Daisy, Daisy, Give Me Your Terror Do

The GOP is blast-blogging a new ad intended to evoke the most powerful political ad of all time—the one that made Reason's November cover. "These Are the Stakes" rips off the final lines of Bill Moyers' 1964 "Daisy Ad," and couples them with imagery of terrorists doing scary things like… I think at one point a guy breaks a board over another guy. So let's say it portrays "terrorist training."

Of course the Republicans were going to use terrorism to beat Democrats over the head. The surprising thing is how many of the lessons of the Daisy ad "These Are the Stakes" ignores. The Daisy ad took voters' subconcious worries about Barry Goldwater and created a snapshot of the future, of sometime in 1965 or 1966, when President Goldwater's recklessness would lead to all-out nuclear war. "These Are the Stakes" uses footage and quotes from the last few years to paint a picture of terrorists beating down the (until we build that awesome border fence) metaphorical door to blow up Americans. But nothing indicates that a Democratic Congress is going to make the terrorists' job easier. It's just a Fox News promo with quieter editing. More evidence that Republicans inside D.C. spend too much time talking to one another; they've convinced themselves that everyone else is still clinging to the terror-smashing GOP for dear life.