Lately I've read quite a few interesting diaries on KOS, such as the contrast between policies & actions during Reagan's administration compared to Obama's; the contrast in number of Americans killed by terrorists during Reagan's, Clinton's & Bush Jr's administrations compared to Obama's; the focusing by Issa of an investigation of the IRS targeting Tea Partiers to the exclusion of Progressive groups that were also targeted, the continued harping of Republicans on made-up scandals such as Benghazi & the IRS targeting of Tea Party organizations' tax exempt status; and it gave me ideas for some ads that the Democratic Party ought to put out during the 2014 mid-term elections.
This could be one very long ad, or it may be better split into 2 not so long ads. First show some old news announcements of the Beirut barracks bombing and the hundreds of soldiers killed, followed by some speech by Reagan on it, perhaps apologizing or, better yet, threatening the perpetrators with retaliation, then another news announcement of the US withdrawal from Lebanon. Then switch to a series of modern Republicans giving Reagan all kinds of praises, and saying he is their idol and politicians should follow his example. Then show an announcement of the attack on Benghazi, with its 3 or 4 deaths and then endless condemnations by Republicans and a report after the 11th? Benghazi investigation that still nothing substantial has been found to suggest any subterfuge. Then put out the numbers of Americans killed by terrorists during thr Reagan, Clinton, Bush Jr & Obama administrations. Then show an announcement of the Iran-Contra affair, and the main nasty particulars; including some footage of the hearings, such as Oliver North's testimony, to bring back indelible memories to those who lived during that era; then perhaps some more Republican praise of Reagan. Then come back to Republicans shouting about the IRS Cincinnati office targeting Tea Party-affiliated organizations; show a report that Progressive organizations were also targeted, right before announcing revelations that the Inspector General met at the behest of Issa with Republicans only, without the knowledge of Democrats, to investigate the targeting of the Tea Party organizations only, not the progressive ones. Then maybe end this part with a series of announcements of some real scandals by Republican congressmen in the last few years.
The 2nd part or ad should start by showing McConnell proclaiming that his top priority was to make Obama a 1 term president, and did he also later state that he wanted to make sure Obama's presidency was a failure, or was that just Rush Limbaugh & perhaps a (secret?) meeting of leading Congressional Republicans? – anyway, show 1 or 2 of these. Then show a series of announcements of the multiple & varied incidences of Republican obstruction of the health care act from the beginning when it was being debated all the way until now, including the 49 or so attempts to repeal it in the House.. Include some made-up claims of dissatisfaction or loss of coverage by constituents then reports that those claims weren't true, followed by some positive data on the ACA. Then give reports of how the Republicans brought us to the brink of default in 2011, and the shutdown of last September. Then oppose announcements by Obama for proposals for job creation, reasonable gun control legislation, energy & environmental legislation, immigration reform, raising the minimum wage & addressing our huge wealth gap with reports or scenes of Republicans blasting, killing or refusing to consider such proposals. End with a call by somebody, maybe a reporter, a pundit, a politician or even Obama himself, asking when Republicans will take any action to solve our numerous major problems.. Hey, maybe a conservative pundit like David Brooks mentioning how obstructionist or do nothing Congressional Republicans have been and how they lack ideas & plans, and then maybe an overvoice asking when will they get anything done. It would also be good to show somewhere charts of deficits at the beginning and end of each of the last 5 presidencies beginning with Reagan, maybe right after showing a chorus of Republican politicians denouncing Obama for his high deficit spending.
Such an ad (or ads) should be run throughout the country but especially where there are some important close races. I think it would be especially effective in Kentucky since we could surely find numerous examples of McConnell making hypocritical or mean-spirited statements of the kind spotlighted above. The Democrats need to expose the lying, hypocrisy, posturing, deception, obstruction, & obfuscation that typify Republicans, and that as long as Republicans control either chamber of Congress, nothing substantial will get done to solve our many urgent & monumental challenges.
It would also bring down Reagan's image a peg or 2 with the American public. The exaltation of Reagan by Republicans to deity status (Reagan has been to the Republicans what Lenin was to the Soviet Communists and Mao to the Chinese Communists). And therefore his disastrous pro-business, anti-environment, "greed is good" trickle-down economics policies have remained untouchable doctrine for leaders of both parties, and we desperately need to overturn these policies in order to fix our ailing democracy & save our dying Earth.