Ad AnalysisJad Melki & Herbert W. McConnell,University of Maryland Bush/Cheney "No Limit"
This is another version of a number of earlier ads (“Weapons” is one) that attack Senator John Kerry's voting record on national security. The additional element here is an attack on Kerry's honesty or more specifically his willingness to say things inconsistent with his actions, in this case his voting record on military budgets. So, this ad focuses on two apparent messages, one attacking Kerry's record on national security and another attacking Kerry's honesty. The ad paraphrases Kerry's campaign promises to support “our military” and talks about three military budget proposals that Kerry voted against. The military budget issues are presented as three different votes although that is not necessarily the case. The ad could be divided into two premises although each premise relies on the other to make the whole argument. The first premise deals with Kerry's honesty, while the second deals with his voting record on national security. Three statements in the ad address Kerry's voting record. They are presented as counterarguments to Kerry's paraphrased declaration on supporting the military. The first statement sets the accusatory tone: "Just when you thought there was a limit on what John Kerry would say, now he claims he'll always support our military." The language used prepares the audience for the new “limit” Kerry will cross, assumingly to get their vote and win the election. The words “now” and “claims” cast a sense of suspicion on Kerry's honesty; here is the latest lie from Kerry. The overall message is Kerry will say just about anything to win the election. The statements that follow deal with the military budget in general but are portrayed in a context of pro- or anti-military. Thus, if someone proposes cutting the military budget, they are against “supporting our troops” and vice versa. In addition, the statements are misleadingly presented as three separate votes on three separate bills. The first and second of the following statements, however, refer to the same bill: "The same Kerry who voted against 87 billion for our troops in combat in the War on Terror. Against body armor, bullets and supplies. The same Kerry who after the first attack on the World Trade Center proposed slashing America 's intelligence budget." Although one could argue the second statement (against body armor, bullets and supplies) is technically a continuation of the first sentence and not an independent statement, the video production techniques used unmistakably present them as two statements. This technique was used similarly in an earlier ad that “shows Kerry casting specific ‘no' votes on body armor for troops, higher combat pay and health-care benefits for reservists, all of which were in fact included in the [same] bill” (FactCheck.org 2004). In addition, each of the three sentences ise used with a different video background and separate captions. Moreover, the three statements are heavily punctuated by brief pauses in narration, changes in the music and several sound, graphic and video effects. Right after the earlier statements were presented on a white background, a (white-faded) black and white backdrop shows Kerry speaking to a crowd in slow motion. Over that the three aforementioned statements run as captions along with a moving small rectangular image of a close up shot of Kerry, also speaking in slow motion. The flat video along with the suspense music and serious male-narrator's voice give a foreboding feeling. The words “voted against”, “against” and “proposed slashing” were put in red to differentiate them from the rest of the captions and highlight the negative characterization of Kerry's actions. In addition, each of the three captions was referenced using a tiny (barely readable) font that ran below each sentence. After this presentation of Kerry's record, the conclusion comes rumbling in under a wave of foreboding music and sound effects: "Apparently there really is nothing John Kerry won't say." The message is clear. Kerry will say something and do something else, and there are really no limits to what he will lie about as long as it will serve his selfish goal to win the presidency. This message is further reinforced by the video showing three shots of Kerry in three boxes, symbolizing the “flip-flopper” image pushed by the Bush campaign. The media didn't substantially cover this ad. It was probably too close to elections day, and a lot of more important news stories were surfacing, including a new video tape showing Osama Bin Laden. An USA Today article referenced the ad (Keen and Lawrence 2004), as did CNN (Woodruff 2004). Even Kerry's “rapid response” web page didn't have a take on it, most likely because this ad was similar to several others run by the Bush campaign much earlier (Kerry-Edwards 2004). Sources
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