Politics Worst. Campaign. Ad. Ever.
posted by October 11 at 12:04 PM
onPerhaps you admire the quasi-libertarian ethos behind November’s ballot initiative I-933. Perhaps you even agree with its land use law-gutting philosophy. But I-933’s new commercial is just hilariously sloppy. As we have reported, the Washington I-933 campaign is just one of a tornado of property rights initiatives touching down in states across the nation — most funded by one New York/Chicago based group, Americans for Limited Government, which channels money into different PACS in different states (Montanans in Action!) to give the campaigns a more home-grown look.
But the new I-933 ad glaringly reveals its assembly-line origin. The ad features choppy flash animation of Soprano-styled mobster politicians using eminent domain to seize control over small businesses. Occasionally, a Washington state flag or city name is slapped onto a sign to provide context that these mobsters are indeed operating in our fair state.
But the exact same video with road signs and proposition names modified is showing in Arizona, Nevada and Idaho. I don’t know what’s worse: the moving piano music as the mobster/politicians evict minorities from businesses while cracking “eminent domain” puns, the squeaky “ethnic” voices of said minorities or the fact that the Statue of Liberty is prominently featured in all four ads. You’d think if you were going to stage a nation-wide campaign disguised as a local grassroots effort, you’d have the decency to edit out the image of Lady Liberty rising outside what is supposed to be, alternately, Seattle, Sun Valley and Phoenix.
In any case, the main glaring error with the Washington ad is that I-933 doesn’t even address eminent domain. The property rights initiatives on the ballots in several other states do focus on eminent domain issues, but I-933 only relates to laws regulating the use of private property, not the government’s ability to acquire it.
Even the I-933 backers who posted the ad concede this. “I readily acknowledge that I-933 is about compensation for damage to use or value of property” and not about eminent domain, said Steve Hammond (president of the I-933’s Citizens’ Taxpayers Association) during an interview in The Columbian,“Because it’s parody, it’s meant to be entertaining as much as factual information.”
So it’s okay if election ads completely mislead voters as long as they’re funny? Even if that’s true, what focus group thought a badly-animated Sopranos rip-off of mobsters discussing land use laws sounded hilarious?
Comments
When is the "Worst. ____. Ever." thing going to get old?
Hi Sarah,
I'm pretty sure the 'o' comes before the 'e' in in the word 'Phoenix'.
PS, you're right. Wretched, filthy ads.
933 sucks and so do their ads.
There isn't any support in Washington for this initiative so they have to rely on out of state money and crappy online video resources? pretty weak.
Wow, that's a bad ad. HBO should sue the bastards for appropriating their copyrighted characters.
The ringtone is my favorite.
I guess HBO doesn't want to defend their trademark. Too bad noone emailed or phoned them at their website.
Oh god, it figures Steve Hammond would be associated with this. He was the most clueless embarrassment (well, except maybe for David "Mom-Smacker" Irons) ever to sit on King County Council. NOT the brightest porch light on the block.
Josh,
This isn't a commercial - it's a dumb web parody. Hell, if you look at the Property Fairness Coalition's PDC reports you'll see that they don't really have the money to go up on the air.
HBO couldn't sue them if they wanted to - they can easily say that they were satirizing the Soppranos (and satire is protected speech, after all). Now, if my ear is correct, there is some copyrighted music at the very end (but I can't quite put my finger on what it is exactly). They could get nailed for that....
Yes - Steve Hammond has just enough brain-power to get out an ad like this one. If memory serves, one of his campaign literature pieces in the past featured him proudly, smugly sitting astride his John Deere bulldozer. I love our farmers -- don't get me wrong -- but he's a real charmer, that one. Ugh.
You guys are nuts....that is the funniest thing ever. You cant be that disingenuous...even if you dont agree -that ad is clever and funny. I guess politics comes before your sense of humor.
You guys just don't get it!!
It's just flat our outrageous how far politicians and their cronies have gone in their efforts to disenfranchise homeowners when they see a more lucrative use for their property.
The animation in the ad supporting I-933 shows how vicious the government can be!!!
Join me and my family in voting yes on I-933.
Don't you get it? First the gov is changing little things about property rights, and then it snowballs from there. Next thing you know it there WILL be a building taken and eminent domain will be the excuse that they use.
And in regards to the trademark infringment comment, no, it wouldn't be trademark infringment becuase it isn't close enough to the real thing. You would think ANY mobster scenario would qualify? I think not.
But anyways, I-933 will help protect us from that sort of snow-balling the gov tends to do. That's why I'm voting for it. I think that ad was a clever way of getting the point across.
I-933 is part of a national campaign by Americans for Limited Government. The Chair of ALG is Howard Rich -a wealthy real estate developer who lives in New York City. Rich is a Libertarian who wnats to eliminate government regulations and rules. Americans for Limited Government has given $260,000 to the I-933 campaign.
While proponents claim I-933 protects private property, it actually puts private property owners and communities at risk of decreased property values as it eliminates zoning, growth management and environmental protections for homes and business.
Vote No on I-933. Say No to developers deciding the future of our communities.
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