But in this case I have no choice. A
post at RedState rightfully complains about a
new ad from the DCCC that uses flag-draped coffins. It's promoted in a
fundraising letter from Rahm Emanuel.
Beyond the coffins, there's something else about the ad - that the RedState eagle eye spotted - that bothers me even more...
Early in the ad, Tom Delay's mug shot is on the screen and it has some numbers at the bottom of it, what you would assume are just typical ID numbers that are presumably part of garden-variety mug shots. Except the numbers in this case read "91108GOP."
What is that about? Let's assume for a second that it's supposed to mean that the GOP, with its culture of corruption and complete ineptitude in running this country, will need `to dial 911 in 2008' because its political fortunes will be so bad by then it will be a serious emergency. It could also be construed to have some relation to 9/11. I'll give the DCCC the slightest benefit of the doubt and assume that's not the intent. But the use of those three numbers is just motherfucking stupid.
As for the use of the flag-draped coffins, I think that's also repulsive. The RedStater said in his post that the DCCC is using dead soldiers to raise money, further proof that Democrats "refuse to hold sacred the lives of American soldiers." That, of course, is utter bullshit. Those who don't support this war hold those soldiers' lives dear and are outraged that they were taken as the result of a war that was a) launched under false circumstances based on a wrongheaded ideology and greed, and b) has been conducted so poorly that it has resulted in the deaths and serious-injury of far more of our brave soldiers than ever should have happened (and that of course doesn't even include the lives of all of the Iraquis that have been lost, which the folks at sites like RedState never seem to talk about), and has done irreparable harm to our budget, our security at home and abroad, and our standing in the world.
But nevertheless, there are far more effective ways to be `shocking' - which I'm sure is the term the consultants who helped develop this ad used: "You have to shock them, you know, get their attention!" - than to use a flag-draped coffin.
I find it repugnant when Dubya uses LIVE soldiers as PR props and it's equally repugnant to use dead U.S. soldiers in any ad, yet alone as part of a solicitation for money.