October 23, 2004

Now the Animals Get Involved

The talk of the web is a new Bush ad that features wolves as metaphor for the terrorists that will eat us all if John Kerry is elected President. There are a boatload of problems with this ad. The factual side I'll leave to Fred Kaplan. Let's just say the ad is a massive distortion of the facts.

But there is another problem with the ad. The wolves are not very scary. Paul Begala called them "puppies" The first part of the ad, which just shows the spooky wood is fairly ominous, but when the terrorist wolves are revealed it's that footage you see on Wild American of a wolfpack at play. Not scary at all. These wolves are the worst metaphors ever. The DNC has struck back with a bird ad, comparing a soaring eagle with a clear vision and the ability to change course, with an ostrich with it head buried in the sand. You can guess the metaphor yourself.

Most importantly the wolves themselves have formed Wolfpacks for Truth to counter the ad:

They told us we were shooting a Greenpeace commercial!
We are not Terrorists!
We are a peaceful pack of wolves.

To complete today's animals and politics theme I give you A Bear Votes. Cute.

It's 10 days before the election and if anybody tells you they know what is going to happen, they are trying to sell something. Have you mailed your absentee ballot? Do you know where your polling place is?

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