Fool, produced by Greg Stevens for Dole/Kemp ‘96.
The Democrats and Republicans accuse each other of lying about their respective Medicare proposals. In fact, neither side is lying: Each selectively cites facts and offers proof. The Republicans say they want to limit the increase of Medicare spending to 7 percent. This is not a cut, they say, just a slowdown in the rate of growth; the president wanted to cut, too. The Democrats maintain that the Republicans’ increase in spending is below the rate of medical inflation (the Republicans respond by pointing to the general rate of inflation). The president trimmed the program only a third as much as the GOP plan–which also would have prevented millions of seniors from choosing their own doctors, and would have denied coverage for services like diabetes blood tests (which Gingrich now promises will be a priority in the next Congress).
Sound02 - fool.avi or Sound03 - fool.mov; download time, 4 minutes at 56K {Sound01 - vr-fools.asf; for sound only
The Democrats and Republicans accuse each other of lying about their respective Medicare proposals. In fact, neither side is lying: Each selectively cites facts and offers proof. The Republicans say they want to limit the increase of Medicare spending to 7 percent. This is not a cut, they say, just a slowdown in the rate of growth; the president wanted to cut, too. The Democrats maintain that the Republicans’ increase in spending is below the rate of medical inflation (the Republicans respond by pointing to the general rate of inflation). The president trimmed the program only a third as much as the GOP plan–which also would have prevented millions of seniors from choosing their own doctors, and would have denied coverage for services like diabetes blood tests (which Gingrich now promises will be a priority in the next Congress).
The next scenes carry the AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) logo and use quotes from one of the lobby’s letters as third-party proof that the Dole-Gingrich Medicare proposal was only to “slow” the program’s growth–and both parties did it anyway. The next quote–about “finger pointing”–seems to point the finger at Clinton. But the AARP fiercely complained that the excerpted quotations were not true to the organization’s letter–which did not take sides against Clinton. The Dole campaign agreed to pull Fool off the air (perhaps, in part, because some inside the campaign thought it was too defensive and raised the salience of Clinton’s best issue).
In the next scene, Dole huddles with seniors on a neighborhood street (is this Russell, Kan.?). The narrator says: “The AARP agrees with Bob Dole”–the words leave the impression that they agree on what’s just been said, and then the narrator continues–“on a bipartisan plan to fix Medicare.” The chyron goes even farther: “The AARP agrees with the Dole plan . …” The admaker would no doubt defend this on the basis that the AARP wants a bipartisan solution; Dole says he does; ergo … a truly tenuous technical truth.
The Dole campaign’s purpose was not to win on the Medicare issue–it can’t overcome a perception that basic–but to neutralize an issue which has hurt so much that Jack Kemp recently complained that the Gingrich budget was a disaster for Republicans. The spot ends with a brief nod to the offense: “Don’t let Clinton fool you”–and notice what’s underlined. “Fool,” of course, is supposed to have a double meaning: That’s what you are if you vote for him.
In the next scene, Dole huddles with seniors on a neighborhood street (is this Russell, Kan.?). The narrator says: “The AARP agrees with Bob Dole”–the words leave the impression that they agree on what’s just been said, and then the narrator continues–“on a bipartisan plan to fix Medicare.” The chyron goes even farther: “The AARP agrees with the Dole plan . …” The admaker would no doubt defend this on the basis that the AARP wants a bipartisan solution; Dole says he does; ergo … a truly tenuous technical truth.
–Robert Shrum
The Dole campaign’s purpose was not to win on the Medicare issue–it can’t overcome a perception that basic–but to neutralize an issue which has hurt so much that Jack Kemp recently complained that the Gingrich budget was a disaster for Republicans. The spot ends with a brief nod to the offense: “Don’t let Clinton fool you”–and notice what’s underlined. “Fool,” of course, is supposed to have a double meaning: That’s what you are if you vote for him.
