Tag Archives: Never Back Down

Is Presidential TV Ad Spending Really Idiotic, Like Vivek Ramaswamy Says?

by doctorads

Well the Doc opened up the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out.

Dear Dr. Ads,

There I was, minding my own business and poking around Xitter, when I came across this post on David Axelrod’s feed addressing the latest nonsense from Vivek Ramasmarmy – sorry, Ramaswamy.

Two questions for you, Doc – is presidential TV ad spending more idiotic than Vivek Ramaswamy? Or is it vice versa?

– On the Spot

Dear OtS,

This one looks like a photo finish, yeah?

Let’s start with Vivek Ramaswamy’s X-clusion of TV spots from his primary campaign.

Given that Ramaswamy spent $200,000 on TV ads during the first half of December, as NPR’s Ashley Lopez reported, presumably he’s had some kind of IQ boost in the past few weeks. Regardless, his campaign told NPR it hasn’t entirely stopped spending on ads.

“Our spending levels haven’t changed—we’re just following the data,” said campaign spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin. “We are focused on bringing out the voters we’ve identified—best way to reach them is using addressable advertising, mail, text, live calls and doors to communicate with our voters on Vivek’s vision for America, making their plan to caucus and turning them out.”

Yeah – that and going to six Iowa Pizza Ranches in one day might actually get you within 40 points of Donald Trump. Or maybe not, considering that some – like the New Republic’s Jason Linkins – think you might not even make it to caucus night.

As for how idiotic presidential TV ad spending in general might be, it certainly hasn’t paid off for the super PACs that have dropped tens of millions of dollars touting presidential primary hopefuls, as The Bulwark’s Tim Miller has painstakingly documented.

The Super PACs Are Worthless. Donors Should Stop Torching Their Cash.

SUPER PACS FOR SEVERAL GOP CANDIDATES challenging Donald Trump have raised hundreds of millions of dollars to help fund efforts to displace him as the party’s nominee—and they have absolutely nothing to show for it.

No progress. No signs of life. No movement. Nada.

The impotence of the super PAC efforts is an all-the-more-inviting target for ridicule when you consider that this entire strategic approach was discredited in the 2016 and 2020 presidential races. (I can speak from firsthand Jeb! experience about the law of diminishing returns on super PAC dollars.)

Case in point: The pro-DeSantis super PAC Nevar Back Down, whose $25 million worth of ads have gone over like the metric system, rocketing the Florida governor from over 30% in the national polls to 11.7% in ten short months.

So yeah, some presidential ad spending is in fact idiotic. But that doesn’t make Vivek Ramaswamy any smarter.

Is MAGA Inc. PAC’s ‘Ron DeSalesTax’ Ad More a) Deceptive or b) Moronic?

by doctorads

Well the Doc opened up the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out.

Dear Dr. Ads,

There I was, minding my own business and reading Politico Playbook, who I came across this item.

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: TRUMP WORLD’S NEW DeSANTIS ATTACK AD —Meridith McGraw reports that MAGA Inc. PAC is launching a new ad airing on Fox News, CNN and Newsmax. The ad is also running today in four Iowa markets (Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Davenport and Sioux City) and on WMUR in New Hampshire.

The spot attacks Florida Gov. RON DeSANTIS’ previous support for a national sales tax with corny but catchy lyrics sung to the tune of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.” Here’s a sample: “Ron ‘DeSalesTax’ had a plan / To make you pay more / With a sales tax here, and a sales tax there / Here a tax, there a tax, everywhere a sales tax.”

What’s up here, Doc? Is this ad just stupid? Or does MAGA Inc think we are? 

– Not Quite Sold

Dear NQS,

Looks like a photo finish to us.

Here’s the ad in question.

For those of you keeping score at home, that’s a sales tax hike on eggs, gasoline, steak, washing machines, lawn mowers, electronics, toasters, and takeout – all thanks to the 23% national sales tax DeSantis voted for three times as a Florida congressman.

That claim is half true according to PolitiFact’s Amy Sherman, who noted that “DeSantis co-sponsored Fair Tax bills three times while in Congress. Those proposals would set a national sales tax and replace other federal taxes, including income tax.” Sherman concluded that the statement “is partially accurate but leaves out important details.”

The DeSantis campaign, on the other hand, is conceding nothing, as Kyle Morris reported at Fox News.

“In Congress, the governor supported the concept of a Fair Tax, a plan to lower the overall tax burden on an individual by replacing all federal taxes —  including income tax — with a lower tax,” Bryan Griffin, the DeSantis political team press secretary, said in a statement shared with Fox News Digital. “The plan also sought to end the IRS, which, at the time, was being weaponized by the Obama administration. To describe only part of the plan in an attack is dishonest.

“In Florida, Gov. DeSantis cut taxes to help families struggling under Biden’s inflation. In 2022, he signed the largest tax relief package in Florida history (more than $1.2 billion for Florida’s families). And, this year, he exceeded that by securing a record $2.7 billion in tax relief, including a permanent sales tax exemption for baby items, back to school and Fourth of July tax holiday, and $500 million in toll relief,” Griffin added.

And, just to twist the knife, Griffin ended with this: “Incidentally, Florida’s favorable tax climate has encouraged a record number of people to move to the Sunshine State, including former President Donald Trump.”

Never Back Down, the pro-DeSantis Super PAC, piled on with this tweet.

As for the eggs, washing machines, gas, takeout, etc. featured in the DeSalesTax spot, they seem to have been chosen at random. Kind of the way facts are in political ads nowadays.

Is Anyone Winning the Trump-DeSantis Advertising Slap Fight?

by doctorads

Well the Doc opened up the old mailbag today and here’s what poured out.

Dear Dr. Ads,

There I was, minding my own business and reading Charlie Sykes’s Morning Shots at The Bulwark, when I came across this item about how routinely weak Republicans’ criticism of Donald Trump has been.

Let’s start with some stipulations: the criticisms of Trump from his fellow GOPers fall way short since they continue to skirt the main issue: his fundamental unfitness to hold any position of public trust ever again.

And, given Trump’s lead in the polls and the well-documented proclivities of the MAGA base, they are also probably ineffective. All points granted.

But it is still worth noting that Ron DeSantis has finally realized that he needs to punch back.

What’s the deal, Doc? I thought DeSantis was running as Trump without the baggage. Now he’s gonna whack the former president with a briefcase?

–  Sky Cop

Dear SC:

Unfortunately, you’ve stumbled into a proxy war between the former Cheeto in Chief and his former Mini-Me, both vying for the hearts and (small) minds of the MAGAts. This is what changed everything for Ron DeSantis, compliments of the Trumpy Super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc.

Here’s the transcript for those of you keeping score at home.

Ron DeSantis loves sticking his fingers where they don’t belong. And we’re not just talking about pudding. DeSantis has his dirty fingers all over senior entitlements, like cutting Medicare, slashing Social Security, and even raising our retirement age. Tell Ron DeSantis to keep his pudding fingers off our money. Oh, and get this man a spoon!

That finger in the eye has triggered a couple of responses from the pro-DeSantis Never Back Down Super PAC. The first volley, as Axios’s Erica Pandey reported, came in the form of “a small online buy for ‘Gun-Grabbing Trump,’ which was geotargeted to Indianapolis for the NRA convention. The ad juxtaposes Trump’s comments about the Second Amendment with clips of Democrats: “TRUMP AGREED WITH NANCY PELOSI,” etc.”

The spot essentially accuses Trump of sleeping with the Second Amendment enemies. Drive him nuts graf: “Trump cut and run like a coward. Trump the gun-grabber doesn’t deserve a second chance.”

Ouch.

Now comes Fight Democrats, Not Republicans, which Never Back Down launched on “Fox News Sunday.” It asks the question, “What happened to Donald Trump?”

So what, in turn, happened to DeSantis’s old rope-a-dope strategy? The Bulwark’s Sykes points to this piece by Puck’s Tara Palmeri.

It’s only been a few weeks since Jeff Roe and his band of fellow Ted Cruz alumni parachuted into Tallahassee to help reverse Ron DeSantis’s wilting political fortunes, and yet they’ve already picked at an uncomfortable wound in the governor’s tight, sensitive, and less experienced inner circle. Roe’s more seasoned crew, for one, has a far less sanguine view of DeSantis’s current Trump self-defense strategy. They believe that DeSantis can’t just shrug off the former president’s public attacks on him, which coalesce around the notion that he’s an establishment stooge. Trump’s invective may be juvenile but it’s clearly moving the needle on his polling and allowing the former president to craft DeSantis’s public image.

All that brings us back to to the original question: Is anyone winning this ad-fueled slap fight? Let’s go to the highly unscientific YouTube Index for possible answers.

MAGA Pac’s Pudding Fingers  21,000 views  71 likes

Never Back Down’s Gun-Grabbing Trump  9000 views  61 likes

Never Back Down’s Fight Democrats . . .  136,000 views  125 likes

The Doc’s diagnosis: Donald Trump’s cheeks sure seem redder.