VIDEO: RNC releases ‘Daisy’ web ad on Gitmo
The Republican National Committee is up with a web ad Friday morning that ties President Obama’s position on closing Guantanamo Bay to nuclear warfare.
The ad, titled “To Close it? To Close it Not?” uses footage from the famous “Daisy” ad that Lyndon B. Johnson (D) used in his 1964 campaign against Barry Goldwater (R). That ad portrays a young girl picking the petals off a daisy that leads into a launch countdown and concludes with an image of a nuclear bomb detonating.
That ad sought to capitalize on a perception that Goldwater could not be trusted with nuclear arms in the midst of the Vietnam War. “These are the stakes,” the ad’s narrator says.
The RNC web ad uses the same footage, interspersed with statements by Obama on closing Gitmo and other Democrats opposing transferring Gitmo detainees to U.S. prisons.
The RNC ad strongly implies that closing Gitmo would endanger the country and could lead to another terrorist attack.
“These are the stakes,” the same narrator says in the RNC ad.
Just a little more context on the original “Daisy” ad: At the time, LBJ was roundly criticized for invoking nuclear warfare in a political ad. The ad also only ran once but was said to have an influence on the race because it got picked up on news casts.
Check out the RNC ad below and the LBJ ad here.
The usual web ad disclaimer: Web ads are cheap and won’t appear on television. The idea behind them is to make them eye catching so they’ll get picked up on blogs and on the news.
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