Republicans use "Flag Draped Coffin" in 2004 political ad. Pic here:

[gully]

"The president's ad team, led by Austin, Texas-based media maven Mark McKinnon, had carefully road-tested the spots in focus groups, and Bush himself signed off. But the rollout of the ads, which argue that Bush has made the country "safer, stronger," was quickly marred by charges from some 9/11 families that the Bush team was seeking to exploit the attacks for political gain. One scene shows footage of a flag-draped coffin of a terror victim; another has an American flag waving in front of World Trade Center wreckage. Publicly, Bush aides were dismissive and insisted the flap had only strengthened their plan to make 9/11 "a central topic of the campaign."

MSNBC has the original article here:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4467791

Thanks to debate both sides for having this information archived just in case the MSNBC ad disappears:
http://www.debatebothsides.com/showthread.php?t=432

The DCCC mentioned this in their response, but Republicans essentially claim it's tasteful to show flag draped coffins of dead Americans - provided they died when Bush failed to protect Americans on 911, however if Americans perished in Bush's disaster in Iraq, it's "like totally tacky." :eyes:

More here:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/07/14/MNGPGJV6LD1.DTL

On an up note: Bill Burton, the Democratic campaign committee's spokesman, said the Republican criticism had boosted traffic for the short video. Until Thursday, only about 1 percent of visitors to the campaign committee had bothered to watch.

But that changed Thursday, he said, with "tens of thousands'' of people clicking on the ad. Thousands of those people had signed up to either contribute or volunteer for the Democratic campaign, he added.

[grannylib]

1. I just wrote to the DCC and told them what a bunch of cowards they were

to have taken the ad down. Holy shit, why the hell do they think Democrats get tagged with the label of not standing for anything??? We must NEVER apologize for telling the truth, nor back down from taking an honest stand on these issues!
WTF????

Bunch of fucking cowards. Might as well just hand the rePiglicans the 2006 elections if that's all the courage of conviction we have.:wtf:

[gully]

2. I did as well. Republicans did NOT pull their controversial ad. They

loved every minute of it.

[grannylib]

8. yeah, and when is the last time you heard a rePiglican (who wasn't on

his way to JAIL) apologize for ANYTHING???
Has Chimpy apologized for his lies? The deaths he's caused? Cheney the Dick apologize for scabbing out of Viet Nam on five deferments? KKKarl Rove apologize for his lies, filth, theft and deceit?? The Swiftie Liars apologize??
Ever hear Ann Coultergeist apologize??

FUCKING COWARDS!!!

Geez, no wonder we get such a reputation for standing for NOTHING...

[gully]

12. I feel your pain!

UGH

[IndyOp]

3. Right. So the DCCC should've brushed off comments, insisted their

ad made the Iraq Occupation more the central issue of the campaign, and LEFT THE VIDEO FRONT AND CENTER ON THEIR WEBSITE!

:grr:

Did y'all not learn that lesson back in 1938 about what happens when one appeases a Bully? The BULLY GETS BIGGER.

[gully]

4. I agree fully and I let them know.

They need to put the ad back the F up.

[Mz Pip]

5. It pisses me off that the Dems pulled the ad

Once again capitulating to the Rovian smear machine.

I thought it was a good ad and the Dems should have stood their ground and given a big f*ck you to the GOP. WHy do they always have to let the Repugs control the message? Infuriating.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[gully]

6. I agree. However apparenlty some Republicans were "privately" disturbed.

"But privately, some GOP strategists were disturbed by the backlash and suggested the ad team had misjudged how the imagery would play. "It's quite shocking to a number of Republicans to watch them stumble out of the block like this," said one veteran GOP consultant, who added that the big question in GOP circles is "Do they know how to spend" their huge budget?"

According to the MSNBC link I provided above.

[tuvor]

7. Here's a link to the video for the whole ad.

http://pcl.stanford.edu/common/media/campaign/2004/general/bush/b40304safer.mpg

Tons more campaign ads at http://pcl.stanford.edu/campaigns/campaign2004/index.html if you're interested.

[gully]

9. Wow thanks Tuvor. And thanks or the orignal mention.

:)

[The Count]

10. THEY TOOK IT OFF????? Now you know what the phony CNN poll was for.

The schmucks took the bait. Phony 'poll" is now removed.

[gully]

11. I was thinking that earlier.

I hope they put it in the archives on the Dem website again. But, I won't hold my breath.

[tomreedtoon]

13. Hey, Republicans FILLED that coffin, they deserve to use it!

The Republicans are entitled to use their own creation, and Democrats are encroaching on their intellectual property rights. It's like stealing movies on the Internet. It's taking money out of the pockets of the rich man.

Besides, do you think Democrats really want to win an election?

[Quantess]

14. LOL. So droll.

K&R :kick:

[tomreedtoon]

15. Yes, droll..but I'm not wrong!

Democrats don't want to win. They don't want to raise issues that voters might like. Hell, they don't care if Republican companies are counting the vote. And as for Democratic leadership...

"Why should we do anything to upset our Great President Dubya?"