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A HuffPost Project: Posterizing the Modern GOP
At the Google Zeitgeist conference last month, there were two really powerful moments for me. The first was when community activist Majora Carter broke down and wept when talking about the shattered lives in America's inner cities -- including the South Bronx, where she grew up and continues to work.
The other was when multiple-award-winning ad exec Rich Silverstein walked the audience through his picks for what he called "perfect moments" from the history of radio, movies, and TV -- evocative moments of great emotion and humanity (these included Abbott and Costello's famous "Who's On First?" radio broadcast, as well as scenes from Seinfeld, The Sopranos, Fargo, and Dr. Strangelove). And he talked about what he feels is one of the few truly powerful moments to be found online -- YouTube video of unassuming mobile phone salesman Paul Potts' goosebump-inducing performance of Puccini's Nessun Dorma on Britain's Got Talent.
Silverstein, who as co-chairman of Goodby, Silverstein, and Partners was behind the famous "Got Milk?" ad campaign and the Budweiser frogs, had such a grasp of what makes for effective communication in radio, movies, TV, and online, that I thought he might have some ideas on how to help the Democrats, who continue to struggle with framing an election where they are holding all the cards. He did. When I suggested that he blog about his ideas, he said that since he usually expresses himself best in visual terms, he wanted to see if he could "blog visually."
The result is three powerful posters that simply but graphically capture the lunacy of the modern GOP. "Here is my thinking," Silverstein told me, "What if we could TiVo the last six-plus years and play them back - without comment -- for the American people, and let them connect the dots? It's not a pretty picture." Silverstein's take away message is uncluttered and direct: "Haven't we had enough? Democrats '08."
You can check out the posters by clicking on the images below. But looking at the posters is just the first step. Consider them rough drafts. And we want you to help with the rewrites by adding to the names, events, and slogans depicted in the posters. Simply post your suggestions in the comments section below (labeling them "Names," "Events," or "Slogans"). Rich and his designers will take the best and include them in updated versions of the posters, which we will put up on HuffPost after Thanksgiving.
Ideally, says Rich, the final versions might be three feet long. Given the outrages of the last six-plus years, even that might not be long enough.
So look at the posters and send us your suggestions below.
Names
Slogans
Events
Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff
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Slogans:
Anyone But A Republican
The HIC Party(Hypocrisy,Incompetence,Corruption)
Events:
Medicare Part D
Privatizing Social Security
Privatization
Stop-Loss Policy
Enron
People:
Judith Miller
Ann Coulter
Barbara Bush
Ken Lay
"What if we could TiVo the last six-plus years and play them back - without comment -- for the American people, and let them connect the dots? It's not a pretty picture."
avguy kinda did this in 2004 (with comment), with help from Jim's Big Ego: "Asshole" - It felt so good to sing along - http://www.filmstripinternational.com/filmstrips.php?filmstrip=v1
Slogans:
Unitary executive more slogany than executive power, doncha think?
Black sites
Green zone
Red state
Yellow streak
White House occupant
Orange alert
Blew it - blowback
Purple finger - Purple heart
Events:
Steven Colbert had nine grounds for impeachment back in March (http://www.crooksandliars.com/index.php?s=colbert+impeach):
1) WMD.
2) Iraq.
3) Katrina.
4) Valerie Plame.
5) Signing statements.
6) Torture.
7) Wiretaps.
8) Secret prisons.
9) US attorneys.
supreme court activism
Slogan: Radical Rightwing Republicans
People: Limbaugh, Kathryn Harris, Chalabi
Things: Downing Street Memo,
Alabama Air National Guard
My Pet Goat
Five deferments Cheney
Other priorities Cheney
Hillbilly armor
pregnant chads
swift boats for Bush
the army you have
Instead of "haven't we had enough?" the Names poster should end with
"seventeen reasons for birth control"
Harken Savings and Loan
The graphics are visually aggressive and effective.
On the people poster, John Yoo is missing. Mike Brown should probably simply be Brownie.
On the slogans poster - No Child Left Behind is missing. The effect of all the war slogans is shocking.
On the events poster - Signing statements, wiretapping, mine disasters are missing.
War seems to dominate, which while highly objectionable, is not the only arena in which the GOP has faltered.
Slogans:
World War III
EVENTS
First 100 Days
$400 Haircut
'Man-Made' Global Warming
Sandy Burgler
Columbia University
Carbon Credits
Drivers Licesnses
Pelosi in Syria
Hollywood & Chavez
Valerie Plame
Armenian Genocide
Enron Committed Crimes in the '90s
Clinton Library Papers
Iraqi Deadline
Katrina Buses
HSU Contributors
Haditha
Foreign Service
SLOGANS
'Man-Made' Global Warming
Cut and Run
General Betrayus
Code Pink
The Common Good
Nanny State
Undocumented Workers
For It Before Against It
Carbon Footprint Bullshit
Sanctuary Cities
Redeploy
Drain The Swamp
Universal Healthcare
Take Their Profits
MORE MORE MORE
ChickenHawks
Valerie Plame
Socialism
Don't Taze Me Bro
Bumper Sticker
London 7/7
Cindy Sheehan
Huff Post Hate Site
No Blood For Oil
No Drilling For Oil
Smoke Cigarettes to Fund sChip
MidEast Human Rights Abuses
The Death of Theo Van Gogh
Clinton Bombed Christian Positions
Islamic Invasion of Europe
Murtha
Dixie Chicks
Clooney
Spitzer
PETA
ELF
We Are The President
Tax & Spend
But Bush Lies
Impeachment is off the Table
Polotical Correctness
Redistribution of Wealth
Welfare State
Malaise
Presidential DNA
Smoe Fat Pig's Blue Dress
Elain Gonzalez
Waco
Chocolate City
CAIR
Casual AntiSemitism
Press 1 for English
People:
Curveball
NAMES
Jack Spadaro
James Hansen
Sibel Edmonds
EVENTS
Lead Paint Toys
Destroyed Visitor Logs
Read Three Shakespeares
Coal Mining Disasters
August 6 BDP
Downing Street Memo
Basement Hearings
Censoring Reports
Gagged/Fired Whistleblowers
Presidential Medal of Freedom: Tenet, Franks, Bremer
- Tom
Dead or Alive...then, I don't really think about him that much.
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