Why I don't make the ads, part ii

A while ago, I suggested an ad accusing Pat Tiberi of terrorism. There were several major problems with this suggestion, mainly that folks would probably misunderstand the ad, those who did understand might be turned off by the seething anger that inspired the ad, those who understood and agreed would be the proverbial choir, and last but not least, an Ohio representative from the Democratic Party who shall remain nameless, but happens to be running for the U.S. Senate, voted along with Tiberi on the bill in question. Sigh.

Then, I actually made an unsolicited prototype of a 30 second ad using the David Goodman speech that I originally posted in an unedited form below. This prototype ad potentially suffers from two related problems:

• It is more of a Republican Style attack. The great thing about the ads our side is putting out is that they either are positive ads focused on the candidates themselves, like Shamansky's John Glenn endorsement ad and Emily Kreider's "I am Emily Kreider" series of print and TV ads, or are less overtly aggressive in their negativity, like the beautifully done "Anvil" ad, or the new flyer from the Kreider campaign that actually appears to have been inspired by Blue Bexley, but pairs it with a positive quote from Kreider:
  
  [Image Forthcoming]
  


• The second potential problem is that it may infringe on the copyright of an entity that provides a vital public service. The OhioChannel provides huge archives of video from our government in action, for free. They want you to see it. They don't, however, want it to be usd in political communications. They have told the Republican Party to cease and desist the use of their video in an anti-Barbara Sykes ad. The Republican Party, after initially agreeing, changed its mind and as of this posting still has the offending video on their website. In the meantime, ProgressOhio released an ad on the web that featured Tom Noe personally acknowledging many of the folks on the current Republican slate during a Supreme Court swearing in ceremony. The OhioChannel asked ProgressOhio to cease and desist, and ProgressOhio almost immediately complied. So, although my stance has been fair is fair, and I'll stop when the GOP stops, ProgressOhio has taken the position that our side is the side that plays by the rules.
  
  So as Bob Shamansky said in The Other Paper about his role in the Central Ohio political environment: All he needs to do is establish himself as a "credible alternative" for voters fed up with Republicans... "My job is not to be more shrill than any other person on television."
  
  As to my job, well, I'm nowhere near the shrillest person in the blogosphere, let alone with a TV ad buy, but I do tend to, well, write like an agitated blogger sometimes. My candidates are not only better people than their opponents, they're better people than me. Their staffs know it. Even though negative campaigning is a necessary evil, and our side is perfectly willing to go to the mat (see the Dewine Empty Chair ad for a wonderful example), driving your opponents unfavorables up is no substitute for driving your own candidates favorables up. And that's why it's a good thing that I don't make the ads.