I hate it when they're right

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9-2PhChboU&feature=player_embedded] Sometimes it's hard for me to separate the message from the messenger. It may be hard to tell, but I actually care about the issues above and beyond the execution. I consider myself a progressive, I actually want Health Care to pass, for example.

So sometimes it's hard for me to see value in the ads the other side puts up. Often it's because they stink, are just too harsh or too mean. Sometimes it's because the message goes against my values and principles. I try to separate the form from the function, but I'm only human.

This ad from the National Republican Trust Pac is pretty good, I think. At least it's different from the usual fear-spreading, bomb-lobbing ads we see from the right.

It's a minute long, the beginning is something closer to a David Lynch movie than a political ad -- in other words, it's abstract and different. There's no v/o for those first thirty seconds, it gets my attention and stresses me out, which is what it's supposed to do.

The whistle sound effect half way through is a little off-putting or feels out of context somehow. But when the voice over starts, I think it's well written, "Stop, time-out, there is no more money.... Let's take a breath, fix our economy first." I think that sentiment is actually a pretty compelling message, and gets the right away from accusations that killing health care is politically motivated.

One advantage to a :60 spot is that you can divide things up like that. This is almost two spots in one, the abstract images creating anxiety and the calm voice telling us to slow down, reassuring us but cautioning us too.

If the right can successfully adopt this message around health care, then I worry about its chances of passing. I hate it when they get it right.