This diary started as a comment to this one, which talks about how Democrats could benefit from positive ads dramatizing the benefits of Obamacare. That's certainly a great idea for building up the image of the Democratic party. In the real world of politics, however, its easier and more effective to tear down your opponent than to build yourself up. We need to complement those positive messages about the good results of Democratic policies with negative ads that point out the evil policies of the Republicans. The right-wing 501(c)3's like Americans for Prosperity are already on the air with their campaign of lies. We need to answer them with the truth.
And the truth should be devastating. In half the states of the U.S., the Republican-controlled governments have opted out of the Medicaid expansion that is a key element of Obamacare. In doing so, the Republican politicians who control those 25 states knowingly embraced a policy that will prevent about 5 million people from getting health care -- care that in many cases is desperately needed. Thousands have already died, and tens of thousands more will die prematurely because of that Republican action. We Progressives must hang those deaths around the necks of the Republican Party and every individual Republican officeholder involved. We need to bring home to the Republican base that the people suffering and dying due to Republican policies are not just "those people", but in many cases are people very like themselves and their children. If we can do that, we can devastate the Republican Party for a generation, and lay the political foundation for truly universal healthcare. Follow me below the squiggle for my thoughts on how we can.
One death is a tragedy. Ten thousand deaths is a statistic. To reach the resentful, tribal, low-information White voters that the Republicans depend on, we need to show how those tens of thousands of deaths create individual tragedies for people that they think of as "us" -- that is, the White working class -- and not "those people". There are many such tragedies; we need to show the Republican base that, with a little bad luck, that could be me/my daughter. For example, run the following attack ad on a Republican state legislator in Texas ...
The TV commercial opens with a long shot of a funeral, then close-up of the (white, late-20s husband of the deceased), hugging their (weeping, white, 3-7 year old) daughter as the casket is lowered into the ground. Cut to a still photo of the deceased (white, late-20s, attractive, modestly dressed). Voice-over - a serious male voice. "Kathi-Ann died of (treatable chronic condition). Her family couldn't afford the medicine she needed. If she'd had health care, she'd almost certainly be alive today. Her family lost their insurance when (husband's name) got laid off from the (blue-collar employer). The only new job he could find paid minimum wage, with no benefits. Under Obamacare, the U.S. Government would have paid 100% of the health care costs for Kathi-Ann and her family, along with thousands of other poor, hard-working families in Texas. (Republican incumbent) and the other Republicans in the state Legislature voted to turn down that money.
Cut to video of (Republican incumbent) giving a speech about stopping Obamacare.
Resume voice-over: "So instead of paying Doctors and hospitals in Texas to provide life-saving care to people like Kathi-Ann, that money is going to other states like California and New York. States where the legislature isn't so crazy with hate for our President that they'll turn down desperately-needed health care dollars just because they come from the U.S. Government"
Cut to Kathi-Ann's husband: "My wife died because Republicans like (Republican incumbent) wouldn't let the United States Government help her. Thats just ... evil."
Voice-over "You can help end this evil. Vote November 4th". The same text appears on the screen. "Paid for by Texas Families for Motherhood, Apple Pie, and Puppies".
There must be dozens, if not hundreds, of real families in every one of those 25 states that have similar stories: mothers, fathers, children dead of treatable conditions because the Republicans hate Obama more than they care for their fellow-citizens. Select five or ten of the most sympathetic families in every state, document and triple-check to make sure that their stories will stand up to the MSM's "fact-checking". Then repeat those stories over and over and over in the in the lead-up to 2014. Name and shame every Republican incumbent who voted to turn down the Medicaid expansion until they are afraid to show their faces among decent people. Then recruit strong candidates to run against every one of them -- including some of the surviving family members featured in the attack ads, where possible.
Of course, such ads would provoke a shit-storm of response from the Republicans. That's why we need to be sure that every story is true, and documented. As long as the stories hold up, the resulting earned media will spread the message far beyond the scope of the original media buy, while enhancing its credibility.
As well as converting or neutralizing that part of the Republican base that retain some shred of human decency, hard-hitting ads like this one will help to mobilize the Democratic base. Raising awareness of the tragedies that can befall relatively young adults will help to mobilize the young. Mobilizing Hispanic and African-American voters will be a littler trickier. Since we want to convince the tribal Republican base that health care funding benefits "us" and not just "those people", ads featuring minority families should make up less than 20% of the total in the English-language media, and should run only after the meme has been thoroughly established by ads featuring White families. Ads in the Spanish language media should concentrate on tragedies befalling hispanic families, but those families should be native-born -- not immigrants -- to deny potential talking points to the Republican propaganda machine.