September 06, 2004

BETSY NEWMARK conducts a focus group:
My school, a small charter school in Raleigh, NC, periodically has special days when the kids don't go to the regular classes, but we have special programs that they cycle through. My responsibility Friday was to present a short history of political advertising. I used this great site, The Living Room Candidate, to show the kids ads going back to the first ones for Eisenhower and Stevenson. I thought that my readers might be interested in the reactions of 10th and 11th graders to some famous ads ..

Fast-forwarding to today, I showed them the second Swift Boat ad and the ad that Kerry made to answer the SBVT ads using James Rassmann talking about how Kerry saved him in Vietnam. The ad closes with Kerry saying that he still carries shrapnel in his leg. I was amazed when the kids burst in laughter at that point. They explained that it just seemed so random for him to be talking about shrapnel in his leg and then to end the ad. As one girl explained, she didn't see that he could have been hurt that badly in his leg since she always sees pictures of him biking, skiing, and windsurfing. They thought the ad was ineffective since it was just one guy saying that Kerry was brave compared to all the guys in the Swifties' ad. They thought Kerry should address the specific allegations. I asked them if they were undecided on whom to vote for, would this set of ads make them more or less likely to vote for Kerry, and they almost all agreed that they'd be less likely to vote for Kerry. And most of these kids are [on the left].

And Betsy gets a letter from a reader with this telling bottom line -- if you know John Kerry's full Vietnam story, Kerry pretty much stands out from other men who served in Vietnam only in off-putting ways. Quotable:
Once we look at the details, no matter how Kerry partisans want to spin them, there simply isn�t anything there to distinguish Kerry from any of the other veterans who saw combat in Vietnam.

There is no doubt that the revelations about his fantasies of Cambodia, CIA insertions and moldy hats, the movie re-enactments, et al have also helped damage Kerry in the minds of the voters.

Posted by Greg Ransom | TrackBack