–updated below–
Well, if you wanted to give Sarah Palin’s bomb, bomb, bomb Iran team a freebie, the new Vote Vets ad is it. However, it’s supposed to be about Congress getting us off oil and on to clean energy in order to keep us out of real life energy wars. Instead it serves up powerful visuals and a narrative that promotes going straight at Iran.
Transcript of the ad from Sam Stein:
“That’s the type of IED that earned me a purple heart in Iraq six years ago,” Miller says, as footage of a U.S. convoy being blown off a dirt road runs in the backdrop.
“This is what our troops are up against today: EFPs [Explosively Formed Projectile] specially designed to pierce American military armor. It is a devastating weapon and it was created in oil-rich Iran. They are ending up in the hands of our enemies. And every time oil goes up a dollar, Iran gets another $1.5 billion to use against us. Connection between oil and the enemy couldn’t be clearer,” Miller adds. “We need to break that connection by breaking our addiction. And we can by passing a clean energy climate plan. It would cut our dependence on foreign oil in half. Some in Congress say it is a tough vote. Not as tough as what our troops are up against.
The connection between foreign oil and war becomes the subtext underneath a much more powerful message, which screams the neoconservative line: Iran cannot be contained.
I’ve got a lot of respect for Vote Vets. But whoever made this ad just gave Liz Cheney’s group a gift.
UPDATE: To answer some emails on this subject, let me be even clearer. As I told Richard from Vote Vets in his response to my post in the comments, the ad is a cynical appeal using fear about Iran, specifically, through EFPs to get the job done. Vote Vets could have begun the ad the way you ended it, immediately making the oil – clean energy connection, but didn’t. You purposefully chose to focus on the fear card and the Iran boogieman, complete with a picture of Ahmadinejad, before making your clean energy pitch, because you thought that would get the attention. Emotion is powerful in all advertising and politics, as I point out often, so I appreciate Vote Vets trying to tap into it. But they got the emotional appeal exactly backwards, stressing Iranian dangers instead of energy dependence and they did it deliberately.
It was probably Michael Ledeen. You know the guy who forged the yellowcake documents. The guy who is Palin’s chief foreign policy guru. The guy who aligned himself with and sold Ahmad Chalabi to Cheney and Rumsfeld. (We should talk at length about Chalabi because he’s going to be the big winner in the Iraqi elections on Sunday. Well, him and Iran.) Ledeen is also the founder of JINSA and is an executive director of AIPAC. Iran is a strawman being pushed front and center by the Zionists to keep the heat off Israel. So far it’s working by the looks of things. Hell, VoteVets took the bait. Peace
Unfortunate ad, agreed.
Yeah, the Iraqi elections, Chalabi, Iran…
Being that we also created StopIranWar.com, if we’re trying to convince anyone the US should invade Iran, we’re doing a pretty terrible job.
Our ad doesn’t send the message Iran cannot be contained. It sends the message that Iran, and other states that do not like the United States much, can be contained… by passing a clean energy bill.
Ahh, Imhotep, with your usual wild-eyed blame the Zionists conspiracies. I have a feeling that if you woke up one morning with a cold, you would blame Zionists. I suppose the Zionists started World War II as well.
I applaud VoteVets for this ad. Clean energy and weaning ourselves off of foreign oil is a noble goal and we will need to convince a majority of Americans of its importance in order to pass meaningful climate change legislation in the future. VoteVets shows one devastating consequence of our oil dependency: threats to our national security and soldiers abroad who are suffering from injuries caused by weapons sent to Iraqi insurgents by Iran.
I fail to understand how any criticism of Iran automatically equals a Zionist-led plot to deceive the U.S. into bombing Iran. The Iranian people are our friends, the Iranian government is not. Anyone who continues to sympathize with an Iranian Right-Wing fundamentalist religious theocratic government, and their Basij militia thugs, should hardly be calling themsleves “progressive.” In fact, there is a perfect candidate for you to support in 2012, his name…..Ron Paul (or Pat Buchanan).
Richard Allen Smith says:
05 March 2010 at 4:18 am
I respect VoteVets very much, Richard. This ad, however, is not worthy of your group.
It is dishonest. As you could have begun the ad the way you ended it, immediately making the oil – clean energy connection, but you purposefully did not, because you chose to use the fear card and the Iran boogieman, complete with a picture of Ahmadinejad.
The ad is a cynical appeal directly to people’s fears about Iran, specifically, using EFPs to do it.
Bad judgment. Unfortunate, and something I’d expect from a right-winger, especially since the clean energy pitch is thrown in almost as an afterthought.
Liberalastheycome, first of all nobody—n-o-b-o-d-y—is going to attack Iran. Not even the hardest of hardliners on the right (I call them warmongers) is crazy enough to attack Iran. Secondly, Israel is the real problem in all of this. Not oil. We could stop buying and burning oil in a relatively short time if we chose to do that. Thirdly, the Zionists want us to believe that the real threat to the USA are those damn “Islamofascists.” By creating this phoney enemy they (the Zionists) keep our attention focused on them (Islamo-terrorist) and not on the real problem that we face. Which is Israel. Osama bin Laden gave as one of his primary reasons for attacking the USA the situation between Israel and the Palestinians. That and America’s support for Israel against the Palestinians. For 8 years we have spent trillions of dollars fighting several wars and killing “Islamo-terrorists.” And we are in the same place now as we were when we started. Why do you suppose that is? It’s because the Isreal/Palestinian situation is the same now as it was then. Until that problem is solved nothing will change. The Zionist are happy with the status quo and it would appear that you are to. Peace
Imhotep/Pat Buchanan: You have just answered all of my suspicions about yourself and your true agenda regarding the state of Israel. Wow. Last time I checked, Bin Laden didn’t give a rat’s ass about the Palestinians, nor did any other Arab/Muslim country who just use these poor people as pawns to deflect attention from their own corrupt and brutal dictatorships. You are telling me that if Israel were “wiped off the map,” then all of the Arab/Muslim Right-Wing extremists, militants, terrorists, whatever you want to call them, would suddenly turn around and call off all attacks against the U.S.?
If you took your Israel-hating blinders off for a moment, you would see that Arab/Muslim terrorists go after and kill one group more than any other group..take a guess… Yes, Muslims. More Muslims are killed by Islamic-fundamentalist terrorism than any other religion by a long shot. So are Pakistan, Bali, Beirut, Baghdad, Lagos, Mogadishu, Mumbai, and Moscow attacked because of their Pro-Israel policies as well?
Moving on to someone who is rational, Taylor–I really don’t understand your problem with the VoteVets ad. Do you not support any resistance whatsoever to Iran’s theocratic military dictatorship haveing nuclear weapons? Are you opposed to all sanctions against Iran, even those against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard? Notwithstanding sanctions or the nuclear issue in general, what support do you think we should be offering to those brave Iranians marching in the street seeking a liberal, open government?
Liberalastheycome, what I’m telling you is that had Israel not been granted statehood in 1948 there would have been very little Arab extremism directed at the USA over the last 40 years. In addition had the USA been more “even handed” (a phrase that the Zionists used to sink Dr. Dean’s campaign for president) in this matter over those many years the extremism that we face today would not exist. I will also say that you have been infected by right wing, pro-Zionist propaganda to such a degree that you think much more like a right winger than you do like a Liberal. Therefore you should contemplate changing your handle “Liberalastheycome” because it’s an oxymoron. Peace
Taylor,
What is dishonest in the ad? Point to one assertion that is untrue.
The import of the ad focusing on Iran up front is meant to engender fear of Iran NOT invoke energy dependence.
That is dishonest, Richard, in my opinion.
As you can see from the comments the ad engendered here, I’ve got a lot of very astute foreign policy watchers. NONE of them either here or in emails are talking about energy. It’s all coming in about Iran & Israel.
I get that you wanted to get people’s attention. So, a short beginning w/ your vet in front of a split screen of EFPs & clean energy, going immediately into the rest of your visuals would have been honest. Because your juxtaposition would have been on the subject at hand, not that Iran was a boogieman using fear to push your point.
It was aired last night during “The Daily Show.” I live in the Beltway.
Richard Allen Smith, the last time anyone checked almost all of the terrorists who crashed into the Twin Towers were from Saudi Arabia. As is bin Laden. The rest of al Queda’s top leadership is from Egypt. How about VoteVets gin up some anti-Saudi and some anti-Egyptian hatred in the ad? Could it be because Iran is the Zionists straw man and SA and Egypt are our bestest buddies? Peace
Imhotep: Frankly, having a discussion with you about anything related to Israel is useless, as you are not a peacemaker, but someone who does not recognize Israel as a state among the nations of the world.
I am far from a “Right-Winger” on Israel, I am all for a two-state solution based on mutually agreed upon borders. You on the other hand wish that 1948 never happened, putting you on the same side as the Pat Buchanan’s, David Duke’s, and yes, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s of the world. And that’s a brand new one: Zionists Sank Howard Dean’s campaign for President—- do you know that Dean’s campaign was led by Steve Grossman, an AIPAC former leader? Did he conspire to sink the campaign too? I bet you think that. You are a conspiracist warmonger who I’m thankful only posts on Taylor’s (excellent) blog, rather than having any true say over America’s foreign policy.
Richard, your ad was fantastic, and will create a lot more support for clean energy than some on this blog who are so skittish about possibly daring to offend the Iranian Government led by those human-rights/progressive models, Ayatollah Khomeni and Mr. Mahmoud (“there are no gays in Iran”) Ahmadinejad.
First of all, I had nothing to do with the ad, beyond working for the organization that produced it. It’s not like I wrote the script or edited it together as you imply.
Second, Iran IS stoking the insurgency in Iraq that is killing American Soldiers. That is undeniable. That doesn’t mean anyone should invade Iran, but it is a fact. I don’t understand what is wrong with pointing out that fact, the fact that Iran benefits from our dependence on foreign oil, and the fact that passing a clean energy bill will break that dependence.
That;s