The "white flag" ad, currently the most prominently displayed story on the Republican National Committee's website, is eerily reminiscent of ads run during to the 2004 elections cycle by both the RNC and George W. Bush. The ad, which features three quotations from Howard Dean, Barbara Boxer, and John Kerry with a waving white flag on the screen, coins the new GOP talking point claiming the Democratic message is one of "retreat and defeat."
Conservatives have been desperate to get publicity for the ad as they grasp at anything that might turn around momentum for the 2006 elections. And already the "Republican noise machine" has started to work on getting the ad exposure. On Friday, Rush Limbaugh played the ad on his radio show, and earlier Matt Drudge ran a glowing story about it on the front page of his popular web site.
More below the jump.
Examining the ad itself, one sees that its message once again is designed to play to the fears of voters. Following the three quotes, type across the screen reads "Our Country Is At War" and then (with darker music) "Our Soldiers Are Watching And Our Enemies Are Too." The ad then fades out to show the back of a soldier watching the ad on television.
The question is now whether the Republicans tactic of "fear and smear" will work with an American public that seems increasingly displeased with the war. The new Bush poll-driven strategy is to promise victory in Iraq and to suggest that Democrats are defeatists, if not traitors. The desperate GOP is going back to the well for its favorite tactic, but is the well dry?