2020 AdWatch: on Principles & Values


Joe Biden: 1972 campaign brochures included photos with incumbents

Joe's [1972 campaign produced] a series of brochures, and even though his campaign ran on fumes, the literature was slick. "Joe Biden is making an impact on the U.S. Senate and he hasn't even been elected yet," said the front page of one brochure, and then inside, it showed photos of Biden next to veteran senators like Scoop Jackson and Hubert Humphrey, with a goal of boosting his gravitas. It worked. "The printed material became kind of a revolution for political print, and was duplicated afterwards," says one pundit. In 2015, lifelong pundit Chris Matthews remembered these brochures as something that he had "never seen-before or since... He looked like he belonged there [in the Senate]; in fact, like he was already there."

[Val, Biden's sister and campaign manager, created] the "Biden post office," a base of THOUSANDS of freckled teenagers who would hand-deliver these brochures across Delaware.

Source: AdWatch 2020: The Book of Joe, by Jeff Wilser, p 40-1 Oct 24, 2017

Joe Biden: 1972 campaign ad: "Do you trust me?"

Biden had an idea for a radio ad that was...unconventional. In the ad, Biden approached random people at a grocery store and said, basically, "My name is Joe Biden. I'm the Democratic candidate for the US Senate. Do you trust me?"

The shoppers would say, "No, why should I trust you?"

He flipped the message to say, "That's what's wrong with America right now. I promise you if you elect me, you'll know exactly where I stand. You'll be able to trust me." The ad was as shoestring as it gets.

Source: AdWatch 2020: The Book of Joe, by Jeff Wilser, p 40-1 Oct 24, 2017

Kelly Loeffler: TV ad: She's more conservative than Attila the Hun

OPENING SCENE: A couple compares notes about Loeffler's conservative record backing Pres. Trump

WIFE: Did you know that Kelly Loeffler was rated the most conservative Senator in America?

HUSBAND: Yep, she's more conservative than Attila the Hun.

CUT TO SCENE: Headquarters of Attila the Hun, who was ruler of the Hunnic Empire during a reign of terror that pushed back Roman expansion and conquered vast parts of Asia and eastern Europe.

"Hmph-rr," Atilla says from a makeshift throne.

"Fight China, got it," answers a note-taker sitting at his feet.

"Hylt-grr," Atilla commands.

"Attack big government. Yeah," responds the lowly aide.

"Drr-schfl," Atilla answers.

"Eliminate the liberal scribes," translates the staffer, before turning to the camera. "Uh oh."

NARRATOR: "More conservative than Attila the Hun. Kelly Loeffler, 100% Trump voting record."

CUT TO SCENE: Kelly Loeffler with Donald Trump.

TEXT: Kelly Loeffler. Ranked most conservative Senator in America.

Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution AdWatch on 2020 GA Senate race Sep 21, 2020

Mark Ronchetti: America the greatest nation on Earth, not afraid to say so

Ad Watch on Ronchetti's first TV ad: "I believe in our New Mexico values of faith, family and freedom, and they are under attack. DC has failed us and I believe it is up to us to turn it around. I believe small businesses built this country and its small businesses that will bring us back. I believe politicians aren't taking crime seriously and I will never support defunding the police. I approve this message because I believe America is the greatest nation on Earth and I'm not afraid to say so."
Source: KOB-TV AdWatch: 2020 New Mexico Senate race Aug 21, 2020

Blake Masters: The 2020 election wasn't free or fair: I think Trump won

Arizona Republican nominee Blake Masters has been explicit in declaring that "the 2020 election wasn't free or fair." In an ad Masters released in November 2021, early in the Republican primary, he said, wrongly, "I think Trump won in 2020." The rest of the ad was more subjective; Masters argued that Trump would have won in a "fair fight" without supposed anti-Trump media bias, "big tech" suppression of a late-election story about Biden's family, and some states having changed their rules to allow for easier mail-in voting. But Masters' ad-opening claim that Trump actually did win is plain false.

At the end of the Republican primary in early August, Masters' campaign website claimed that "if we had had a free and fair election, President Trump would be sitting in the Oval Office today." After Masters won the primary, CNN's KFile team reported, that language was removed from the site and replaced with this vague declaration: "We need to get serious about election integrity."

Source: CNN AdWatch: 2020 Election Denial/2022 Arizona Senate race Aug 2, 2022

Joe Biden: AdWatch: World laughs at Trump for dangerous incompetence

[Biden campaign video showing Trump at NATO summit in London]:

Narrator 1: "World leaders caught on camera laughing about Pres. Trump"

Narrator 2: "Several world leaders mocking Pres. Trump"

Narrator 3: "They're laughing at him"

Pres. Trump [speaking at the United Nations in Sept. 2018]: "My administration has accomplished more than almost any other administration in the history of our country"

[Audience laughs]

President Trump: "Didn't expect that reaction, but that's OK."

Narrator 4: "World leaders mocking and ridiculing him for being completely off-balance."

Joe Biden: "The world sees Trump for what he is--insincere, ill-informed, corrupt, dangerously incompetent, and incapable, in my view, of world leadership. And if we give Donald Trump four more years, we'll have a great deal of difficulty of ever being able to recover America's standing in the world, and our capacity to bring nations together."

Video text: "We need a leader the world respects. Biden for President."

Source: Twitter posting AdWatch on 2020 Democratic primary Dec 4, 2019

  • The above quotations are from AdWatch: transcripts from 2020 candidates.
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2016 Presidential contenders on Principles & Values:
  Republicans:
Gov.Jeb Bush(FL)
Dr.Ben Carson(MD)
Gov.Chris Christie(NJ)
Sen.Ted Cruz(TX)
Carly Fiorina(CA)
Gov.Jim Gilmore(VA)
Sen.Lindsey Graham(SC)
Gov.Mike Huckabee(AR)
Gov.Bobby Jindal(LA)
Gov.John Kasich(OH)
Gov.Sarah Palin(AK)
Gov.George Pataki(NY)
Sen.Rand Paul(KY)
Gov.Rick Perry(TX)
Sen.Rob Portman(OH)
Sen.Marco Rubio(FL)
Sen.Rick Santorum(PA)
Donald Trump(NY)
Gov.Scott Walker(WI) 		Democrats:
Gov.Lincoln Chafee(RI)
Secy.Hillary Clinton(NY)
V.P.Joe Biden(DE)
Gov.Martin O`Malley(MD)
Sen.Bernie Sanders(VT)
Sen.Elizabeth Warren(MA)
Sen.Jim Webb(VA)

2016 Third Party Candidates:
Gov.Gary Johnson(L-NM)
Roseanne Barr(PF-HI)
Robert Steele(L-NY)
Dr.Jill Stein(G,MA)
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Page last updated: Dec 17, 2023