LOL, he does look a bit like an alien. ;-) I was wondering why they chose 19 states to run the ad in as well. I always question things a bit more when I see that number...
I wondered about the 19 states as well.
FWIW, I'm glad that August 19th is behind us. :-)
I would be curious to know the 19 specific states.
Did they pick the most populous states?
Or battleground states? (Not the same thing)
If the 19 states seriously overlap the 16-18 battleground states, then this is serious preemptive PR.
As you know well, Adnan Shukrijumah is a *Saudi* and may be leading the cell spearheading the attack that is underway. There will be serious blowback for the House of Saud if he succeeds.
They probably fear Kerry's already harsh rhetoric against the royal family will be validated and exponentially escalated after the next attack. And if the attack comes before November 2, the Saudi connection and a Kerry promise to "take the war where it should have gone to begin with because I am the one who really knows who the enemy is" would likely deliver the White House to the dems.
Even though I am pulling for the President, I don't want any foreign power, friendly or unfriendly, interfering in our electoral process - - even if it helps my guy. I understand how terrified they are of a backlash, but if they are taking out ad buys in swing states this close to the election, it looks and smells rotten.
They haven't done anything like this since right after 9/11, and I'm not sure how extensive that ad campaign was compared to this.
The ad buys are the week of the GOP convention.
I am concerned as to why their seeming alarm has provoked this possibly unprecedented ad buy during that particular time frame.
Radio is very cheap, so the dollar amount will be small compared to the campaign TV buys and will therefore reduce the scrutiny. But the states chosen for coverage is the key question.
And if an attack comes off, and some of the attackers were Saudi nationals, they will get lots of "earned media" (free coverage by news networks running stories on the ad)designed to insulate them from retaliation.
I don't think the House of Saud should be the next target anymore than the government of Pakistan, but they are on thin ice.
And this is equivalent to frantic tap dancing with steel-toed combat boots.