During the Democratic National Convention there were many moments where the show's schedulers had to add a little filler, usually to for the sake of television commerical breaks. Often the filler consisted of renditions of Sly and the Family Stone's greatest hits ("We Are Family!") but even more exhilirating were spots that showed a picture of someone who voted for Bush in 2000 along with their name and a quote like "I care about civil liberties and the environment." After a long drumroll a red line would appear through "Voted for Bush in 2000" and the words "Voting for Kerry in 2004!" would appear in big white letters. It soon became a crowd favorite. Even though everyone knew the gimmick, there was something undeniably thilling about seeing the conversion happen right there before your eyes.
Now MoveOn has produced a series of excellent ads that take this concept to the next level. In the ads, exquisitely shot by documentarian Errol Morris (who also did the beautiful switch ads for Apple), Republicans explain why they've decided to vote for Kerry in 2004. Now, obviously I'm not a very good gauge of the effectiveness of these ads, but they strike me as incredibly persuasive, not the least because many of the sentiments articulated by the subjects make me squirm. (eg., a former diplomat chides Bush for seeing things as "right and wrong" which is not the way "statesmen" see things. It sounds frighteningly Kissingerian to me.)
I'd be curious if there are any TGU readers who themselves have switched from supporting Bush to Kerry (or are considering such a switch). I'd love to hear what you think, both of the ads, and the election in general. Send thoughts to:
chrislhayes at comcast.net
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Christopher Hayes is the host of MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes. He is an editor at large at the Nation and a former senior editor of In These Times.
