... but are they right or is this a good ad?
Did DeSantis successfully lure his antagonists into propagating this ad? I only noticed it because Gillian Brockell wrote this WaPo column: "DeSantis fighter jet ad conjures 1988 Dukakis tank debacle."
Clearly, what Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was going for was a comparison to Tom Cruise.... What are DeSantis and his team getting instead? Comparisons to Michael Dukakis.... The footage of the not-so-tough politician popping out of a tank, smiling in military gear, his name taped to the top of the helmet, went what we would now call “viral.” Reporters can be heard laughing hysterically....
The Bush campaign took advantage, airing a devastating campaign ad playing the footage while a narrator says, “Michael Dukakis is opposed to virtually every defense system we’ve developed ... and now he wants to be our commander in chief. America can’t afford that risk.”...Brockell acknowledges some key differences:
In DeSantis’s defense, the ad does seem to be aiming for comedy, where Dukakis definitely was not. Plus, DeSantis served in the military and is still in the Navy Reserve, though he serves as a military lawyer, not a fighter pilot.... Still, Dukakis served in the military, too, though not as a tank operator....
Dukakis did a photo op that created a visual that could be weaponized against him. The Bush campaign used it in their ad. DeSantis made an ad, and those who want to use it against him end up showing his ad. So the pro-DeSantis ad is viral, carried along by his haters. And it's driving attention to his military background, which is quite impressive:
In 2004, during his second year at Harvard Law, DeSantis was commissioned an officer in the U.S. Navy and assigned to the Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAG). He completed Naval Justice School in 2005. Later that year, he received orders to the JAG Trial Service Office Command South East at Naval Station Mayport, Florida, as a prosecutor.... He worked for the commander of Joint Task Force-Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO), working directly with detainees at the Guantanamo Bay Joint Detention Facility.
In 2007, DeSantis... was assigned to SEAL Team One and deployed to Iraq with the troop surge as the Legal Advisor to the SEAL Commander, Special Operations Task Force-West in Fallujah.
DeSantis returned to the U.S. in April 2008, at which time he was reassigned to the Naval Region Southeast Legal Service. The U.S. Department of Justice appointed him to serve as a Special Assistant U.S. attorney....
During his military career, DeSantis has been awarded the Bronze Star Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the Iraq Campaign Medal. As of 2022, he was still serving in the U.S. Navy Reserve.
You want to laugh at that? You're an idiot.
Although Dukakis had been accepted into Harvard Law School, he chose to enlist in the United States Army.... [H]e was assigned as radio operator to the 8020th Administrative Unit in Munsan, South Korea.... Dukakis served from 1955 to 1957.
I wouldn't laugh at Dukakis either. I liked him, and I voted for him. Mocking DeSantis for being like Dukakis isn't just stupid because the ad and the photo op are so different. It's stupid because Dukakis was a fine man, and Democrats should be proud of choosing him and not be kicking him around for a third of a century. Have some self-respect, you clowns.
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161 comments:
Dukakis was a fine man, and Democrats should be proud of choosing him and not be kicking him around for a third of a century.
Dukakis lost forty states to George Bush.
Let that sink in.
Typical liberals--completely missed the point again.
Dukakis in a tank was funny because he was so out of place in that tank. DeSantis as Tom Cruise works because it fits with the persona he has successfully cultivated.
Fantastic ad. Cute kid.
Smacks the hack-D press. Makes proggie hiveminders whine and cry. Love it.
DeSantis is very smart. I've seen the ad and like it.
I associate political competence with ability to consistently grease in a piper cub with a wheel landing right on the numbers without power.
I thought that the qd was cringe. Then again, I won't vote for desantis in '24, it doesn't matter to me.
Dukakis looked silly because of the helmet and particularly the chin strap in place. Remove the chin strap, and the photo might have been fine. It was also silly because his military career didn’t compare to HW Bush, and the attempt at comparison gave Bush a chance to point out the differences.
A worse photo op was John Kerry coming out of the Orbiter at KSC with his cleansuit jumper onesie. There are many ways to look cool around a Space Shuttle, but coming in and out of the crew compartment in a cleansuit isn’t one of them.
"Dukakis lost forty states to George Bush."
A lot of good men have lost. Goldwater lost 44 states to LBJ, and he was a much better man. McGovern was a better man than Nixon and he lost 49 states.
The D's are more afraid of DeSantis at the national level than they are of Trump.
DeSantis strikes me as a fake. Show people you persuaded not people you think you owned. Especially by cutting it off. Maybe they had a great zinger.
He's after the Trump supporters but without the humor that makes it charming.
DeSantis don't play no mess.
Campy ad. Honestly though, Desantis doesn't need to do anything else except run on his record, which is phenomenal.
good man = he seems to mean well, the female voting criterion. As opposed to being destructive of some government structure, the male criterion.
Dukakis was a fine man
Maybe he was and maybe he wasn't, but putting him in a tank was a ludicrous stunt.
Right. Dukakis’ ad reinforced the negative wimpy aura that defined him like his coldly technocratic response to “what if Kitty was raped?” The Top Gov ad reinforces the positive attributes associated with Desantis like his good natured rejection of lame reporters who frame “questions” in woke nonsense. He seems unflappable. And there’s the less than subtle reminder he was a JAG in the Navy and Trump was a deferral. And the “turn and burn” kid quoting Goose is cute.
Where Trump lamely and lazily calls people names, DeSantis calls out the liars on the left in the press like an adult. I love the part in the ad that showcases DeSantis reply to the hack D reporter something like "are you going to give a speech or ask a question?"
Perfect.
Watching grown men drool over Trump gets old.
Oh rhhardin if any of the MSM weenies got over on Desantis with their attempted gotchas then THEY would be tweeting out the video. Gov D is superb at press conferences and worthy of studying by Republicans with lesser press-handling skills. Too bad he and Trump both call Florida home. They’d be a great team.
Rhhardin- I disagree. DeSantis made a very very tough decision when he opened Florida up. The D's, the "science" and even Trump all thought that was premature and said that he would cause the death of millions. That was a period of great uncertainty and fear and he took a tremendous risk. If he had been wrong his career would have been over. History has proven him right. That took guts.
That one decision was one of the bravest things I've seen a politician do. I don't need humor and charm from my President. I need intelligence and emotional maturity.
I would vote for Trump if he won the nomination but would rather have DeSantis.
I like the DeSantis ad. Yeah, it's cheesy. But it's effective.
Even that regular photo of Dukakis makes him look like a dweeb.
I remember the Dukakis tank incident. Reporters were laughing at him, and he was perplexed. It really made him look out of his depth.
"Dukakis was a fine man." Tell that to the victims of his weekend furloughs for felons.
"DeSantis fighter jet ad conjures 1988 Dukakis tank debacle."
What does the author want to be true?
I am among that very small minority who think the Dukakis tank ride video was one moment of him actually enjoying himself during his hideously bad campaign. The guy spent his military service in Korea as infantry, and said he hated every moment of it. So he finally gets to ride around in a tank, faunching around like a boar in a peach orchard, and he has this big grin on his face. The helmet didn't look good, I admit, but I think it maybe looks dumb on anyone. But the man in the helmet, hanging on for dear life as the tank leapt around the track, looked like he was having the time of his life.
Didn't vote for the guy, never would, his politics were ridiculous, but if you want costume cringe use John Kerry partially dressed in cleanroom garb, not Dukakis smiling in the tank.
https://www.reddit.com/r/photoshopbattles/comments/2zp3cs/psbattle_john_kerry_in_a_cleanroom_suit/
DeSantis appeals to the Trump supporters yes--but he comes without the mean tweet baggage. That's one reason the Trump haters are quivering with barely disguised fear.
Haven’t made up my mind about DeSantis, and the ad didn’t win me over. I really dislike the use of the child. Don’t bring your kids into your political campaign unless they’re old enough to meaningfully consent.
Hilarious. That is NOTHING like the Dukakis 1988 ad.
Cool DeSantis has his kid in the ad as well. Also, DeSantis is a square jawed alpha-male with BDE (according to Kari Lake). Dukakis looked like a little boy with that helmet on in the '88 ad.
Awesome DeSantis (like Trump and Kari Lake) is not afraid to call out the media for their lies, propaganda, and bullshit that is destroying our country. Pushing back on these people is want got Trump nominated and elected in 2016.
Mitt Romney (Pierre Delecto), Liz Cheney, Mitch McConnel don't understand this. It's because they are part of the establishment swamp the media is protecting.
"Dukakis was a fine man."
Dukakis was a passive aggressive asshole.
It's good to know, though, that there are some things that we have permission to laugh at.
Beau Biden, the President's now deceased son, was also in JAG and also served in Iraq. I think we're supposed to be respectful of that, though, his service and his dying at such a young age, only 45 or so. But I don't know, maybe there's a joke or two there, if someone wants to make it.
P.S. There's no way that this ad hurts the FL Governor, especially compared to the one Gavin Newsom did, that weak-voice pasty-face skinny-boy ad trying to get Floridians to move to California.
Word to the Trump despisers, Breaking History by Jared Kushner is out, and he reads it himself on Audible. Try it, you will like it. The 2016 history alone is worth re-hearing. It’s no wonder that the DC insiders hate the brilliant outsider who beat them and their weaponized Media. He wiped the floor with them. And now along comes the DeSantis sequel.
The virulent pathology of anti-Trumpism is located at the same spot on the continuum where "gender-affirming care" does. Both are utter madness accepted as sanity.
My headline:
Washington Post (D) - dutifully smears WaPoo on all effective conservatives, republicans and non-loyalist left-wing democraticals.
"Although Dukakis had been accepted into Harvard Law School, he chose to enlist in the United States Army"--at that time of universal military service, enlisting allowed you to control the timing and likely select your MOS vs being drafted. My own father, who was deaf in one ear due to childhood mumps, elected to be commissioned and have some control over his service while in graduate school. The Army in its wisdom assigned the hearing-impaired lieutenant to the anti-aircraft artillery (BOOM!), and his service was a great triumph--the North Koreans did not successfully bomb the US. No knock on Mike D, though. Everyone knew how to minimize the risk of mandatory service, but DeSantis was a SEAL team JAG (my Army son is an 18A for those in the know).
Trump is the name-caller fighter for the male soap opera.
The establishment is really stretching to compare that ad to Dukakis. It's similar to his "build the wall"ad which did well.
If wishes were horses…
Dukakis has left a strong legacy in the United States. All of the George Soros backed liberal DA's, like John Chisolm in Milwaukee, have expanded upon Dukakis' soft on crime revolving door for dangerous criminals attitude. I'm not saying Dukakis was as bad as these DAs are today, but their attitudes and policies certainly trace back to Dukakis and before. Communities suffer by liberal judges that hold these Dukakis / Massachusetts attitudes as well.
It was the Willie Horton ad that killed Dukakis chances because it was true. Willie Horton was serving a life sentence for murder, and was giving a weekend furlough and committed assault, armed robbery, and raped a woman. Also, it is conveniently forgotten that it was Al Gore that first brought up the Massachusetts furlough program in a 1988 Democrat Primary debate.
There were really two shitty candidates running in 1988. Bush was running for Reagan's third term. There are tens of millions of Republican voters that regret ever supporting the Bush family. So, if you voted for Dukakis, I've got nothing up on you.
DeSantis haters are driving more views to this DeSantis ad. They liken it to the Dukakis tank ride but are they right or is this a good ad?
They're wrong.
I dont' know that it's a good ad, but it's nowhere near as bad as the Dukakis one
Did DeSantis successfully lure his antagonists into propagating this ad?
Yes, he did. I'd say that the way he lured left wing "expert" idiots into highlighting the ad is actually a better "ad" for him than the actual ad
"DeSantis fighter jet ad conjures 1988 Dukakis tank debacle."
Clearly, what Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was going for was a comparison to Tom Cruise.... What are DeSantis and his team getting instead? Comparisons to Michael Dukakis.... The footage of the not-so-tough politician popping out of a tank, smiling in military gear, his name taped to the top of the helmet, went what we would now call “viral.” Reporters can be heard laughing hysterically....
The Bush campaign took advantage, airing a devastating campaign ad playing the footage while a narrator says, “Michael Dukakis is opposed to virtually every defense system we’ve developed ... and now he wants to be our commander in chief. America can’t afford that risk.”...
1: Here's another idiot who live-in Twitter, and think the leftist Twitter reaction is what everyone in America is doing
2: The killer for Bush v Dukakis was that the Dukakis photo op WAS a fake, designed to push a false message, because Dukakis was a wimp (his response to the "what if your wife was raped and murdered" question, as well as the fact that Democrats were anti-defense, anti-Cold War, anti-beating the USSR), and his defense policies did suck
The DeSantis ad, otoh, pushes a true message: DeSantis actually does fight the left and the media, BIRM, and he has been putting on seminars for other Republican Governors on how to do it
3: The best thing for DeSantis is that this is a widely appealing ad, among Republican voters.
"Don't fire unless fired upon" == "Unlike Trump, I'm not going to gratuitously start trouble and roil things up
The rest of the ad: like Trump, I do fight, and fight back
And I win
Something for everyone in the Republican coalition. It's a great 2024 Primary campaign ad, and the way the lefties are sharing it just makes it an even better ad for DeSantis
was it not the battle helmet that did Dukakis ?
he was right height for inside tank driver
is DeSantis taller that Tom Cruise?
for fighter jet pilot!
I think DeSantis demeans his brand by trying to capitalize on the momentary fad of Top Gun, and trying to leverage Tom Cruise's reflected stardom. He has his own power and should use it, and a record of success to back it up. But it's a mostly-harmless ad.
Dukakis was mocked with his tank ad because nobody could ever envision him being the type of man who could drive a tank - it was completely out of character, a shameless hustle, and so ridiculous in its premise that it was quickly (and very effectively) turned against him.
Thus proving yet once again, the Left cannot meme. To meme successfully, one must first be self-aware, capable of reflection, and possessing a sense of humor.
Entertaining, tongue in cheek stuff except when he calls the reporters out. Even Trump is kinder to reporters than DeSantis. Need more of tha "'I will not back down" attitude. I am hoping against hope that Trump sees the light and withdraws in favor of Desantis. Never happen, but a hope!
In 2007, DeSantis... was assigned to SEAL Team One and deployed to Iraq with the troop surge as the Legal Advisor to the SEAL Commander, Special Operations Task Force-West in Fallujah.
There's two possibilities here:
1: He really pissed off a senior officer
2: He volunteered to go off to Iraq to back the troops
The second is obviously good. Given the reason he pissed someone off, the first could also be made to work
Now, where this can really bite is in the job he did:
1: Are there soldiers out there willing to say "that DeSantis screwed us over with his hyper-legalistic BS"? That could be a killer in the Primary
2: Did he give his stamp of approval to something that turned into an "atrocity"? That could be painful in the General Election
OTOH, if he did, I would expect Charlie Crist's team to dig it up, and use it this year.
After all, while we expect Charlie to get crushed, I'm pretty sure he's not re-running for Governor just to lose. So I dont' see him digging something up, and saying "nah, we should save this until 2024"
rhhardin said...
DeSantis strikes me as a fake
Opening FL up early, and sticking to his guns
"Don't say gay", not backing down even when Disney jumped in (remember what happened to Indiana's Religious Freedom act after big business jumped in? I do)
Fighting the cruise lines et. al. about "vaccine passports"
If that's "fake", what's "real"?
Show people you persuaded not people you think you owned. Especially by cutting it off. Maybe they had a great zinger.
Ah, so what you're saying is that you're a clueless ignoramus
1: The point of the "Top Gun/Gov" imagery is that it's about fighting and beating the other side. So essentially your'e whining that he made a different ad than the one you want him to make
2: If you'd paying attention any time during the last year, you'd recognize those confrontations, and know that he did win them. So you;'re showing off your own ignorance here, nothing more
He's after the Trump supporters but without the humor that makes it charming.
He's after the Trump supporters, by showing them he'll fight just like Trump does, but he'll win more often
I'm pretty sure most Trump supporters want victory, as well as fighting
"Bush campaign took advantage, airing a devastating campaign ad playing the footage while a narrator says"
Bush's campaign had trouble getting footage because all the networks knew that it would be devastating to Dukakis. Media bias is not new. It's decades and decades old.
The tank comparison is pure wishcasting.
It's a good ad and his little boy at the end takes it above and beyond because it gives the warm and fuzzy cute feelings and leaves viewers smiling - un peut de fromage does work sometimes.
Basically, DeSantis is saying "I'm the Trump/MAGA policy made human", and it's very effective. He's going to smoke Charlie Hey-Zeus Crist, although the latter will probably retain his W Bush endorsement, for what little that's worth anymore.
This ad lends more credibility to the idea that Trump is playing the decoy for 2024, and will (as he did for 4 years as president) continue to be the lightning rod for criticism and negative attention while fellow travelers of MAGA-type reformism like DeSantis move the ball down the field. Trump is an egomaniac but he's not stupid, and certainly by now he's not unaware of his own limitations. Will be interesting to see if that theory is correct.
The ad is odd and unnecessary, but it doesn’t begin to compare to the image of a wimpy and goofy Dukakis.
Dukakis came across as soft, in his personality, in his words, in his actions. The tank event just reinforced this image of weakness, someone ill-suited for the presidency.
I will also note that "good man" and "good president" are not the same thing. Students of history know that some immoral jerks, not to mention bloodthirsty tyrants, ended up being great leaders for their people, while some of the kindest, most pious individuals were absolute disasters. A good man without the rest of the leader skillset is very likely to be a failure.
As for the DeSantis ad, I am not the target audience for the ad so I have no idea if it is effective or not.
Is it a good ad? LOL... is the Pope Catholic? (well, technically at least)
Hell yes it's a good ad. It capitalizes on the massive conservative popularity of the Top Gun: Maverick movie, he is a real Navy vet, as Ann mentions, it's well produced, it's red-meaty, & I don't think there's anybody within his base-of-support who won't like it.
As for what the garden-variety DeSantis haters think about it, who gives a toss?
Is it a good ad? LOL... is the Pope Catholic? (well, technically at least)
Hell yes it's a good ad. It capitalizes on the massive conservative popularity of the Top Gun: Maverick movie, he is a real Navy vet, as Ann mentions, it's well produced, it's red-meaty, & I don't think there's anybody within his base-of-support who won't like it.
As for what the garden-variety DeSantis haters think about it, who gives a toss?
He is giving many republicans the methods to fight back against the democrat media. Love it. "Never accept their narrative" should be tattooed on the inside of republicans eyelids.
Is it a good ad? LOL... is the Pope Catholic? (well, technically at least)
Hell yes it's a good ad. It capitalizes on the massive conservative popularity of the Top Gun: Maverick movie, he is a real Navy vet, as Ann mentions, it's well produced, it's red-meaty, & I don't think there's anybody within his base-of-support who won't like it.
As for what the garden-variety DeSantis haters think about it, who gives a toss?
Losses and failures have a different and stronger cognitive/psychological impact versus wins. Failure sticks in the mind, and people revisit negatives to prevent future problems.
"Out, out damned spot."
https://nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/famous/out-damned-spot/
https://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2011/10/positive-negative
https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1844704_1844706_1844712,00.html
Massachusetts Governor Mike Dukakis didn't exactly charm his way into voters' hearts during the 1988 debates with his response about whether he would support the death penalty should his wife, Kitty, be raped and murdered...
Years later, Dukakis would recall his response, saying, "I have to tell you, and maybe I'm just still missing it ... I didn't think it was that bad."
And that's why Dukakis lost, and deserved to lose.
How Dukakis should have answered the question:
"Would I personally want revenge on the man who did that? Yes. Would I want to rend him to bits? Yes.
But we have society and laws so that we can get justice, not just vengeance. And right and wrong don't change just because I or someone I love is the victim this time.
So as I've opposed the death penalty when other people's wives and mothers have been abused, I'm not going to turn around and say 'but this time it's different!'"
This would have created a human connection with the viewers, and shown him to be a strong man of principle. That decades later he still hasn't figured that out shows that he really is the sad, pathetic technocratic dweeb he was portrayed as being.
Is it a good ad? LOL... is the Pope Catholic? (well, technically at least)
Heck yes it's a good ad. It capitalizes on the massive conservative popularity of the Top Gun: Maverick movie, he is a real Navy vet, as Ann mentions, it's well produced, it's red-meaty, & I don't think there's anybody within his base-of-support who won't like it.
As for what the garden-variety DeSantis haters think about it, who gives a toss?
"Brockell acknowledges some key differences"
He ignored the most important. DeSantis did the top gun thing for an ad. The show him as a Tom Cruise type, but then showed him actually acting like it in real clips.
Kukakis did not. His was a PR stunt to make him look tough because he was getting hammered on defense issues. Instead it made him look like Rocky the Flying Squirrel.
And then there's the Mason to Hunter comparison.
tim maguire: "Typical liberals--completely missed the point again.
Dukakis in a tank was funny because he was so out of place in that tank. DeSantis as Tom Cruise works because it fits with the persona he has successfully cultivated."
If you recall, the anti-Dukakis tank commercial put out by Bush's campaign team was released in mid-October '88 and aired nationwide during the 3rd game of the World Series. So, quite a big hitter with broad viewership.
Dukakis had always had a reputation of being weak on defense and his policy statements regarding military weapons programs was basically a list of everything the Soviets had been calling for the US to cut back on or kill.
So, in addition to violating the Campaign Maxim of Never Appear With Any Kind Of Hat For Any Reason Rule for candidates, the 5'8" lefty from Massachusetts looked like a dead ringer for Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Neuman in a helmet.
And during the slowed down, gritty grained commercial which showed this Alfred E. Neuman dunce in a helmet riding a tank like a child riding an undersized tricycle, the republican commercial had a scroll of every military weapons system and military program that Dukakis has publicly supported scaling back or getting rid of altogether.
The Soviet Union had not yet experienced its inevitable collapse from its internal contradictions which all lefty/lib systems suffer from, so the majority of normal Americans (not Massachusetts democraticals) watched that commercial and knew, instinctively, that this Willie Horton-Soft On Crime-Democratical Technocrat With No Emotion (already established in the public's mind with the Bernard Shaw/Kitty Dukakis hypothetical rape question during the debates) dude would immediately move to put us a strategic disadvantage vis a vis the Sovieticals. Sovieticals/Democraticals (to-ma-to/to-ma-tuh)
Precisely similar to what Biden's Earpiece is doing with China now.
Whatever remained of Dukakis' supposed 16 point lead after the Dem convention was completely blown out of the water.
Bottom line: The commercial perfectly exposed the hypocrisy and insincerity and political machinations of the democratical move to fake up a "strong on National Defense" Dukakis.
Now compare that with the DeSantis commercial.
Whether you like the DeSantis move to use the Top Gun framework or not, the content of the ad works in perfect unison with what we've seen DeSantis do for years: attack and expose the legacy press for the democratical/sovietical hacks that they are.
That is why the DeSantis ad "works". It reinforces the image of the very things DeSantis has been doing consistently for a long time.
The only possible attack ad the democratical/Sovieticals/DeepStaters/NeverTrump-NeverRepublicans could come up with destroy the DeSantis ad would be a video where DeSantis was getting pushed around by these idiot democratical reporters.
But there are no examples of that. And you can bet there won't be.
The Dukakis ad illustrated the opposite of what Dukakis was all about.
The DeSantis ad illustrates exactly what DeSantis is all about re: press pushback.
That's the difference.
1. It's a corny metaphor.
2. He served in the military, so he's not appropriating anything.
3. Firing back at the media is xlnt, but mix in some non-nasty stuff as well.
4. Kids are always a winner.
5. Dukakis looked like Snoopy popping out of a tank. Worst press-agent advice ever.
I watched the Desantis ad. What is he running for? Press Secretary? The entire ad was clips of him sparring with reporters. Nothing about policy, programs, goals, where and how he wants to make government work. He may have answers to all these, but this ad does not do it.
Awaiting viral video of him dancing. Closer to Trump or Sanna Marin?
rhhardin said...
DeSantis strikes me as a fake. Show people you persuaded not people you think you owned.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/desantis-backed-candidates-flip-florida-school-board-liberal-conservative?intcmp=tw_fnc
"Sarasota School Board had a 3-2 liberal majority," Christina Pushaw, rapid response director for DeSantis's reelection campaign, tweeted on Tuesday night.
"Today @RonDeSantisFL endorsed candidates won and flipped the school board so it’s now 4-1 anti woke indoctrination and pro parental rights."
Some "fake". Looks like he persuaded a whole bunch of voters there, no?
Dukakis was a wimp who could not answer a simple debate question about what he would do if his wife were murdered.
In the tank, he looked like Snoopy.
It was hilarious.
DeSantis' ad was fun and makes people smile. He may not be a fighter pilot, but he is definitely not a wimp.
Republicans should be ashamed of making fun of Dukakis’ too, not just Democrats, no? And it won’t just be a Democrats making fun of DeSantis’ ad.
"Nothing about policy, programs, goals, where and how he wants to make government work. He may have answers to all these, but this ad does not do it."
What rock do you have to live under to not know what DeSantis' policy, programs and goals are by now?
Is it a good ad? Seems like the acid test would be, does it win you any votes? Probably it does not.
Does it lose you any votes (a bad ad)? Probably not.
If it's intended to motivate the base, it probably works.
It also may be a warning to Charlie Crist: Top Gov is your opponent, not some limp-wristed loser.
Show people you persuaded not people you think you owned. Good advice, and you can and should do both, you know.
It's a good ad. Control of information space is a part of all elections and wars now and that was the subject of the ad. But, Mr. Candidate, don't make ads in which you wear dorky helmets with ear flaps that come down the side of your face. Lucky for DeSantis that his very cute little boy interrupted that part of the ad.
The ad premise to me is cringe. And really someone needs to tell pudgy-face politicians not to put on those helmets. The squashed face is not a good look. But DeSantis didn't linger on that image and broke it as a memory by the shift to his son.
"Navy Reserve, though he serves as a military lawyer, not a fighter pilot"
Hmm, I seem to remember a popular TV show where a JAG lawyer was also a fighter pilot. Quite popular.
Dukakis damaged himself because he looked like a goofball in the tank ad. Nobody thought he was trying to pass himself off as a former tanker. DeSantis will be (falsely accused) of trying to pass himself off as a Top Gun graduate and the press will pretend that Dukakis was hurt in his ad for implying he used to work in Army tanks. Lots of people are stupid and will fall for this.
"And it's driving attention to his military background, which is quite impressive"
Among other things. In fact, by normal standards, everything about the guy is impressive--education, service, record, demeanor, speech, fighting spirit. He understands the opposition and deals with it. Who among current politicians compares? Maybe Cotton. But: advantage DeSantis. DeSantis/Cotton: that's the ticket. DeSantis/Scott would work better though.
Both sides....He's playing to the part of the public which thinks the media are his/their enemies. What policies get implemented depends in part on other elections as well, and those depend on voters and their information level. Which is informed by the media. Which is seen as an enemy by many people.
Top Gov. It's a 2024 ad. Top Gov draws the distinction of the difference between himself and Trump. Executive experience in government. Trump's lack of experience in government was his worst failing. The clips of DeSantis responding to the idiot press highlight his likeness to Trump's strengths.
He's positioning himself for 2024 with this, and it's aimed at Trump voters.
Hunter Biden's tax payer funded Hooker said...
Where Trump lamely and lazily calls people names, DeSantis calls out the liars on the left in the press like an adult. I love the part in the ad that showcases DeSantis reply to the hack D reporter something like "are you going to give a speech or ask a question?"
Perfect.
One minute later:
Hunter Biden's tax payer funded Hooker said...
Watching grown men drool over Trump gets old.
It is like you don't even see yourselves.
"Drool."
You Trump haters are pathetic. You cannot discuss this rationally.
The Tom Cruise comparison is apt: I'm a little surprised how tall DeSantis is in real life. I mean, he’s a little fellow, but not "circus-midget" little, as his reputation would suggest.
I think the ad is fine. I see it as “Here is how we are going to fight” buttressed with examples how the governor has already fought. Naming the MSM as the enemy will help him with his targeted voter base.
It's cringe. I already don't trust DeSantis, and this is squirmy. And don't use kids.
With Trump I know all the warts, and sometimes he pleasantly surprises me on policy, like the Abraham Accords.
I regret to say that I also voted for Dukakis -- the first and last time I voted for a Democrat for president. I was relatively young and living in a college town where everyone was a Democrat, and I'd grown up with Dukakis. Familiarity made him a reassuring figure for me, and he was certainly less annoying than Kennedy or Kerry or Barney Frank. Bush was the scary CIA guy (at the same time as he was the wimpy WASP preppy).
The country was going to go Democrat sooner or later -- at that time, the Democrats seemed less into the global, borderless world fantasy than the Republicans, at least when it came to economics -- and Dukakis wasn't the worst of the bunch. Later, I found out that he wasn't that great a governor and left the state in bad shape.
Still, he does get points for not being quite as corrupt or depraved as many other politicians. It's not that private morality entitles anyone to votes, but rather, if a politician's opponents have to make things up or turn virtues into vices to demonize a candidate it reflects well on that candidate (maybe better than the politician really deserve). Dukakis would have made a horrible president, but he wasn't a monster, either in his public or private life, so I give him that.
The DeSantis ad works -- barely. Before I watched I was expecting the ad to be comic and downplay his hardass image. But it actually played up his ornery bastard image and still managed to be funny, especially at the end. So it worked for me, though I generally don't like ads that play to the ideological base and their desire for political combat, rather than to a general audience interested in more substantive issues.
Last sentence: "clowns" being the operative word.
Trump is the name-caller fighter for the male soap opera.
It's a domestication of violence, fights without hate.
In 2007, DeSantis... was assigned to SEAL Team One and deployed to Iraq with the troop surge as the Legal Advisor to the SEAL Commander, Special Operations Task Force-West in Fallujah.
That is nice.
Let's be real though. He never left a base. The war hero bullshit is bullshit. It is the type of deployment you get to make your resume look better.
My wife "deployed" too while she was in the army. We laugh about it.
The problem with this add is the people behind it.
Desantis hired the same Washington Insiders that ran Cruz's campaign in 2016. It is all shmap and garbage.
What this says to me is the Swamp wants Desantis to take out Trump. And there are millions of people that will not turn out for Desantis that would turn out for Trump and they know it.
If Desantis keeps hiring Washington DC consultants like this I will be one of them. I will not vote for a person that has anything to do with Washington DC or the people that run that town.
Desantis is shaping up to be Mitt Romney 2.0 and I see all the people who supported Mitt Romney supporting Desantis for exactly the same reasons they supported Romney.
Dukakis was a fine man, and Democrats should be proud of choosing him and not be kicking him around for a third of a century.
Dukakis was a fine man. I happen to think a lot of his policies were wrong and that he was a poor candidate. (I liked a different Greek from Massachusetts - Paul Tsongas.)
On the other hand, there have been execrable men who have been candidates and winners. Look at Joe Biden who accused Mitt Romney (another fine man) of wanting to put African-Americans in chains.
Personally, I think DeSantis is a fine man. And I have no problem with him fighting back against the partisan media.
Will Cate said...
As for what the garden-variety DeSantis haters think about it, who gives a toss?
Trump brought millions of normally non-political class working people into the party.
Trump connected with them the way career politicians never did.
This add is not going to connect with those people. It is going to connect with people who inhabit blogger discussion groups like this blog.
This ad is going to turn those people off.
Desantis will get 10 million fewer votes than Trump will in the general minimum. Those people will not turn out for Mitt Romney 2.0.
Gilbert Pinfold, 9:34:
"(my Army son is an 18A for those in the know)."
I wanted to be one, but ended up making other choices. (Man's got to know his limitations.) Hat's off to your son and his colleagues.
Greg the Class Traitor, 10:06:
Right on!
I grew up under his governorship and was calling BS on the "Massachusetts Miracle. Oh how I laughed at Jon Lovitz' portrayal of him in those days. I'll still agree with our host that Dukakis is a decent man, better than most of our politicians on either side these days. "As I know more of mankind I expect less of him, and am willing to call a man a good man, upon easier terms than I was formerly."
It was endearing that Kitty Dukakis's first husband went on to remarry and father former Congresssman and Fox personality Jason Chaffetz. It made you think the country might not be so bitterly divided -- and there's a great sitcom premise there.
Also, Kitty's dad had been Arthur Fiedler's assistant conductor in the Boston Pops. If the eccentric Fiedler had been her father, there's another sitcom premise.
Still, neither is as funny as Biden in the White House.
I won't watch the Rhonda Santos ad, but no way possible it's close to being Dukakis bad. First of all, you people get supercharged by macho posture military might displaying strongman as long as he is republican. If this was another Jag Off like say Beau Biden, you people would be slagging him off as a phony baloney ivy league elitist ticket puncher.
1. Helmet, chinstrap, whatever, Dukakis looked like a fool. (And really, I was reaching for "douchebag.") DeSantis does not.
2. Anyone can make a mistake, and hopefully you learn as you go. But weekend furloughs for life-sentenced violent felons were so insanely stupid, and the consequences so predictable, that anyone who supported them simply cannot be trusted with significant responsibilities. Period.
Russia Collusion Truther and Hillary Hoax Dossier Dead Ender Inga: "Republicans should be ashamed of making fun of Dukakis’ too, not just Democrats, no?"
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL (long enough for "braying" status?)
Can you believe an idiot lefty like Inga wrote that, just now, in 2022?
Inga's post needs a Civility BS tag.
John Kerry, who also served in the military, playing a sperm in the NASA tunnel was the high point of political ads.
That is a good add. I like it. The Dukakis photo op made him look goofy.
One thing I really like about Desantis is that he seems to be able to punch back on media bullshit without devolving into Trump-style wild-eyed narcissism. The ad contains examples. He can fight!
The one thing that gives me pause is that that's pretty much what I thought about Chris Christie way back when (remember all those YouTube videos?), so my ability to judge these things is open to serious question.
Howard: "First of all, you people get supercharged by macho posture military might displaying strongman as long as he is republican."
Tell us more about the democratical's love affair with Biden's Earpiece obsession with Cool Aviator Glasses....
And Howard is just going to love, love, love this one from the lefty press re: Biden and "muscle cars".....
With Howard, the projection is non-stop and always at a high volume.
If you wanted Dukakis, you voted for him regardless of the ad. If you want DiSantis, you think the ad is great. Their only similarity is that both men's names end in "is". Of course it all depends on what the meaning of "is" is.
The twitterati warriors are the most stupid people in the world.
nn Althouse said...
"Dukakis lost forty states to George Bush."
A lot of good men have lost. Goldwater lost 44 states to LBJ, and he was a much better man. McGovern was a better man than Nixon and he lost 49 states.
Goldwater was inept as a candidate. I actually voted for Johnson, the only vote I regret. McGovern lost on policy, not personality. The country was not ready to surrender on Vietnam. McG would have surrendered. Nixon tried to finesse it but Watergate was a successful FBI coup.
On the DeSantis ad, I don't like it. I'm with Achilles on DeSantis. I like him but don't trust him. The bunch running his campaign seem to be the usual swamp rats.
Howard-- you are a little dim today. DiSantis could dress up like Mr. Peepers and run Slow Joe off the field.
Why don't you try telling us what you think instead of telling us what we think?
Vaclav: "On the other hand, there have been execrable men who have been candidates and winners. Look at Joe Biden who accused Mitt Romney (another fine man) of wanting to put African-Americans in chains."
One can only imagine how many tingles that Biden accusation about Romney sent up the legs of Inga and Howard and the rest of the libtards.
If you recall, as with the Harry Reid "Romney paid no income taxes for 10 years!" lie spoken on the Senate floor so there could be no legal repercussions, the lefties laughed and laughed about the "chains" accusation.
We've had Inga actually claiming the republicans were/are trying to set up a Handmaids Tale scenario.....right before she decried unfair attacks on politicians and calling for more "civility".
So yeah, that HWBush ad against Dukakis was a "terrible" thing...........(snort)
I won't watch the Rhonda Santos ad.
LOL. And that tells you just about everything you need to know about Howard.
The entire ad was clips of him sparring with reporters.
Duh. You've found the point of the ad! Hence the theme "don't fire unless fired upon."
If you want to look up what stupid questions they shot at him prior to his excellent answers, you'll see why he chose this theme: every "reporter" featured in this ad asked a loaded leading often dumber than shit question playing "gotcha" as the #fakenews media is wont to do and each of them got a big helping of premise-rejection right back that shut down the dishonest framing.
This is isn't the Brandon Short Bus Press corps that ask what flavor ice cream is your favorite, it's the American Pravda that dishonestly called the Parental Protection Act the Don't Say Gay law, which is the context for many of the exchanges in this excellent ad.
Sebastian: ""And it's driving attention to his military background, which is quite impressive""
His military record as an intel guy is simply okay. The fact that members of the SEAL teams he worked with took pics with him tells me is a positive.
But make no mistake, DeSantis wasn't romping around in combat zones or flying into danger zones (h/t Kenny Loggins).
Still, the ad is effective for the clear purposes intended by the campaign.
As pointed out by others above, the thing making lots of conservatives nervous is that, and its true, DeSantis has lined up quite a few of the Beltway consultant insiders. The same people that helped make Scott Walker a nonentity and a complete primary candidate failure in 2016.
Walker actually had George Will's wife as a high level staffer!! Talk about the kiss of death!
DeSantis also had little to say about the illegal Dem/NeverTrump/DOJ/FBI raid against Trump. Big warning flag, similar to Kristi Noem's initial DC-consultant class response to the trans bill in SD. Which was similar to a whole lotta political calls that Nikki Haley has made over the last 4 years which doom her in any republican primary, despite her recent efforts to "clean that up".
So, for many its still a wait and see with DeSantis with some ominous establishment overtones that will have to be overcome, if that's even possible.
but DeSantis was a SEAL team JAG (my Army son is an 18A for those in the know).
Not to disparage DeSantis personally, I like the cut of his jib and approve of most of his stances, but being a JAG on a SEAL does not really confer SEAL 'stink' on him. A legal weenie is a legal weenie and is not someone even close to the tip of the spear. At least from the perspective of a 17 year (and counting...) naval officer with several submarine deployments under his belt.
A little context missing also. Not only did not look like a tough guy in a tank just on his goofy, awkward appearance, he was also whiffed the question on the death penalty for a hypothetical murderer and rapist of his wife.
There was a narrative of weakness that kept being reinforced.
If you want a Dukakis moment, google "john kerry bunny suit"
And it's driving attention to his military background, which is quite impressive
Quite impressive... for being a lawyer. Though a propos for a law prof blog!
One reason it's a great ad is because he talks about Rules of Engagement for the Press and then shows how tough he is with them.
What was his job with the Navy Seals in Iraq? A major one was advising them on Rules of Engagement during operations.
I think it works perfectly and is really smart.
Most people don't know his military background.
Top Gov vs. Turncoat Charlie. There's no doubt about the heroes and villains here.
BothSidesNow said...
I watched the Desantis ad. What is he running for? Press Secretary? The entire ad was clips of him sparring with reporters. Nothing about policy, programs, goals, where and how he wants to make government work
News flash, you can't accomplish anything in policy if you're not willing to fight the Left
Which means sparring with reporters.
He may have answers to all these, but this ad does not do it
This really is a pathetically stupid line, people.
It's a one minute ad. it's not going to do everything
It does one thing, and it clearly does it well. Since otherwise you idiots wouldn't be whining about all the irrelevant things it didn't do
We make the same point, Amadeus. The press has no clue how popularity works. If they did have a clue CNN wouldn't be in need of a complete teardown and makeover.
I just would add that here in Florida, we're already seeing that Top Gove ad as well as one tying Turncoat Charlie to Biden. Gov. DeSantis has a big war chest built up, so he won't lose due to inability to get his message out. I also saw a negative ad against Val Demings, who is running for the Senate against Marco Rubio. Considering that the primary was only settled last night, it's good to know that they had the attack ads ready.
This ad is terrible, but nearly all political ads are terrible, so it probably fits in.
Pencil-necked Dukakis’s ill conceived spin as Rocket J. Squirrel in a tank is in a class of its own, lol.
Getting a Bronze Star as a JAG isn't easily done.
Mike, I think you can tell a lot about a man by what his favorite ice cream flavor is. You treat it as though it's trivial.
Achilles said...
Trump brought millions of normally non-political class working people into the party.
Trump connected with them the way career politicians never did.
This add is not going to connect with those people.
Why not?
You think those people are among the audience seeing Top Gun? I think they are
You think they aren't wondering "would this guy fight for me?" I know they're asking that.
What's the ad show? DeSantis fighting toe to toe against het people who think they can remake the world by changing the words. What's DeSantis saying? "No, you can't"
This ad is going to turn those people off.
Why? Give specifics you can back up, not just a general whine
“LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL (long enough for "braying" status?)”
Why don’t you write heehaw about 10 times? Yes Drago you are an ass, you didn’t need to ask.
Achilles said...
In 2007, DeSantis... was assigned to SEAL Team One and deployed to Iraq with the troop surge as the Legal Advisor to the SEAL Commander, Special Operations Task Force-West in Fallujah.
That is nice.
Let's be real though. He never left a base. The war hero bullshit is bullshit. It is the type of deployment you get to make your resume look better.
1: You're the only one claiming that makes him a "war hero"
2: What he is is someone who graduated from Yale, then Harvard Law School, then rather than get a clerkship or work for Big Law (which his resume and grades would have made a piece of cake), he joined the Navy, became a JAG, went to Gitmo to prosecute terrorists, then went to Iraq to serve as a legal protector for SEAL Team 1
Which, since they faced as many domestic legal threats as they did foreign physical threats, was a useful thing for him to do.
I'm betting a lot of those Trump voters know someone who got screwed over by the US military legal. So if the Dems can find someone who can credibly say that about DeSantis, it would be a killer
But if they can't, and Ron can get some ads made with military guys say "Ron always had our backs", IMAO that will be a big win
From Wikipedia:
After high school, DeSantis studied history at Yale University. He was captain of Yale's varsity baseball team and joined the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. He was an outfielder on the Yale baseball team; as a senior in 2001, he had the team's best batting average at .336. While attending Yale he worked a variety of jobs, including an electrician's assistant and a baseball camp coach. DeSantis graduated from Yale in 2001 with a B.A. magna cum laude. After spending a year as a history teacher at the Darlington School, he attended Harvard Law School, graduating in 2005 with a Juris Doctor cum laude.
So,
1: He at least partially worked his way through school. That's going to be a big help during the student loan debate
2: "electrician's assistant and a baseball camp coach". IOW, he's a real guy. Another connection with the Trump voters
3: He was a history teacher. That will get those suburban wine mom's hearts fluttering
"Why are you so anti education?" "I'm not anti-education, I was a teacher. I'm just anti BAD teachers"
DeSantis also had little to say about the illegal Dem/NeverTrump/DOJ/FBI raid against Trump. Big warning flag, similar to Kristi Noem's initial DC-consultant class response to the trans bill in SD. Which was similar to a whole lotta political calls that Nikki Haley has made over the last 4 years which doom her in any republican primary, despite her recent efforts to "clean that up".
Yes, those are all warning signs. As I said above, I like DeSantis but don't trust him. Trump is still the gold standard but his age is an issue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKWoI6ivRyw
Greg: "IOW, he's a real guy. Another connection with the Trump voters"
The ONLY "connection" the Trump voters care about is a candidate who will fight for their values, speak the unvarnished truth about DC corruption, call out the permanent state for their never-ending war on and criminalization of typical citizens, and put America First in terms of all domestic and international polices.
Checklists of backstory experiences wont do that.
DeSantis can become that, but if he is going to then he has surrounded himself with DC "yes" persons and that's not a great start to a national campaign that can capture the populist working class.
Russia Collusion Truther and Hillary Hoax Dossier Dead Ender Inga: "Why don’t you write heehaw about 10 times?"
Inefficient.
Russia Collusion Truther and Hillary Hoax Dossier Dead Ender Inga: "Yes Drago you are an ass, you didn’t need to ask."
Don't you have another blog moderator to curse out? You seem to like doing that.
Howard: "The press has no clue how popularity works. If they did have a clue CNN wouldn't be in need of a complete teardown and makeover."
Of course the press knows how popularity works.
Your mistake is in not recognizing the particular audience CNN wanted to be popular with. In terms of coastal moron lefties, CNN was very popular indeed. And that's all they ever wanted....and they got it. In spades.
New ownership wants a new, broader, more diverse and potentially more lucrative audience and for that, they'll need new content. And new content providers. And new "readers" in front of the camera.
It's that simple.
Will it work? Doubtful. The rot goes deep not just in CNN loony lefty-ville, but in the minds of 10's of millions of American news/info consumers who already have what CNN has become emblazened on their minds, those millions will have to die out before the general audience warms up to a "new CNN".
Similar to how all the the democratical racist segregationists had to die off and get replaced by migrating republicans and business persons into the south over 50 years to take over the southern statehouses in the 90's/00's/2010's.
So if you are a New Soviet Democratical still pushing lies about the republican party "Southern Strategy" and how all the democratical segregationists became republicans overnight in the '60's, you need a reality check.
If I'm not mistaken, Howard is one of those democraticals still pushing those lies. But then Howard is still pushing the russia collusion hoax, so, you know, consider the source.
Misinforminimalism:
"Getting a Bronze Star as a JAG isn't easily done."
Not sure if your succinctly not-quite-correct post, combined with your handle, is dry humor.
In case it wasn't, a Bronze Star would be a pretty standard award for a JAG who deployed to a combat zone and did a fine job in support of his command. I am in no way being snide his DeSantis' service.
Getting a Bronze Star with Valor would be quite unusual for a JAG, as it this denotes bravery in combat with an enemy. It's just not a JAG's job to go slug it out with them unless things have gone badly off-track.
Clyde: "Considering that the primary was only settled last night, it's good to know that they had the attack ads ready."
It's been known that Demmings was going to win by a mile for months now. No one else was even close.
So don't give the Rubio team too much credit for having an ad in the can and teed up with TV time. That is bare minimum consultant competence and nothing to laud. If they had failed to have that ready to go it would have been political campaign malpractice.
JPS: "Not sure if your succinctly not-quite-correct post, combined with your handle, is dry humor.
In case it wasn't, a Bronze Star would be a pretty standard award for a JAG who deployed to a combat zone and did a fine job in support of his command. I am in no way being snide his DeSantis' service.
Getting a Bronze Star with Valor would be quite unusual for a JAG, as it this denotes bravery in combat with an enemy. It's just not a JAG's job to go slug it out with them unless things have gone badly off-track."
Absolutely correct.
Bronze Stars with combat "V" are the tell for a combat/heroic action award. Otherwise, its just "meritorious service" in a combat zone, which most JAG's probably were awarded just for being in the combat zone.
Look, DeSantis served honorably as a JAG attached to special force units. Great. Kudos. But its not going to impress the military vet/ground pounders and front line flyers and personnel who comprise a significant portion of the up and coming diverse working class populist voting base in the republican party which just so happens to be the recipe for a republican national majority.
Bernard Shaw's debate question to Dukakis just proves one thing: Hillary! had a good reason to want the debate questions beforehand.
When your only guiding principle is What's In It For Me, it's pretty tough to come with answers off the cuff.
"Don't accept their narrative."
Is the WaPo assuming that no one will watch the ad? Just trust their word that it's cringey?
Speaking of cringey, I bet Dukakis just loves being brought up as an example of what not to do. It's been 34 years. (A lot of the people the WaPo is trying to talk to weren't even born then and the comparison means nothing to them.) I bet he'd like for everyone to give it a rest.
Greg The Class Traitor said...
Why? Give specifics you can back up, not just a general whine
For example I know a bunch of medical marijuana growers in Washington. Some were Bernie bro's until weed was legalized and regulated and they learned the government sucks and that they were libertarians all along.
They hate Republicans. They like Trump.
They don't even know who Desantis is. They will never learn who Desantis is. His finely worded responses to the press don't motivate them. They don't even watch news on TV. They will see this ad randomly at some point and they will assume he is another Republican asshole.
They went to a Trump rally and voted for him. They wont even vote in an election between Desantis and Harris.
The contractors and house framers I worked with. High proportion of Hispanics. Will curse at you if you talk about politics at work. Hate politics. Don't want to even go there.
They have Trump stickers on their Trucks. They don't know who Desantis is. They will never know who Desantis is. They don't give a shit about learning about Desantis. They don't care about conservative politics.
The only people who know who Desantis is are people who like to watch Republicans give smackdowns to dumbass lefty reporters in verbal displays of ingenuity. There are not very many of us.
Ron Desantis will get 10-15 million fewer votes in the General election that Trump will.
Period.
If you actually care about defeating the swamp there is only one choice.
But the problem that people on this blog have is that they can't even recognize this is a tribal issue. Trump is not in the political "conservative" tribe. So the reactions to him are exactly what people do with people that are different from their tribal norms.
The working class people that connect with Trump are necessary for electoral victory. And you people act like they don't even exist.
It is a massive blind spot for you all.
Misinforminimalism said...
Getting a Bronze Star as a JAG isn't easily done.
Are you making a joke? That is fine if you are.
A bronze star with a V device is hard to get. Requires an actual combat situation and above and beyond activity.
A bronze star no.
Everyone that deploys of a certain rank gets a bronze star as long as they are not caught drunk during deployment.
The Left can't meme or, apparently, coherently criticize memes. The ad is a parody. He isn't just riding a tank or jet to look tough.
No better illustration of the Cult of Trump than coolness in the comments on DeSantis of all people.
"DeSantis fighter jet ad conjures 1988 Dukakis tank debacle."
What does the author want to be true?
That DeSantis will lose 40 states?
"DeSantis fighter jet ad conjures 1988 Dukakis tank debacle."
What does the author want to be true?
That DeSantis will lose 40 states?
I don't vote for the better person. To paraphrase Mr. Friedman, I try to vote for the person who I think will do the right thing for whatever wrong reason. Having said that, there are limits: I find it impossible to vote for people I feel are truly awful and immoral. I'm not sure where that line is, but a history of business fraud is one red flag for me. And, while I don't like narcissism, it seems hard to avoid these days.
‘(my Army son is an 18A for those in the know)’
Congratulations and please thank him for his service.
~ ~ ~
re: awards - my dad earned a Bronze Star ‘V’ and I hate that the medal has been diminished.
Drago claims MSM is elitist and populist all in the same time. Preparation H allows him to talk simultaneously out of both sides of his own ass.
Is it a good ad?
The message is:
De Santis has a sense of humor who won't back down from arguing with a hostile press.
The inference I get is:
De Santis has a sense of humor, but it's a dry sarcastic one.
De Santis supports the military and is pro USA.
The only non-partisan negative spin I can put on it is that De Santis is potentially more of the same bluster as Donald Trump.
I can’t wait to see more DeSantis ads as he and Trump are actively running against each other for the Republican nomination. What sort of outfit/ costume could Trump wear?
I doubt the ad is going to change any minds. The question is whether it will influence turnout.
Hi Inga— Trump—DeSantis would be a spectacle. But what about the other side? Does Joe draw a challenger? Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?
The Dem field is loaded with characters of selective appeal. As Howard says, the press doesn’t get popularity, so they won’t lead the charge. Biden? Harris? Buttigieg? Warren? Klobuchar? Newsome? Hochul? Whitmer? Waltz? Evers (heh)? Larry Tribe? Nancy Pelosi (heh,heh)? It is a freakin’ youth movement, isn’t it?
I say go with a fusion ticket: Liz Cheney and Adam Schiff. As Jimmy Carter said, Why not the best?
Drago said...
Greg: "IOW, he's a real guy. Another connection with the Trump voters"
The ONLY "connection" the Trump voters care about is a candidate who will fight for their values, speak the unvarnished truth about DC corruption, call out the permanent state for their never-ending war on and criminalization of typical citizens, and put America First in terms of all domestic and international polices.
And so far DeSantis has been fighting for their values (see "Don't say gay" law, see ending Covid shutdowns, see fighting Covid passports).
IMO, one of the reasons Trump was able to connect with those people was because his time in construction means he knows, likes, and respects individuals just like them.
I expect that DeSantis' time as an electrician's assistant did the same for him.
But the things you say they're looking for are the same things I'm looking for. And so far I've seen them in DeSantis
As to De Santis, I don't know of anything he has done in Florida that I don't like, so I do like and trust him, though Trump is my first choice.
Achilles said...
If you actually care about defeating the swamp there is only one choice.
We have a corrupt FBI, DoD, and IRS because Trump spent 4 years in office NOT defeating the Deep State. Hell, he didn't even fight them. He hired them, and promoted them.
And I've seen jack shit since Trump left office indicating that he'd do better the second time around.
DeSantis, OTOH, seems to be actually hiring people to advance his agenda, and firing the ones who don't.
So if Trump's the nominee I'll support him. But I'd rather have DeSantis, because I think he might actually get the job done
I can’t wait to see more DeSantis ads as he and Trump are actively running against each other for the Republican nomination. What sort of outfit/ costume could Trump wear?
possibly an Orange Jumpsuit! time will tell
I thought the "Top Gov" reference was classic! Me, when replying to Twitter asshats who attempt to dump on my governor: "You mean 47?"
Marcus THEOLDMAN
Amadeus 48:
"Their only similarity is that both men's names end in "is". Of course it all depends on what the meaning of "is" is. "
That is hilariously brilliant!
Blogger Howard said...
Drago claims MSM is elitist and populist all in the same time. Preparation H allows him to talk simultaneously out of both sides of his own ass.
Howard, you keep making these penis and ass analogies. Do you have Monkey Pox?
Here we are arguing about DeSantis` Bronze Star.
Now name me a Democrat likely running for President in 2024 who has served in the military.
"Trump is the name-caller fighter for the male soap opera."
We like you too, Dickin' Bimbos At Home.
Greg The Class Traitor said...
DeSantis, OTOH, seems to be actually hiring people to advance his agenda, and firing the ones who don't.
Desantis just hired the same guys that ran Cruz 2016. He looks like an insider to me.
So if Trump's the nominee I'll support him. But I'd rather have DeSantis, because I think he might actually get the job done
All I see is a person who has wanted to be president his entire life and planned every move he made around being president.
Desantis has also said that if Trump runs in 2024 he wont run against him because he thinks the election was stolen.
So if Desantis does run he is a liar.
Howard: "Drago claims MSM is elitist and populist all in the same time."
LOL
Precisely the opposite is what I've always argued, so your streak of 100% wrong and reversed continues apace.
Kudos
That's not easy to do. That's been a lifelong thing for you, hasn't it?
Readering: "No better illustration of the Cult of Trump than coolness in the comments on DeSantis of all people."
readering continues to try to out-Howard Howard.
Good luck with that.
DINKY DAU 45: "I can’t wait to see more DeSantis ads as he and Trump are actively running against each other for the Republican nomination. What sort of outfit/ costume could Trump wear?
possibly an Orange Jumpsuit! time will tell"
LOL
Lots of Inga's running around here.
Achilles said...
Greg The Class Traitor said...
DeSantis, OTOH, seems to be actually hiring people to advance his agenda, and firing the ones who don't.
Desantis just hired the same guys that ran Cruz 2016. He looks like an insider to me.
You really need to reassess your life, Achilles.
"Running for President" is not the same things as "being President".
Trump hired some good campaign people for his campaign.
Trump utterly fucked up at hiring people as President.
Which is why the Deep State kicked his ass, and why it was able to go after him from the very start of the Biden Admin:
Because Trump doesn't understand the difference either.
If DeSantis were hiring Jeb! campaign consultants, THAT would be a problem. Hiring Cruz people means he's hiring people who actually want to go to war with the Deep State after winning the election, and who might actually have a clue how to do it
All I see is a person who has wanted to be president his entire life and planned every move he made around being president.
So what? I think you're wrong, but even if you're right, so what?
Is he going to do a good job if he gets the power? THAT is the question that matters.
And the answer is that DeSantis spent the last 4 years as Governor mostly doing the right things with his power
Desantis has also said that if Trump runs in 2024 he wont run against him because he thinks the election was stolen.
So if Desantis does run he is a liar.
1: Every politician is a liar, including Trump. The big question is, who is he going to lie to
2: So what happens if Trump doesn't run? Do you support DeSantis?
Or do you sit on the sidelines whining about pouting, and fighting for the Dem to win?
Here Achilies, let me make it simple:
Do you want to "fight" against the Deep State, or do you want to beat it?
Trump "fought", but lost. And has given no indication he's learned what he screwed up, and how to do better next time.
DeSantis has been fighting at winning
Greg, you and Achilles are speaking past each other.
The point Achilles and many of the reputable pollsters are making is that DeSantis is simply not well known enough amongst key voting blocks that made Trump competitive. Further, if those Trump-only voters that poured out of the woodwork for Trump in 2016 and 2020, who are also part of the burgeoning potential working class/middle class republican majority for the future, don't turn out, DeSantis will never even get that chance.
You are arguing post-election "stuff", of which there is still great uncertainty about DeSantis and his willingness to follow thru with what we know has to be done if we are to survive. DeSantis has hired on the entire DC GOPe class of consultants. Will they change him like they buried Scott Walker and Ted Cruz?
If DeSantis made it into the White House, would he even try to break up the FBI? I'm betting he wouldn't.
Will DeSantis really push for the needed controls/resets of the out of control deep staters? I'm betting he would not even attempt to go very far at all.
Will DeSantis force moving of some Federal Depts out of DC? I'm betting he wouldn't.
Will DeSantis throw himself in front of his republican base against a weaponized federal bureaucracy? Why would he?
So what would a President DeSantis do? Lots of things I like, but I don't think he will dare take on the leviathan that Trump would be willing to take on. Simple "assurances" and "pledges" that "by golly, we'll really enact reforms this time!" from the deep staters will be enough to satisfy a DeSantis Administration working in conjunction with the DC GOPe.
You'll argue that Trump failed. We'll keep arguing that Trump is the only that has ever tried and fought hard against a united deep state/dem/GOPe front and doesn't get a lick of credit.
And since the entirety of the GOPe class and many of the GOPmiddlers abandoned Trump because he was simply too full of drama, I guess you've just handed the democraticals the very rationale to continue what they are doing and will do with DeSantis because the democraticals know that all they have to do is create enough lie-filled drama that that same group of GOPe and GOPmiddlers will happily abandon DeSantis too.
So if I'm DeSantis and I already know that about my fickle base voters, I'm not even going to try and go that far.
Yo, Mikee 09:13... "The guy spent his military service in Korea as infantry". Puh-leeeze! No doubt "humping the boonies", as those ageing deranged VN vets would say. Firstly the Korean War over for nearly three years before Dukakis arrived there to become a clerk-typist or whatever in an "administrative unit". Well, that alone would drive any testosterone-normed 1950s-era male raging insane...
Drago said...
Greg, you and Achilles are speaking past each other.
The point Achilles and many of the reputable pollsters are making is that DeSantis is simply not well known enough amongst key voting blocks that made Trump competitive
And he has two years to fix that
The question is, does "Top Gov" reach ANY of those voters?
I think the answer is yes.
Does he have a lot of work to do?
Of course he does!
That doesn't mean he can't / won't do it
You are arguing post-election "stuff", of which there is still great uncertainty about DeSantis and his willingness to follow thru with what we know has to be done if we are to survive. DeSantis has hired on the entire DC GOPe class of consultants. Will they change him like they buried Scott Walker and Ted Cruz?
Now there is your big mistake.
No one neutered Ted Cruz. Which I why I ended up supporting him in 2016.
Trump won the 2016 GOP Primary because the GOP Establishment decided "I'd rather lose with Trump, than win with Cruz." Calling Cruz "GOP Establishment" displays a fundamental ignorance about the guy, that makes it hard to take anything else you write seriously.
Does Cruz have problems? Of course he does. but if Cruz had won in 2016 he actually would have gone to war with the Civil Service / Deep State, and unlike Trump he would have been able to bring in a pool of people willing to fight for his agenda.
It's that lack that screwed Trump
If DeSantis made it into the White House, would he even try to break up the FBI? I'm betting he wouldn't.
On what do you base that bet? Exactly where has DeSantis wimped out in the last 4 years?
He's the governor of Florida, and he's gone to war with Disney and the Cruise Lines. And he's winning.
If he's not going to suck up to Woke Business, what in the world makes you think he's going to bend over for the corrupt FBI?
Note: The Trump FBI blocked all investigation into the Hunter Biden laptop before the election, for the explicit reason that they didn't want too hurt Biden's chances
Then they pressured Facebook to censor all references to the laptop once the PY Post got the story
So, do tell us why we can trust Trump to defeat the people he let run all over him for four years
Drago said...
Note: All these things that you say DeSantis won't do?
Trump never did any of them in 4 years as President
Will DeSantis really push for the needed controls/resets of the out of control deep staters? I'm betting he would not even attempt to go very far at all.
So you're saying the guy who sued the CDC to block cruise line vaccine passports won't go after the rest of the Federal Bureaucracy because?
Will DeSantis force moving of some Federal Depts out of DC? I'm betting he wouldn't.
Why not? He could move a bunch of them to Florida.
Will DeSantis throw himself in front of his republican base against a weaponized federal bureaucracy? Why would he?
Because he already has.
See CDC vaccine passports
See lockdown fever, which he resisted more than any other US Governor I know of
See fighting w/ Disney et. al. on "don't say gay".
He's been going after the Karens and the "right people consensus" for years, and winning.
If he gets elected, it will be because of that.
so why would he stop?
So what would a President DeSantis do? Lots of things I like, but I don't think he will dare take on the leviathan that Trump would be willing to take on
You mean the leviathan that Trump did nothing to for 4 years?
How many generals and colonels promoted under Obama did Trump shitcan? Any?
West Point graduated an out and proud commie on Trump's watch. Who did he fire over that? No one
Simple "assurances" and "pledges" that "by golly, we'll really enact reforms this time!" from the deep staters will be enough to satisfy a DeSantis Administration working in conjunction with the DC GOPe.
Just because Trump fell for that doesn't mean DeSantis would
He didn't with Covid
Fresh off of suspending the DA who refuses to enforce the law, DeSantis is now suspending corrupt school board members:
https://www.dailywire.com/news/desantis-suspends-four-broward-county-school-board-members-another-step-towards-justice?%3Futm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=dwnewstwitter
quote:
DeSantis cited the report from the Twentieth Statewide Grand Jury found that the board members, “through fraud and deceit,” had mismanaged the SMART Program, a multi-million bond specifically solicited for school safety and renovation initiatives, and would likely continue to do so.
He also stated that the board members were lax in holding former Superintendent Robert Runcie and former general counsel Barbara Myrick, who were both indicted for felonies related to their appearances before the Twentieth Statewide Grand Jury, accountable.
The report also stated that a safety-related alarm that could have possibly saved lives at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School “was and is such a low priority that it remains uninstalled at multiple schools” in Broward County, adding that “students continue to be educated in unsafe, aging, decrepit, moldy buildings that were supposed to have been renovated years ago.”
“These are inexcusable actions by school board members who have shown a pattern of emboldening unacceptable behavior, including fraud and mismanagement, across the district,” DeSantis stated.
Yep, he totally won't be willing to find corrupt Deep State / Civil Service members
/sarc
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