Monday, August 20, 2007

Is Gays For Giuliani Actually That Effective?

There's been a bit of buzz (here and here) in the blogosphere about the Gays For Giuliani commercial. It came out (hahah) the commercial actually is a Democratic opposition tactic orchestrated by Democratic activist Mike Rogers. But I gotta question: How effective can this oppo tactic possibly be? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one. As we discussed previously, the working assumption is that any Republican supporting Giuliani knows what they are getting themselves into. It's obvious that Rudy Giuliani's morality already has a polarizing effect on Republicans. I fail to see how such a tactic at this juncture could embellish that. It seems hard to believe that Giuliani supporters or even those on the fence will jump ship after seeing this video. And even more hard to believe, that Republicans that do not support Giuliani would ever support him. To top it off, for all the noise people are making, it's exposure is clearly limited at best. The Gays For Giuliani campaign ad has had a mere 52,000 views over the course of the passed two weeks [CLARIFICATION: 52,000 views on YOUTUBE]. It seems to only be on the radar of the savvy fringe that sways left anyway. It seems they're preaching to the converted. In the grand scheme of things, there's no way this particular campaign even makes a dent. If anything, could it garner support from Democrats? That's reaching I know, but I'm just a little confused. If you go after Romney, you're at least going after a candidate that dominates the base. But Giuliani? It seems he'll never win over a percentage of the base and no opposition campaign will change that. I feel like this is significant only because it's the first attack of its kind for this political season. Not because it's a shining example of a successful attack campaign. I'd like to know what you think.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It was also written about in The Washington Post and seen on CNN and MSNBC. That, along with major national and targeted South Carolina blog coverage bring the estimated number people who've been exposed to the campaign to 5 Million. You're joking with that 50k reference. It's so disingenuous. The ad is hurting Rudy already, everyone is talking about how much he loves the gays!

philip marlowe said...

Thanks for the comment!
I realize the attention this thing has got in MSM, but i'm much more interested in the specific discussion of it's effectiveness, which is a discussion mostly taking place on the political blogs. The reason I cited the actual views on YouTube is cuz it's the only indicator I can think of that quantifies a call to action. Meaning, seeing a bite on CNN and actually tracking down more info on the net, as opposed to it being in one ear and out the other. (Obama Girl got tons of media exposure and garnered millions of hits online, dwarfing this vid) As far as people talking about how much he loves the gays, this is exactly my point! People have been talking about how much he loves the gays since he was mayor! (obviously less facetiously, but still the guy's got lefty morals) This is nothing new. Just like he's soft on abortion, dressed in drag and has a playboy private life. There's nothing shocking here. And republicans know this. So if you launch a campaign exploiting these things, it's great for laughs, but it's not telling us anything we don't already know. It seems impossible that someone could support Giuliani and be aware of his history, but then see this video and be compelled to jump ship. Maybe I'm giving people too much credit re their political knowledge, but to reiterate, Giuliani strikes me as far too polarizing of a candidate for a tactic like this to effect change. Does that make more sense? Thanks. -Marlowe