Presidential Election 2004:
Analyzing the Attack Ads

By Alan Shapiro

To the Teacher:

This season of political advertising offers teachers an excellent opportunity to help students analyze what they see, hear, and read. Media specialists working for the two candidates will spend millions on very carefully crafted ads. The campaigns would not spend all this money if they didn't think the ads would influence voters.

Everything about the ads is worth scrutiny: visual elements, what is said, how it is said, what appears in print. It is also important to check sources for both accuracy and for what is not said, and to consider why something is not said.

The two student readings below include describe two early campaign ads, one from the Bush-Cheney campaign, and the other from the Kerry campaign. Like the many ads that will follow, each ad raises questions and issues that call for analysis and checking of sources.

Student Reading 1:
Bush accuses Kerry

On February 12, the Bush-Cheney campaign emailed the following commercial, entitled "Unprincipled," to six million supporters.

Voice: John Kerry.

Kerry (giving speech after New Hampshire primary victory): "I have a message for the influence peddlers and the special interests. We're coming, you're going."

Voice: 'Sounds good."
(Types "special interests" into computer search engine.)

"Special In-ter-ests."
(Reads a Washington Post story on the internet.)

"More special interest money than any other senator. How much?"
(The figure $640,000 appears.)

"Ohhh. For what?"
(Reads news story.)

"Nominations and donations coincided. Wait. Watchdog Groups."
(Center for Public Integrity website appears*)

"Fact. Kerry: Brought to you by the special interests. Millions for executives at HMOs, telecoms, drug companies. Ka-ching! Unprincipled?"

Kerry (giving speech): "have a message for the influence peddlers, and the special interests, and the special interests, and the special interests..."

Voice: "Fact. Kerry. Brought to you by the special interests."

*The Center for Public Integrity is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that tracks contributions to all presidential candidates.

What are Special Interests?

"Special interests" might be defined as any individual or group that advocates a particular course of action (or in some cases non-action) by the government and seeks to influence political office holders to support their position. For example:

• Paid lobbyists are hired by corporations, unions and a variety of other groups to represent their "special interests" on public issues in Washington.
• Political Action Committees (PACs) are groups organized to elect or defeat particular candidates.
• 527 Groups (named for a section of the Internal Revenue Code) raise money to advocate for certain issues and mobilize voters to support candidates who are favorable to their position.
• Officials of corporations, unions, and other groups solicit contributions from their employees or members to support a candidate. They may also urge their constituents to write letters, visit members of Congress, or organize protest rallies to support or oppose legislation.

Discussion Questions for Reading 1

1. What questions do students have about the ad? Can they be answered? How?

2. What conclusion does the ad want you to reach about John Kerry? Specifically, what makes you think so?

3. In the ad a female voice, supposedly reading aloud from the website of the Washington Post, a respected newspaper, says, "More special interest money than any other senator." The actual Washington Post story said that Kerry "has raised more money from paid lobbyists than any other senator over the past 15 years." Compare the two statements. How do they differ? Do these differences matter? Why or why not? Why do you suppose the ad does not quote exactly what the newspaper said? Before you attempt an answer, consider how this reading defines "special interests."

4. The Washington Post story also said, "All the presidential candidates take money from special interests, including Sen. John Edwards (N-N.C.), who like Kerry has targeted corporations and lobbyists in his stump speeches. And Bush has far outpaced them all." Why do you suppose the ad does not quote this statement?

5. The Bush ad does not report that the Bush-Cheney campaign collected $142 million between June 2003 and February 2004 and that the contributors include 53 registered lobbyists. (Public Citizen: www.citizen.org). Does this fact change your reaction to the Bush ad?

Some additional information to share and consider with students:

• The ad is correct in reporting that Kerry got $640,000 from individual paid lobbyists, though it does not say that he has received this money over the past 15 years. Nor does it say that lobbyists are not the only category of "special interest."
• The ad is correct in saying that Kerry got millions from HMO executives, telecoms and drug companies, though it does not say that he has received these donations over his entire career.
• Senate Republican leader Bill Frist reported $1,022,063 in PAC donations for his 2004 campaign alone. Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican whip reported getting $1,316,670. Democratic Senate leader Tom Daschle got $1,533,069 and Democratic whip Harry Reid got $1,580,627. Therefore, the ad's claim that Kerry got more special interest money than other senators is false. Additionally, Kerry does not accept money from PACs, which are often controlled by lobbyists and give much more than individual lobbyists.
• The ad does not report that Bush has raised much more money from special interests than Kerry. For example, from lobbyists alone, Bush has received $960,154 and Kerry $234,920, or four times more in this presidential campaign. Bush has also received $7,085,942 to Kerry's $3,474,264 from law firms; $3,010,576 to $392,187 from health professionals; $1,850,532 to $134,250 from insurance firms. (opensecrets.org and factcheck.org)

Student Reading 2:
Kerry attacks Bush

On February 27 the Kerry campaign emailed an ad, entitled "Keep Our Word" to its supporters, asking them to pass it on to friends. Below is an excerpt.

Bush: "When we make a pledge we keep our word. When America works, America prospers. So my economic security plan can be summed up in one word. Jobs."
On screen: 2.9 Million Jobs Lost (Bureau of Labor Statistics)....

Bush: "Our budget will run a deficit that will be small and short term."
On screen: Annual deficit to exceed $400 billion for next 10 years (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, analysis of Congressional Budget Office estimate, 2/1/04)

Bush: "We should and must provide the best care for anybody who's willing to put their life in harm's way."
On screen: 200,000 veterans cut from health system (Department of Veteran Affairs, 9/03)

Bush: "We're going to set aside all the payroll taxes aimed for Social Security and spend it on social security."
On screen: Raids entire $2.6 trillion Social Security Trust Fund (Congressional Budget Office, 3/7/03)

Bush: "When we make a pledge, we mean it. We keep our word. We keep our word."

Kerry: "We need a President who's on your side. I'm John Kerry and I approved this message."

Discussion Questions for Reading 2

1. What questions do students have about the reading? Can they be answered? How?

2. What conclusion does the ad want you to reach about George Bush? Specifically, what makes you think so?

3. The ad quotes specific and, except for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, official sources for its "On Screen" criticisms of Bush's statements. Are the sources quoted accurately? How could you find out?

According to FactCheck.org, a non-partisan website whose mission is to examine political statements for their accuracy, there are inaccuracies in the Kerry ad:

• Jobs lost: Bureau of Labor Statistics show the loss of 2.2 million jobs. The Kerry campaign says the ad refers to the loss of private sector jobs only, but a reader has no way of knowing that. The 700,000-job gap is made up by gains in local, state and federal government employment since Bush became president.
• Veterans' health benefits: No veterans have lost their health benefits during the Bush presidency. The Kerry campaign says the ad is referring to a proposal in Bush's budget for fiscal year 2005, which begins Oct. 1, but the ad does not say that. Congress rejected the same proposal last year and is expected to reject it again.
• Social Security benefits: While the ad's claim on this subject is true, it does not report that Bush's promise was made during the 2000 election campaign before the economic recession that began soon after he became president and before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The ad quotes the deficit prediction of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities accurately. That prediction is based on certain future events that the CBPP regards as likely.

The following website sources can be helpful to students and the teacher in checking information:

The Center for Responsive Politics: www.opensecrets.org
Common Cause: www.commoncause.org
FactCheck: www.factcheck.org
Federal Election Commission: www.fec.gov
PBS: www.pbs.org (especially through its link to Now with Bill Moyers)
Project Vote Smart: www.vote-smart.org
Public Citizen: www.citizen.org and www.whitehouseforsale.org

This lesson was written for TeachableMoment.Org, a project of Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility. We welcome your comments. Please email author Alan Shapiro at: ashapiro7@comcast.net.

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