My Campaign Commercial

I have a simple idea for a campaign commercial, and though I lack the time and expertise to actually produce it, I offer the broad outlines here for anyone who wants to actually do it.

It's called "People Die of Republicanism".

The concept is simple. It features sound clips of the President and senior members of his administration saying certain memorable things -- like "You're doing a heck of a job, Brownie", and "No one could have anticipated that they'd fly airplanes into buildings" and "No one anticipated the levees would fail". These clips would be juxtaposed with still pictures that the camera would pan across, a la Ken Burns. The pictures would be unflinching -- the idea is to show that the Republican way of governing has very real consequences, that it's not just about abstract ideology, and all that. So the images I would choose would be pictures of dead bodies in the streets of New Orleans, and at the Convention Center and floating in the water. And I would use some of the searing shots of people jumping to their deaths on 9/11 or clinging to the windows at the Trade Center, where you just know they're going to die. Finally, I would superimpose various conservative mantras, like Grover Norquist's quote about drowning the government in the bathtub. At the end, I would fade to black, then put up in white letters, "People die of Republicanism. Isn't it time we tried something else?"

Is that exploiting suffering for political gain? I don't think so, particularly since I'm not exactly advocating that the "something else" be Democrats. I think it's simply saying that when there is one party that controls the federal government, it's reasonable to ask whether the governing party is up to the task of taking care of We the People, in the face of demonstrable evidence that they're not. End of story.

The Fog of War

I hate to be a drape in the midst of the media frenzy now that JonBenet Ramsey's alleged killer has been found, but as of August 21, 2006, 2,610 Americans have died in Iraq.

8,886 have been wounded and not returned to duty within 72 hours; another 10,625 have been wounded but were returned to duty within 72 hours.

I keep waiting for the media frenzy over *that*.