Grassroots Should Run Negative Ads

[1836]

A smart campaign stays positive. That's what Ron Paul's campaign is probably going to do. It is the right thing to do. You want your candidate to appear positive; I advise that of the candidates I help.

However, if the Grassroots is going to be making ads (as seems probable now), I think there should be serious discussion of forming a PAC to run negative ads against the frontrunners in Iowa.

There are many independent groups which will assail the various candidates for different things as the election draws nearer, but there is not such a group which will do this with the specific intent of benefitting Ron Paul.

Because although it is in a candidate's best interest to remain positive, research proves that negative ads still work. They seem to work best when they are disassociated from a particular candidate.

I.e., Nasty ad about Bachmann in Iowa, "Paid for by Iowans for the Constitution PAC," etc.

You might say, "Well how would the ads directly benefit Ron Paul?"
Two ways:

1. By bringing down the other candidates, Paul appears a more viable option and moves up on the list of preferences for a voter.
2. The ads could include a link to a website, whereby candidates were rated with a "Freedom score" or something like that, and compared on the issues. This could be done without directly alluding to any support of Ron Paul, but each candidate's website could be linked. It would be a quiet way to nudge people in the right direction, because of course Ron Paul would be at the top of a lot of rankings.

In particular, it would be worthwhile to focus heat on Bachmann and Romney. Go after the "big boys" and you will see the most effect from it.

Honestly, this would catch Bachmann's camp in particular really off-guard, because how can she respond well to an amorphous, unaffiliated group? That would bring her down in Iowa if the attacks were well-made.

An idea.

[eleganz]

This is how it should be done anyways, great thread. I support.

[newyearsrevolution08]

I am ALL FOR out the box marketing but sadly this is HOW THINGS ARE DONE. There are just so many people who think we are playing a game where the odds are equal. The odds are NOT IN OUR FAVOR, we have DEMOCRATS and REPUBLICANS to fight and get our country back from.

W should form cute sounding ones just as they do

Citizens For Change
Free Cars For All
Iowans For Change
Liberty In Iowa Pac

Just call it the 9/11 Pac

any catchy term will work as sad as that is.

The difference with our ads however is they will be TRUE...

They call Ron Paul unelectable? That is a LIE
We Call Mittens And Bachmann Against the constitution? That is TRUE

Get enough neg ads

another one

Mitt and his mormon background, while many religions teach tolerance the one thing I have learned is that they are usually only tolerant enough to vote for one of their own.. Stereotyping much? yes but call my bullshit.

[1836]

You're right on, it is pretty much a matter of forming a nice sounding PAC and then figuring out an attack line.

Of course, going after Mormonism would engender some blowback. But I think going after Romneycare, going after Bachmann refusing to sign DeMint's Cut, Cap Pledge (recent news last couple days), those sorts of things would be good avenues to travel down.

[Romulus]

I approve of this - good idea, if its executed well, meaning attack the issues of the candidates, not their personality or beliefs.

[Southron]

Romney should definitely be targeted if this is done.

[newyearsrevolution08]

You're right on, it is pretty much a matter of forming a nice sounding PAC and then figuring out an attack line.

Of course, going after Mormonism would engender some blowback. But I think going after Romneycare, going after Bachmann refusing to sign DeMint's Cut, Cap Pledge (recent news last couple days), those sorts of things would be good avenues to travel down.

Not negging the religion itself but showing Ron Pauls the one stand our christian (baptist, luth and the many variations ie: some let you wear shorts whereas others won't allow DRUMS in the band...) because the mormon vote is pretty LOCKED UP besides those who honestly WANT their rights to worship and live as they see fit.

On the next neg ad TOWARDS mitt it would be easy to do this

Yes he is Mormon but has he ever VOTED to making sure government never takes away your liberties? Mormons get laughed at and persecuted ALL THE TIME for their lifestyle choice and I don't see mittens actually BACKING it.

So one showing ron paul as the only christian man in the bunch and then the other on mitt and him and his voting record not PROVING he would stand up for his people.

[1836]

I approve of this - good idea, if its executed well, meaning attack the issues of the candidates, not their personality or beliefs.

Excellent point. We would not want to make "petty attacks" or ad hominems, we would want to go for the jugular and point out issues in a serious way that might lead the average voter to question a previously held belief about one of these "top tier" candidates."

Bachmann's refusal to sign the Cut, Cap pledge alone is enough for 30 seconds of gold, whether radio or television. Imagine:

Michele Bachmann says that she is for smaller government, so why has she refused to sign conservative Senator Jim DeMint's pledge that would bind a candidate to vote for a balanced budget and reducing the national debt? Doesn't Michele Bachmann realize that Iowans are fed up with the tremendous national debt? Michele Bachmann: not serious on tackling the national debt, not conservative enough for Iowa.

[sailingaway]

I think any negativity should be policy related. For example, Bachmann's votes for the Patriot Act and saying 'we need to stay the course in Afghanistan' are fair play. Let's leave her foster kids to someone else.

[PastaRocket848]

super fantastic amazing awesome killer idea. seriously though, i like it.

imagine what we could do with romney and bachmann... it could be glorious. it's a treasure trove of flip-flops and squirrel turds.

[sailingaway]

Excellent point. We would not want to make "petty attacks" or ad hominems, we would want to go for the jugular and point out issues in a serious way that might lead the average voter to question a previously held belief about one of these "top tier" candidates."

Bachmann's refusal to sign the Cut, Cap pledge alone is enough for 30 seconds of gold, whether radio or television. Imagine:

Michele Bachmann says that she is for smaller government, so why has she refused to sign conservative Senator Jim DeMint's pledge that would bind a candidate to vote for a balanced budget and reducing the national debt? Doesn't Michele Bachmann realize that Iowans are fed up with the tremendous national debt? Michele Bachmann: not serious on tackling the national debt, not conservative enough for Iowa.

She's saying she wants it to include Obamacare repeal. It is just red meat. I think we should avoid that and let the pacs pushing those pledges worry about their specific wording (Ron would be stricter in any event.) But to point out she voted for the budget deals and Bush's stimulus etc....It could be a 'this is what she did before tea parties made fiscal conservatism fashionable...'

[1836]

So one showing ron paul as the only christian man in the bunch and then the other on mitt and him and his voting record not PROVING he would stand up for his people.

Yeah, but that isn't the point of it. You do not want to point a voter specifically in the direction of Ron Paul. You just use these kinds of ads to till the soil in the minds of our target voters for the idea of voting for Ron Paul to be able to take root.

[1836]

She's saying she wants it to include Obamacare repeal. It is just red meat. I think we should avoid that and let the pacs pushing those pledges worry about their specific wording (Ron would be stricter in any event.) But to point out she voted for the budget deals and Bush's stimulus etc....It could be a 'this is what she did before tea parties made fiscal conservatism fashionable...'

Ah, there lies the beauty of something like this sailingaway. Attack ads can bend the truth. The point would be to send Bachmann careening off-message into lala land, trying to explain in vain to the voters her unusual refusal to sign the pledge. An effective attack line would work there.

However, you are totally correct. The stimulus package would be perhaps the best one to start out with.

[MJU1983]

This looks promising:

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?302034-I-m-new-to-RPF!-I-made-a-new-funny-Ron-Paul-video!&p=3381413&viewfull=1#post3381413

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peqnSTBnTVk

[1836]

This looks promising:

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?302034-I-m-new-to-RPF!-I-made-a-new-funny-Ron-Paul-video!&p=3381413&viewfull=1#post3381413

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peqnSTBnTVk

Fascinating. http://www.google.com/ads/tv/

[Romulus]

Call a so called conservative a liberal and watch smoke come out of their ears!

Expose each one, make it a theme.. like show a silouette and play game show music... announcer asks... who voted for X .. Y .. Z... Pelosi? BZZZT Red? BZZZT Romney? DING DING DING - you win the 1,000,000 Liberal Pyramid Scheme

OR

Family Feud style.. ask a question, have contestants answer and show all the liberal GOP's who support that 'issue' lol

[TheTyke]

I've always thought this is how it should be... attacks should come from 3rd parties, NOT the campaign. Would be great if we made it happen!

[1836]

I've always thought this is how it should be... attacks should come from 3rd parties, NOT the campaign. Would be great if we made it happen!

With the grassroots enthusiasm around having us fund some independent ads in Iowa, I figured this would be a good time to put this up.

We really need to get with the folks who are working on the idea of the TV ads to see if they would not mind moving in this direction.

[My First Name Is Paul]

It seems to me the one to go after is the one who is the media selected 'front-runner'. This accomplishes two goals, it primarily attacks the front-runner while secondarily reduces credibility of the traditional media.

To me the most obvious one to go after is Romney and his flip-flopping. The guy will literally say anything to get elected. All you have to do is go through his speeches, especially form 2008, and show cuts of them. Without any commentary or clever audio-video work his words will work against him better than just about anything else.

[1836]

It seems to me the one to go after is the one who is the media selected 'front-runner'. This accomplishes two goals, it primarily attacks the front-runner while secondarily reduces credibility of the traditional media.

To me the most obvious one to go after is Romney and his flip-flopping. The guy will literally say anything to get elected. All you have to do is go through his speeches, especially form 2008, and show cuts of them. Without any commentary or clever audio-video work his words will work against him better than just about anything else.

In Iowa, though, we also need to go after Bachmann. That's because a non-affiliated independent attack on Romney will naturally benefit Bachmann, and so we need to attack both of them.

[Elwar]

The trouble is, you spend so much time and money attacking one candidate only to have the other candidates benefit from it as well. Whereas we could have spent that time propping up Ron Paul and the other candidates do not benefit.

Last time we focused on attacking Rudy and Fred Thompson and who knows if it was us that took them down, but McCain benefited from it.

[My First Name Is Paul]

In Iowa, though, we also need to go after Bachmann. That's because a non-affiliated independent attack on Romney will naturally benefit Bachmann, and so we need to attack both of them.

Just keep in mind that with any ad there is very little time to communicate anything. Each additional message you try to add to the ad will exponentially reduce its effectiveness of communicating anything.

[Canderson]

We need to go after Bachmann, especially her constitutionality, how do we start? I've got time and a few bucks, lets get on this.

[puppetmaster]

ads are expensive closer to election time. now is better later. I also think Google prohibits political ads on Google TV

[Romulus]

The trouble is, you spend so much time and money attacking one candidate only to have the other candidates benefit from it as well. Whereas we could have spent that time propping up Ron Paul and the other candidates do not benefit.

Last time we focused on attacking Rudy and Fred Thompson and who knows if it was us that took them down, but McCain benefited from it.

If we attack Bachman we steal her base. If we attack Romney we assume the front runner position.

[Eric21ND]

You could make a hiding behind ad pretty effective for Bachmann. Her Patriot Act vote and her stimulus support. Wasn't she for all the wars, including Libya before she was against them?

Romney too has lots of baggage. "I like mandates."

[Romulus]

You could make a hiding behind ad pretty effective for Bachmann. Her Patriot Act vote and her stimulus support. Wasn't she for all the wars, including Libya before she was against them?

Romney too has lots of baggage. "I like mandates."

I know, there is some great material there to work with - I mean really good stuff we could exposing those 2 on. They simply can not refute it!

[BrendanWenzel]

Instead of running negative ads, let's use our resources to make sure people who would support Ron Paul know about him. There are tons of people out there that still just don't know about him. We need to get them into the "sales funnel" and get them involved.

[thehighwaymanq]

Another idea- what about a Ron Paul grassroots PAC to help out with big billboards?

[KingRobbStark]

If we attack Bachman we steal her base. If we attack Romney we assume the front runner position.

Thats not true. Anyone candidate can assume that title.

[KingRobbStark]

Instead of running negative ads, let's use our resources to make sure people who would support Ron Paul know about him. There are tons of people out there that still just don't know about him. We need to get them into the "sales funnel" and get them involved.

Its better to do both.

[WorldonaString]

I'm all for this idea! A grassroots PAC whose single purpose is to get on the airwaves and expose the Romneys and Bachmans for their policy failures, inconsistencies and outright lies.

[1836]

Come to this thread if you are on board with this idea and post your thoughts and suggestions: http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?302143-Help-needed-for-grassroots-TV-ad-project