Who Really Threw Granny off the Cliff?

By now you’ve probably seen or heard about the infamous “Granny Ad” produced by little known liberal group, The Agenda Project. The ad depicts a Paul Ryan look-alike taking Granny out for a walk in the park. But what appears to be a nice young man helping an old lady enjoy a beautiful day in the park suddenly turns into a rough deadly ride as Mr. Ryan’s double speeds up and then throws a horrified Granny over the cliff and into the river below. The graphics that run throughout the 1:44 internet ad viewed by only 155,000 accuse Republicans of taking Medicare away from seniors.

How novel. Bet you hadn’t heard that one before! Republicans hate old people and don’t care about the poor. I remember hearing that one when I was 6 years old and JFK had just beaten Nixon (take away Chicago and….we’ll save that one for another day).

Okay, so what’s the big deal if only 155,000 people actually viewed the ad. Certainly they were on some mailing list of folks who are never going to vote for Paul Ryan or any member of his Party even if Adolph Hitler were running on the other side. Why waste my time even reporting on its existence and give it more attention?

It’s quite simple. If you are one of those television viewers who have seen the ad on one of many cable networks, including FOX, CNN, MSNBC and a host of others, then you might know where I am going with this and why I am compelled to write about it.

You see, it’s not the quality of the ad (which is terrible by anyone’s production standards), or the accuracy of the information (blatantly false and misleading), or even the overblown media attention (which it did receive) paid to the views of the other side. What raises my blood pressure is our pathetic defensive reaction (re: inaction) and the lack of a potent offense on our own side. And it should make you say “I’m mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore!”

It’s as if our own team does not even know who already cut Medicare. So just in case they don’t already know, let’s take a quiz and find out. Hmmmm, let me think. Could it be:
(a) Henry Waxman and Nancy Pelosi who rushed through HR 3200 (House version of Obamacare) in the dead of night after Waxman hired a speed reader to share it with his House colleagues?
(b) Mr. Reid who basically did the same thing in the Senate?
(c) Mr. Obama himself who actually signed the bill with fanfare and fairy tales that it would cut costs and improve care for all Americans?
(d) All of the above

If you answered (d), congratulations. You are correct! And I refuse to believe that those in the know on our side don’t know it either.

But instead of taking the fight to the Dems, our guys complain to us about a media bias that propels even the most heinous of lies, the most misleading ads to the lead stories in print and visual media all the time. Our elected officials and candidates waste valuable air time doing the same thing - whining about unfair treatment and lies that are not fleshed out.

Well, that clearly has not worked out so well over the years, has it? Some 50 years after hearing that Dems care about grandma and poor folks, young people today get fed the same drivel from teachers, parents and news media.

Our elected officials (with rare exception) have reached the conclusion that talking about Medicare is just not good politics. I’ve heard some say that we will always lose that debate. A member of the GOP media establishment even told me once that they just hoped the issue would not be as important as taxes and spending. The list (and results) goes on.

Well, I’m mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore and I’ve decided that I am not going to support candidates that play by these old rules. It’s time to stop being defensive, tell the truth and be creative, provocative with the use of media. The candidate that can do all three will be our nominee come Spring/Summer of 2012. Nothing short of that will get us back into the White House.

Stay tuned for opinions on our candidates…..