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Barack Obama's "Mad World"
By Feddie Posted in 2008 | Abortion | Barack Obama | Born Alive Infants Protection Act — Comments (36) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Dear Senator McCain, this is the kind of ad you might want to consider running againt Senator Obama this Fall:
Warning: There are some graphic images in the video.
(LvCJ)
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Barack Obama's "Mad World" 36 Comments (0 topical, 36 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
The truth hurts, doesn't it?
by scottbomb
"graphic images...beyond the pale"
Yes, the murder of innocent children is graphic indeed. It's always easier to bury your head in the sand.
Click here for more.
Well, yes it does
by Dan McLaughlin
the goal, though, in running campaign ads is not to hurt people but to get them to vote for McCain.
"No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong." - Winston Churchill
You're absolutely right.
by Caiwyn
You're absolutely right. The truth does hurt.
Do you think hurting people is an effective way to persuade them?
Make no mistake, you have an ad right here that can actually turn pro-life voters away, because most pro-life voters also believe that people ought to conduct themselves with dignity and restraint. This ad displays neither, and your link is no better.
I agree
by Mattpat11
I agree totally. Running an ad like that is preaching to the choir who would vote against Obama regardless. But attaching McCain to using those images will put off more middle of the roaders than it will attract.
Talk about it, explain what it is, tell them Obama's position, but don't use those images.
Or just ask the question
by SteveLA
Here's the history of the bill, here's your votes on it Senator Obama.
This is what the bill would stop, you might even go slightly graphic, but in a cold "here are the facts" kind of way.
Senator Obama, why did you vote against this legislation? How do you square that with your belief system?
Senator McCain, why have you voted in the past for this legislation. Care to state why you voted the way you did and how your votes reflect your belief system?
You can talk about this as an issue, but take on Senator Obama on the specifics of the issue and on his record of votes without all the other material that makes the point that it's a horrible thing. I think everyone gets that point, it then comes down to what a politician's voting record is on the issue tells the voter about what Senator Obama really believes.
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Proud member of the Barry Goldwater wing of the party !
Who are you selling to?
by SteveLA
Feddie
If you're selling to the single issue anti abortion voter, this is a great piece. It states the objections of folks who are completely and absolutely against abortion, and rather graphically. They are not going to vote for any Democrat by the way. Maybe stay home, but sure not going to be voting D.
If you're going after moderates, independents, Reagan Democrats and people who generally don't like abortion but are not hard core on the issue, well this advertisement fails miserably. Matter of fact it probably backfires to some extent with those who agree that abortion is bad and would like to see more incremental restrictions, but do not see eye to eye with your cause because it is such a hard hitting and in your face advertisement.
It's about as subtle as a jack hammer.
Nice music though.
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Proud member of the Barry Goldwater wing of the party !
Effective for limited use
by Dan McLaughlin
I agree with SteveLA. Graphic images have generally not succeeded in convincing people who do not want to be convinced to be pro-life. The goal here, the reason for stressing this rather than just his overall abortion record, is to hit the moderates who would find legal abortion OK but think opposing this bill beyond the pale.
This ad would be great for narrowcasting to conservative Christians who are tempted by Obama's warm fuzziness - and yes, such people are out there. Show this in church halls and on religious programming, coming from sources not affiliated with the campaign.
I still think the sale on this particular issue needs to be closed by Huck in a prime-time convention speech.
"No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong." - Winston Churchill
5 5 5 It will also energize the base to get to work
by Joliphant
Getting McCain elected.
Makes me want to canvas.
______________________________
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
Huck making a sale?
by SteveLA
Dan
Huck making a sale at the Republican conviction, I doubt it. There's really two factions within the Republican party on this topic.
Absolute Pro Life full stop.
Abortions are bad, but incrementally slowing down and adding restrictions and speed bumps along with parental notification laws are the way to reduce abortion on demand. The incremental approach in short.
Both groups probably agree on ending late term abortions, but the question would be 100 % or 90+% with under real medically peer reviewed life of the mother exceptions.
Huck will preach to the first group, and the second group will politely clap respectfully disagreeing with HLA, Constitutional amendments and all the rest of Huck's and the absolute pro life agenda.
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Proud member of the Barry Goldwater wing of the party !
Not if he does it right
by Dan McLaughlin
I'll probably do a post later on how, but I think he could do it like nobody's business. It doesn't have to be done in terms of stuff like the HLA.
"No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong." - Winston Churchill
It's one of those issues
by SteveLA
Dan
I think abortion is one of those issues where no amount of pulpit time is going to convert those of us who don't see the issue in the same way the hard core pro-life folks do.
We'll just have to respectfully disagree on the extent to which we are willing to support the push, as a political matter, the Federal regulation of abortion. What's fine for the people of SD may not be fine for the people of CA, NY or other places.
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Proud member of the Barry Goldwater wing of the party !
Right is in the eye of the beholder
by Jill1066
I'm with SteveLA. We'll have to agree to disagree on this matter. Graphic images annoy people because they don't want to look at them. I donate every year to the Humane Society and the ASPCA, but I skim quickly through their newsletters because I don't want to see or read about the gruesome animal cruelty cases. If there's something on the cover that I can't skip, I get disgusted and pitch the whole thing.
Pro-life Republicans and Democrats will respond if the issue is framed in just about any way. Pro-choice moderates will respond if it's phrased in a reasonable way that suggests this isn't about abortion but rather about infanticide.
conviction/convention I know it was a slip
by David Hinz
but HEY, we're NOT Democrats!
Darn it
by SteveLA
Dan
Sorry, do that all the time.
On your comment about Democrats, don't be so surprised if I tell you that there are many Democrats who are Pro-Life, and quite a few more who are in favor of incremental restraint.
Going back to this advertisement, the actual subject of the blog, hard core from ether side of the issue makes it very hard to even move incrementally. In that sense my view of this sort of advertisement is that it does little good to convince the convinceable to your side of the argument and actually makes the environment to have a real discussion on the issue difficult at best.
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Proud member of the Barry Goldwater wing of the party !
Some of us disagree
by scottbomb
The use of graphic images certainly does make a difference. I would also contend that there are a lot of Dems and Indy's that are opposed to abortion and find Obama's stance abhorrent.
I know you won't take my word for it so check out what one of America's foremost pro-life priest has to say about it.
to quote Flannery O'Connor
by Dienekes
To the hard of hearing you shout, and for the nearly blind, you drawlarge and startling pictures.
And Steve, bringing up the Born Alive Infants Protection Act is HARDLY an appeal to single-issue "anti-abortion" "zealots". It's actually offensive that you would make such a statement. This is an issue which ANY sane person would be DEEPLY at odds with BO. Perhaps you'd be less uncomfortable if the truth weren't spoken, hell, if the GOP just dropped it's pro-life plank. Aside from perhaps a single shot, there's nothing in this piece that warrants exclusion for a mass audience.
I think it's a good ad that would be much better if...
by St. Louis Conservative
....they edited down to about 30 seconds and cut out some of the gruesome images. That kind of stuff will turn off voters.
However, the fact that Obama supported this outlandish law I think will move people who don't even really vote on abortion. Even those that may consider themselves pro-choice would be appalled by a bill like this.
This ad or one like it can probably help solidify the Catholic vote behind McCain. Catholics are a crucial swing voting block that almost always vote for the eventual winner.
“.....women and minorities hardest hit”
Which graphic images?
by PatrickA
There is only one graphic image for 2 seconds and one illustration. What graphic images are you referring to? DO you consider the in utero photos too graphic too?
Perhaps you will like this one better? Still has the one brief *graphic* image though.
fetus in the womb and of animals in wombs. In this case, I would add a pic of a just born baby being held my its mother.
Mike DeVine’s Charlotte Observer columns
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"One man with courage makes a majority." - Andrew Jackson
Couldn't agree more
by Jill1066
Go for the positive stuff. A lovely happy baby that even a Scrooge would get mushy over.
THIS is the image that will sink Obama
by David Hinz
A tiny hand reaching out of the womb to grasp the finger of the doctor. That is the image that makes a lie out of late-term abortion advocates.
I *strongly* disagree with the idea of using this ad.
by Jeff Emanuel
And I vehemently object to any other such use of graphic images like those contained here.
I think that it's akin to the Democrats campaigning against Sen. McCain's support of the Iraq war by showing the mangled, burning bodies that remain after a battle or an attack in war. That really happens, as does abortion.
It's simply far, far below the acceptable level of discourse or appropriate visual debate -- and it will turn off far more people to the cause than it will win over.
This photo is not an
by fisk2521
This photo is not an abortion - - it was an operation to save the child's life - - spina bifida - -and it worked. I am stunned to hear someone object, frankly, we see much more graphic images of operations on prime time television these days.
This photo moved me to tears - - to think that it is now possible to save a baby from severe disability or death - - and do it before birth.
If 'prochoice' people find this photo offensive, I think there are many worse. It is like watching the films of the American army going into concentration camps in German and Austria after the war .... not fun to look at, depressing, but a reminder of what exactly we are facing and have, by keeping quiet, allowed.
The message of this photo is that this 'fetus' is a real person and alive. Anyone who is honest with themselves and ever been pregnant already knows that.
Run it!!!!
by Loadmaster
It's a moving ad. I would say "run it". If it upsets people, then they don't have a clue then let them go to Barrack Hussein Obama or Hillary. They don't need to vote.
Do you want to win?
by Jill1066
If the point is to prevent Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton from being elected then we should all care about persuading people to vote for John McCain. Ticking off or upsetting people needlessly is counterproductive. Gruesome images are upsetting to everyone normal.
If you want to carefully hang that stuff out to motivate the pro-life voters for whom abortion is the only issue, then set up your own 527 independent group to do it. If you want to persuade pro-choice moderates or pro-life Democrats that care about other issues as well - then you take a softer approach. McCain needs to avoid waving a highly emotional bloody shirt that would be used against him by Obama/Clinton. We need him calmly, forcefully, and persuasively making the case for the GOP's overall conservative positions.
Now *that's* an ad..
by jadedmara
Although I agree that it should be narrowcasted to churches, etc.
I tried working up an ad myself highlighting the BAIPA opposition but didn't get too far because I suck at video editing. Basically, though, if the campaign (or actually, better yet a third party unaffiated with the campaign) wants to highlight this with an ad, it needs to be simple. My storyboard basically had an intro with Obama comments on abortion being a "moral decision" and then led to words superimposed over a picture of Obama just saying that he "refused to support bills relating to BAIPA 5 times in his career as an Illinois state legislator".
Tagline? Barack Obama. A change for the worse. That's the point McCain needs to be hitting over and over again.
BTW, the graphic ad spoke to me, but then, I'm a crazy right wing nutjob when it comes to abortion. That may surprise some of you who know I am not a 'social conservative' by most definitions.
The add could be effective
by Aetius728
But I don't think the McCain campaign ought to run it. Some other group should. It could have an effect in the blue collar union areas, where the voters are heavily Democratic, despite being socially moderate or even conservative.
The dead fetus picture ought to be removed though. That simply is not appropriate. I don't have kids, but if I did I would be pretty ticked if they saw that on TV.
The naive forgive and forget.
The foolish forget but do not forgive.
The wise forgive but do not forget.
Moving ad
by simpson316
I agree with many on here, the graphic stuff will only turn off many who aren't ardently pro-life. Positive images of newborns will really pull at parents hearts to know just how over the top this particular bill was. Use this issue to paint Barack as extremely far to the left on this issue.
Fighting for conservatism one day at a time.
The Newborns are the ticket
by Mattpat11
It gets the point across while appearing to remain positive and tactful.
Wrong approach
by TomlinsonDouthat
While a video like this is fine for the purpose of firing up the base, I think that this approach is probably not the one you would want to take to hammer Obama in the general.
1.) To people who already oppose him, the pictures of smiling, handsome, authoritative Obama serve to fuel their contempt for his two-facedness and his pretensions at being above it all. But to people who are on the fence, such attractive pictures might raise the question of why somebody would say that such a nice man did such a horrible thing, and hence raise suspicion that there is more to the story than the ad is saying.
2.) The fact that Barbara Boxer, Ted Kennedy, et al. didn't oppose BAIPA reassures pro-lifers that they have a strong hand on this issue and that they needn't hesitate to press their case in this regard. To swing voters, however, it's pretty meaningless, and it would only inspire them to start thinking about the political motivations of everybody involved rather than the underlying facts.
3.) The pictures of infants are unnecessary. Everybody already knows what newborns look like. And though they might not know quite what a dead newborn looks like, they, with very few exceptions, are already opposed to the mistreatment of children in any way, and all the more to the killing of them as proscribed by BAIPA and its analogues in the states.
4.) The pictures of partial-birth abortions only confuse the issue. Partial-birth abortion and infanticide are related, of course, and both are very widely opposed. However, infanticide is opposed far more widely, far more strongly, and without the ambiguity potentially invited by considerations of the mother's life or health. As an election issue, infanticide is a far more powerful issue if it stands on its own.
5.) The music is unnecessary. It's sort of mandatory in a video like this, of course. But when it's as prominent as it is here, it invites an emotional reaction. This, once again, is what you'd want if you're playing to the base. But if you're going after swing voters in the general, the emotional reaction on their part might be dangerously unpredictable, with some people possibly being irrationally inspired to leap to Obama's defense. And there's no need to face such a danger, since the facts of this matter speak for themselves so clearly.
My advice, offered despite my having absolutely no qualification to do so, would be for McCain to play this issue as straight as possible. Say what BAIPA was for. Say that he supported it. Promise to enforce it as president. Show that Obama's excuses for opposing the Illinois version don't hold any water (as indeed they don't, for reasons we need not get into here). Just establish the facts.
Then, once these facts are established, the people who already oppose infanticide—and that is just about everybody, Peter Singer notwithstanding—will supply their own pictures, their own music, and their own emotions on this matter. And they will come to be horrified at ever having thought well of Obama. And then, as a bonus, they might come to realize—on their own—just how mad the logic behind legalized abortion can be, and so might come to question whatever support they have given to that cause.
But again: for now, before swing voters are paying attention, and at a time when conservatives need some inspiration to stay involved as we slowly come to remember how much we don't like McCain, this video serves a valuable purpose.
Perplexed
by PatrickA
I am confused. There is only one **graphic** image in the video and it lasts for maybe two seconds. The rest of the photographs are pictures of babies in utero. Are these considered *graphic* too?
Additionally, there is one hand drawn illustration on how to perform a partial birth abortion. Is this really too graphic?
We need to get our facts straight.
by Keith Edmonds
Even a little fact checking research on the official senate.gov website shows, the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act legislation passed the US Senate in 2002 by unanimous consent! (http://inhofe.senate.gov/pressapp/record.cfm?id=185365 -- btw, the honorable Senator Inhofe is a Republican from Oklahoma).
Senator Obama was not sworn into office until 2005. How could Barak Obama lead the opposition to this bill, when he wasn't even a US senator yet?!?!
This video is nothing more than propaganda!
STATE legislature
by absentee
Yes. "We" do need to get our facts straight, don't we.
Welcome to Red State, Keith
by Neil Stevens
Funny how you're a conservative Republican (we know this because you say "we", and we never get anyone who pretends to be one of us), but the first thing you post about is a sharply-worded defense of Barack Obama, that shows you to have missed the context completely.
Hint: A bill virtually identical to the BAIPA came to Obama's desk in Illinois, and he killed it, just like all the babies he wants killed.
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Ugh, GOD no. McCain should definitely hammer Obama on this point, but the graphic images in this ad are beyond the pale. It will backfire, no question.