval in the danger zone," he said.

The ad, Bush aides say, was created in the spring and was found to be highly effective in focus groups.

Voters in 14 states will see the ad, which also will run on national cable, starting Friday. Bush's campaign and the Republican National Committee (news - web sites) are spending roughly $15 million on TV commercials this week, and GOP officials say that sum is likely to be higher next week, the last one before Nov. 2.

Polls show Bush and Kerry in a tight race, and both campaigns are focusing on national security to try to gain ground. Bush is trying to persuade voters to stay the course in wartime by arguing change would put the country at risk. Kerry is seeking to make the case for change by claiming Bush has failed in the war on terror and in Iraq (news - web sites).

The ad's claim that Kerry proposed $6 billion in cuts to the intelligence budget after the first World Trade Center attack in 1993 lacks context.

Like other Senate Republicans and Democrats, Kerry sought reductions in intelligence spending after the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union. He sponsored an amendment in 1994 as part of a plan aimed at reducing huge federal deficits.

To reach the $6 billion figure, Bush's campaign previously has referenced a 1994 comment by Sen. Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz., in which he says "the Kerry amendment includes a $1 billion cut in fiscal year 1994 and $5 billion over the next five years from intelligence activities."

Bush's ad is modeled after one that was widely credited with framing Reagan's 1984 re-election race and helping the incumbent Republican bury Democratic challenger Walter Mondale.

Although that 30-second ad never mentioned Mondale, Communism or the Cold War, it used a menacing grizzly bear shuffling through a forest to represent the Soviet Union and asked: "Is it smart to be as strong as the bear — if there is a bear?"

[NormsRevenge]

FRench Attack Poodle Alert!!!

[Sockdologer]

Bush Ad Uses Wolf Image to Attack Kerry

Hey, at least it was a wolf IMAGE and not a real wolf ;)

[NormsRevenge]

Video image from a campaign ad for President Bush (news - web sites) released Friday, Oct. 22, 2004. President Bush's campaign, using powerful imagery of prowling wolves, suggests the country under John Kerry (news - web sites) would be vulnerable to terrorists in the new television ad that says 'weakness attracts those who are waiting to do America harm.' (AP Photo/Bush-Cheney 2004)

[Question Liberal Authority]

Kerry's campaign accused the president of employing "the politics of fear" out of desperation.

In which case, Kerry can sue for copyright infringement.

[Pikamax]

AP changed the headline

Bush Ad Hints Terrorists Want Kerry to Win
AP ^ | 10/22/04 | LIZ SIDOTI

[Cyclopean Squid]

I like it. It calls to mind the Reagan "Bear" ad from 1984 (you can check out a slew of ads from all candidates from 1952-present at livingroomcandidate.com). Let's hope this election mirrors that one in other ways too!

[NormsRevenge]

Thanks.

'AP changed the headline'

Imagine that. ;-)

Time for W to roast Kerry's toes.. lol

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Have not seen the Ad but sounds good. Should have something to link Trial Lawyers to the wolf image.

New book here:

Unholy Alliance

by David Horowitz
Hardcover - (September 2004) - $27.95

In this tour de force on the most important issue of our time, David Horowitz, confronts the paradox of how so many Americans, including the leadership of the Democratic Party, could turn against the War on Terror. He finds an answer in a political Left that shares a view of America as the “Great Satan” with America’s radical Islamic enemies. In a remarkable exploration of the “Mind of the Left,” Horowitz traces the evolution of American radicalism from its Communist past to its “anti-war” present. He then shows how this Left was able to turn the Democratic Party presidential campaign around and reshape its views on the War on Terror.

[5Madman2]

It would have been really good if somewhere in the ad, you saw a fleeting glimpse of a French Poodle running away

[NormsRevenge]

Thanks. I saw Saw David deliver a lecture about this a few days ago on CSPAM..

Unholy Alliance

Very powerful presentation to a George Washington student gathering, lots to digest about how we got to the mess we are in today in America and the world.

[NormsRevenge]

-Saw

[risk]

"These are desperate days for the Bush campaign with the president's job approval in the danger zone," he said.

They're desperate days for anyone who cares about America.

[jmaroneps37]

The ad's claim that Kerry proposed $6 billion in cuts to the intelligence budget after the first World Trade Center attack in 1993 lacks context.What context do you need when his bill was not supported by a single other senator. We had some really sick lefties back then but none of them joined him. Context, my ash!