What do you think? Has anyone seen the ad? Was it intentional? Does it matter? http://www.msnbc.com/news/458703.asp Subliminal Message in GOP Ad? By Claire Shipman -- NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT Sept. 12 - A television ad supporting George W. Bush’s presidential campaign flashes a subliminal slur against government officials, aides to Vice President Al Gore said Monday night. In the ad by the Republican National Committee for Bush, which NBC News has reviewed, the word “rats” can clearly be seen on the screen when a section discussing Gore’s anti-drug plan is slowed down. SOURCES INSIDE the Bush campaign said the message was not planned. “It’s absurd to think it was intentional,” a Bush source said. “It was an editing mistake.” “They’ll read everything into anything,” Bush himself said when asked about the ad at a Tuesday campaign stop in Palm Beach, Fla. In the ad, the word “rats” appears to emerge from the word “bureaucrats.” Republican advertising consultant Alex Castellanos, who runs the production company that produced the ad, also said the message was a mistake. ‘RODENT STRATEGY’ “They’ve uncovered our rodent strategy,” he said, laughing. Bush said during a Tuesday appearance on ABC that he would not tell the Republican Party to pull the ad. “I don’t think there’s a plot to try to put subliminal messages into people’s minds,” the Texas governor said on “Good Morning America.” Castellanos’ company, National Media, produces ads for the national Republican Party. The “rats” ad was produced by Cold Harbor Films, National Media’s in-house production company. The group has also produced an ad criticizing Gore’s alleged fund-raising activities at a Buddhist temple. Republicans were roundly criticized for the anti-Gore ad, which featured a female narrator lambasting Gore. In the climax of that particular ad, the narrator offers a litany of accomplishments she claims Gore took credit for before finishing: “Yeah, and I invented the remote control, too. Another round of this, and I’ll sell my television.” The “rats” ad was paid for by the Republican National Committee - thus, the spot was requested by and created for the national party, not the Bush campaign itself. Production and distribution of the ad was funded by party “soft money,” the virtually unlimited funds available to national political parties. GOP MEDIA STALWART Castellanos, whose Alexandria, Va.-based company produced the ad, has done media work for five presidential campaigns, according to his Web site. Other clients have included Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, and Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind. According to The Washington Post, Castellanos has been handling media buys for the Bush campaign but has not performed creative work directly for the campaign. But Castellanos’ company has still benefited from the Bush campaign’s fund-raising largess. According to Federal Election Commission records, the Bush campaign has paid out $22.5 million to Castellanos’ National Media Inc. through the end of July for media services, primarily ad buys for the campaign, NBC News producer Robert Windrem reported early Tuesday. In fact, it appears that National Media is the single biggest recipient of Bush campaign funds, consuming nearly a fourth of all campaign expenditures. Castellanos is no stranger to controversy over his ad work. A 1990 ad for Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., portrayed a white man tearing up a letter telling him he had been rejected for a job given to a minority applicant. The ad was targeted to highlight the politics of Helms’ opponent, Harvey Gantt, who is black. FOUNDED BY LEE A****ER National Media, founded by the late GOP strategist Lee A****er, claims to have produced ads for “over 100 political campaigns.” Castellanos himself is a Cuban refugee, having told people he and his family arrived in the United States with only $11 in their pockets. Aside from strictly political work, the company also does infomercials and trade ads, such as its work for “Citizens for Better Medicare,” a coalition of business groups opposed to Democratic proposals for prescription drugs. NBC News producer Robert Windrem and MSNBC.com’s Alanna Stack and Jon Bonné contributed to this report. ------------------ Stay Cool...
Never mind. I see now. Jeff / Clutch, you need a smarter naughty word sensor! ------------------ Stay Cool...
Jeff, it must be the ISP then, because what I pasted in was the actual name. Strange, because I've seen other words here. Let me try again: Lee A****er. Lee At-water. [Added: It changed it! Strange!] The Chronicle has a new article, which contained the following interesting piece of information. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/front/664542 "...The ad has run for more than two weeks, and Bush's communications director, Karen Hughes, said it was being replaced today as scheduled. In fact, one Democratic official said the Gore campaign, unimpressed with the ad's effectiveness, waited to leak the story until the ad was about to come off the air. Hughes made light of the question of a subliminal message, saying the Bush campaign "was not trying to get the rat vote." ..." ------------------ Stay Cool... [This message has been edited by dc sports (edited September 12, 2000).]
So, the moral of the story is you can post naughty words. You just have to put dashes in between the letters. Cra-zy! ------------------
WHOA! I just tested a few curse words and they all got edited. Holy crap! Wierd. I didn't even know that was on here. ------------------ Save Our Rockets and Comets SaveOurRockets.com [This message has been edited by Jeff (edited September 12, 2000).]
That naughty word's been removed. Atwater away! Kisses, Big Brother ------------------ Clutch Goons, Inc.
Here is a freeze-frame of the ad from Yahoo!: ------------------ Save Our Rockets and Comets SaveOurRockets.com
Well, Jeff, maybe its the UBB software / format? You're an admin - you should try to get rid of this @#$! I mean, we should be able to say the F word, the Q word, or the K word whenever we want to! Censorship is evil. [edit: Thanks for giving us atwater privelages keeley] [This message has been edited by SamCassell (edited September 12, 2000).]
dc: we don't have a naughty word sensor! Funny, but I think Al has been listening to Tipper on this one. Maybe, if you play the commercial backwards, it will say "Vote for Nader and take votes away from Gore" ------------------ Save Our Rockets and Comets SaveOurRockets.com
If the situation was reversed, Bush would be calling for the ad to be pulled and Gore would be saying that the Republicans were being paranoid. ------------------ Cheerleaders are just dancers who've gone r****ded. visit www.swirve.com
Can politicians just concentrate on something that matter? Its funny...neither one of these guys can "see" their way to agreeing on the debates yet they can "see" subliminal messages? My hopes for voting this year are just about gone. ------------------ I Want To Thank God For Making Me A Rocketfan
No Almu... don't be like Cheney and the other fools that don't take part in our government, vote. Vote man, vote. ------------------ Why don't you guys go down to the gym and pump each other
why is Atwater a naughty word ? wait a minute ... wow that is sensitive naughty word editer thing And the Starting safety for the Denver Broncos - Steve Atwater - YOU guys are missing the point of this hidded messages , it say "Star" backwards ------------------ This signature space for rent call 555 ... [This message has been edited by moestavern19 (edited September 13, 2000).]
Agreed. This was Bush's race to lose, and his team is possibly helping make that happen. It's still too close to call. I really think that one of 'em (Bush or Gore)will screw up bigtime between now and November and turn the tide in the other one's direction. And I'll betcha dollars to donuts it happens during one of the debates. ------------------ I am the b*stard son of LHutz. Huh? Right!
Everything I've read and heard is that there is absolutely no way this was a coincidence. Now who's fault it is may be in question. I don't really think that the Bush people did it as a master plan to have people associate Gore with rats, but it had to have been done by someone and no one else caught it. I saw an interview with Art Fleischer, a Bush advisor, last night. This guy's an idiot. He dodged all the questions by using the phrase "you have to ask yourself is there any there there?" WTF?! Then he said if you watch closely, the word "wit" comes up in front of Gore's face, so why would they try to imply that when people think of Gore, they should think of wit? Well, the word was with, not wit, you nitwit. ------------------ Cheerleaders are just dancers who've gone r****ded. visit www.swirve.com
Rocketman -- I agree...this was a stupid mistake. They certainly would have seen this ad broken down frame by frame...I just don't think they anticipated it having the attention put on it that it has. I mean, in all honesty, the ad isn't viewed frame by frame. Unless they slow it down for you, you would have no idea it's there. I was a marketing major in college and took a couple of classes on advertising. In every class I took we were told that study after study determined that the idea of subliminal advertising is a joke. So if the Bush campaign thought they would sneak this in and it would have some effect, then they're stupid. I really don't think they thought it would have any such effect..and, like I said, I don't think they anticipated it garnering this much attention. I also heard that Brit Hume pointed out last week that there was some subliminal message in an Al Gore ad...when he brought it to light he was laughed at by others in the media and by other democrats. The story vanished. This one seems to be getting a lot more attention than it deserves in my opinion. ------------------
Achebe, vote for whom? They can't even get a debate schedule so how the hell am I going to tell whos dumber? If you go on their websites, they are both full of shiznet! Damn, I wish Clinton could run again. He makes more sense that anybody out there to me. But the Republicans screwed everything up by passing that dumb amendment restricting it to just two terms. If I go to the polls, I am going to write in Clutchs name. Or Brian Kagy's. Or Will's. Hell, I will write in LHutz's right about now. And then they wonder why my generation is so cynical? We are like this because we are the first generation to see through all the bullsh!t that is flying through the air in Washington. They are going to kiss our butts even more as we get older and I love it! ------------------ I Want To Thank God For Making Me A Rocketfan
