Prepare yourselves. This might upset some here because this time it’s the DNC that ought to be a bit embarrassed by their latest “clever” ad campaign. They are pulling an anti-Vance banner by airplane over college football stadiums…
Yes, yes – there are very few cheaper ways to grab 100,000 eyeballs. And to be sure, all is fair in love and politics. At least to some.
Not me, at least not this.
The facts are straight forward as presented by CBS News:
At the Big House in Ann Arbor, Michigan, an aerial banner paid for by the Democratic National Committee… read: “JD Vance <3 Ohio State + Project 2025.”Â
It’s a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Republican vice presidential nominee, who got his bachelor’s degree from Ohio State University, and the… the Heritage Foundation’s [blue print] for a potential second Trump term.
They did the same at three other stadiums and you will see an obvious pattern. Less specific flags flapped over Penn State’s stadium, one at Wisconsin, and they planned to fly one over a Georgia game but it was grounded by weather.
Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Georgia. A bit like targeted commercials except…
Let’s first get the DNC explanation as set out by Spokesperson Abhi Rahman who said: “The DNC is reaching voters where they are.”
Yeah, but where they are is a football game. It is where one goes for a much-needed break from work or politics. Back to the DNC’s statement:
“These banners carry a message that resonates with fans and reminds them that the most important contest is still to come in November.”
Well, sure – except it’s probably good to think about how it resonates because it sure feels like it could just as easily upset committed Democrats who don’t want politics flying over their burgers, or while sitting with Republican friends. It is exponentially worse if the message infuriates the moderate voter still considering their choice.
It is understood that people don’t come here to hear the DNC criticized and yet it is irresponsible to not consider whether Democrats might learn from a possible mistake. After all, if one wants Harris to win it’s critical to avoid self-inflicted wounds.
If you are still in doubt, consider how you might respond to a gigantic Trump banner at your tailgate. I doubt that your first response would relate to any vote. It would be more “I cannot believe that they are doing this here. Is nothing sacred anymore.”
The point is that the DNC is not swaying people, who are either bothered by the banner or are willfully ignoring it. Not a single moderate is sitting there thinking, “Well, I’ll be damned, maybe I’ll vote for Harris.”
Simply reaching 100,000 potential voters without spending a lot of money shouldn’t be the goal. It should always be, “Is this thing going to actually do anything? Or are we just trying to be clever?”
Clever or not, it’s pretty stupid to risk upsetting moderates munching on nachos at one their last political getaways.
Anyway, ready for some football?
good point! I’m not even remotely a sports person, so I don’t know hardly any football, basketball, or baseball teams, let alone the players, but one of the things that has greatly annoyed me about politics over the last 40 years is how much the campaigns started to resemble a football rally. It cheapens the who process and people begin to expect bombast and rah rah rah and sound bytes, rather than boring serious debate about policies. The public should be _demanding_ and _expecting_ the wonky, boring debates and vote down the people who hurl mud rather than talk about substance.
When the football game ends, it doesn’t really matter who wins or loses. Yes, there are metrics like skill and strategy that can help “measure” the likelihood of winning, but most fans just go there because they love the team, and that is perfectly fine.
A vote for a politician can ultimately affect your life, freedom, and your future.
Political campaigns should be serious, football rallies can be what people want them to be. Don’t in any way try to equate the two.
Well, on second thought, I said “it doesn’t matter who wins or loses”. Just as in politics, so in sports, we have come to trust that players are professional and have personal standards of integrity. Hence, they win because they are genuinely top players. Over the last 40 years in politics, it seems we are not able to trust these “players” to have the kind of integrity we expect of people in sports. Imagine how awful football games would become if the NFL put its thumb on the scale for some particular team and made up rules that supported that team irrespective of their sportsmanship. What would become of the game? So it __can__ matter who wins or loses, but normally we have come to expect that the players and the various associations operate with integrity. … Not so in politics, it seems.
Is that why Michigan lost-or more precisely got their asses kicked? I hope that shit ends. I seriously doubt anyone in the stands understood wtf was flying overhead. If anyone did understand, they probably wanted it to just go away so they could watch some football. It IS the Wolverines f.f.s.
Please do not fuck with Big 10 football. Those of us who really, really are into it would gladly fuck up your election just to get you all to leave our football alone. I could give a rat’s ass less about any other sport in the world…except rugby…I do care about the Big 10 (I know, there are more than 10 now-get over it). Go fly over GA games-who gives a fuck about those games.
Oh, spike, you silly, silly man.
Georgia, part of the SEC, and Georgia Tech, part of the ACC, have fans so rabid they make any “wolverine” look like a newborn bulldog puppy.
Hell, as that esteemed Southern belle and sage, Julia Sugarbaker, put it: “In the East, football is a cultural exercise; in the Midwest, it’s cannibalism; in the West, it’s a tourist attraction; but in the South, it’s a religion.”
Spike…Joseph has a point. By the way the ACC has won as many championships in the past 10 years as the Big(?) Ten, and we’re a basketball conference. Maybe the folks in the middle of the country need a dose of reality. Giant student bodies are fun on game day like Michigan and Ohio State have, but they only allow 11 players on each side of the ball. As far as the banner goes, I agree that a lot of folks were too busy with their hotdogs and beer to notice, and, this time it wasn’t clear what the message was. American voters aren’t known for being smart, otherwise the gop wouldn’t be run by a fascist pig, in a so called democratic Republic. I think Trump/Vance = Nazis would be clearer but Americans aren’t known for embracing truth. That’s why thousands of fascist supporting assholes stood silent with hand over hearts while the national anthem spewed out national propaganda. Home of the brave? Not brave enough to tell the truth or stand for democracy. Free? 99% never put their asses on the line by serving to protect our freedom, and half the country want a sadistic evil dictator to tell them what to do. Just saying.