As proof that they're good, notice that the Republican copycat ones not only don't work the same way, they actually reinforce the originals.Yeah, I was struck by that. I think the difference is easy to spot, though: the ones on Malkin's site were made to be consumed by fellow true believers, while the original posters were designed (presumably) for swing voters and scandal-fatigued Republicans. The best example is the image of the VW beetle covered with anti-Bush slogans. The folks on Malkin's blog see it and laugh because, hey, what a deranged wacko! they're suffering from B.D.S.! A good marketer will look at it and say, "Um, guys? You just paid to print a poster covered with your opponent's slogans, and you didn't even bother with a rebuttal."
What about concentrating on a few absolutely crucial, inarguable, "slam dunk" points instead of a core dump?Because the current republican political machine in one thing at this point: nitpicking individual 'slam dunk' points to death until people have forgotten what the point was. The cumulative effect of these posters is the sobering part: rather than obsessively deconstructing a particulr scandal, it relies on peoples' collective memories of those scandals, and the catchy taglines they were associated with. It stacks them up like cordwood and concludes with the implied question: why would you ever, ever vote for this again?
How exactly would Haditha play against the Democrats? You'd think the Republicans would prefer not to talk about that.Because it's an example of brave marines being accused of horrible things by Democrats, who hate the troops. The troops were subsequently cleared of all wrongdoing by military investigators but Democrats continue to treat them like horrible people.
"Opium production in Afghanistan has increased by 34 percent over the past year, and the country is now the source of 93 percent of the heroin, morphine and other opiates on the world market, according to a report by the United Nations' anti-drug agency.posted by ericb at 11:54 AM on December 9, 2007
'Afghanistan's opium production has thus reached a frighteningly new level, twice the amount produced just two years ago,' says the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime's annual opium survey, released Monday [August 27, 2007] in Kabul.
'Leaving aside 19th-century China . . ., no country in the world has ever produced narcotics on such a deadly scale,' the report notes.
...The surge in opium production has frustrated U.S. and NATO military commanders, who believe that the trade plays a major role in funding a Taliban insurgency that has become increasingly deadly over the past two years. Commanders also believe that the involvement of public officials in the drug trade has undermined Afghans' confidence in their government.
...Seven years ago, the Taliban leader Mohammad Omar banned the cultivation of opium poppies -- but not their export -- on the grounds that growing them violated the principles of Islam. But the report says that Taliban leaders have reversed their position and are now using drug profits to buy weapons and logistical equipment and to pay the salaries of their militia."
I thought the point of that was the single Che sticker above the mess of anti-Bush stickers?Right, but it's not very effective from a marketing/communications perspective. Why? For it to make sense you have to understand that Che was an ugly, brutal figure in Cuban history who became a weird, inexplicably popular folk-icon among the college polsci hippie set. Then you have to contrast that with all the Bush bumper stickers and say, "Oh, wait, this person is angry about Bush's disastrous policies, but they have a Che bumper sticker. That must mean I should ignore all those anti-Bush bumper stickers..."
It may simultaneously be a simpler message attempting to link anti-Bush sentiment with Marxism and Communism.Oh, I think you're right. I'm just not sure that it would be very effective. The problem is that Che at this point is less a signifier of Communism and Marxism and more an icon of idealistic college revolutionary fervor. The implication that Bush-haters are silly hippie kids, and all that, seems to go nicely with the car and all the plastered bumper stickers. The other posters -- the sickle and hammer images, etc., did a better (?) job of drawing the marxism/communism parallel.
World Trade Center, Bali, Madrid, London.
For the Afghans and particularly the minority ethnicities and the city dwellers the situation is much better than it was in August 01.
Not perfect, but good enough. Like whatever democrat gets the nomination, amirite?!
Could you remind me, again, what came out of the Whitewater thing, in the way of proven wrong-doing by the Clintons?
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posted by chunking express at 10:20 AM on December 9, 2007 [1 favorite]