Protect Marriage Campaign to Release First TV Spot

Watch the first Yes on 8 TV ad here.

Or here:




The official Yes on 8 campaign press release announcing this first ad:

Protect Marriage Campaign to Release First TV Spot

Contact: Sonja Eddings Brown, Protect Marriage, 916-446-2956

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Sept. 27 /Christian Newswire/ -- The following news advisory is submitted by ProtectMarriage.com:

Who: ProtectMarriage.com – Yes on Proposition 8 Campaign
Campaign Managers Frank Schubert & Jeff Flint

What: Press Conference to reveal the first Yes on Proposition 8 television ad

Where: Offices of Schubert Flint Public Affairs
1415 L Street, Suite 1250
Sacramento, CA 95814

When: Monday, September 29, 2008
11:00 AM

Notes: Yes on Prop 8 Campaign Managers Frank Schubert and Jeff Flint will unveil the first in a series of campaign commercials designed to educate voters about the critical need to pass Proposition 8, which will restore traditional marriage to California.

Additionally, Professor Richard Peterson of the Pepperdine University School of Law, who appears in the ad, and Mr. Andrew Pugno, counsel to ProtectMarriage.com, will be available to answer questions.


Schubert Flint Protest Flyer Download (PDF)


Two more upcoming events on the Prop 8 calendar:

October 1 (Wednesday) - The Fine Line Rally Satellite Broadcast (Evangelical rally for Prop 8). 7:00 PM PDT.

October 8 (Wednesday) — LDS Church Satellite Broadcast regarding Proposition 8. 7:30 PM PDT.
Dear Brothers and Sisters:

October 8, 2008 Satellite Broadcast re Proposition 8

On Wednesday, October 8, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. PDT, there will be a satellite broadcast regarding Proposition 8 to stake centers throughout California. General Authorities and others will speak during the broadcast. We ask that the following please be invited to attend: stake presidencies; bishoprics and branch presidencies; stake, ward and branch Relief Society presidents; and all members working in grassroots support of the Proposition 8 campaign.

In addition, we ask that a special invitation to attend the broadcast be extended to young single and young married adults. With only this coming Sunday to make this announcement before the broadcast, we ask that you please ensure that this invitation is personally extended to all who are invited. We greatly appreciate your support of this most important matter.

Sincerely,
L. Whitney Clayton
Presidency of the Seventy
I wonder if the October 8th satellite broadcast from Salt Lake City will include yet another declaration of LDS political neutrality?

At what point does the Mormon leadership's continued insistence that Proposition 8 is a "moral"--rather than "political"--issue begin to ring so hollow with so many California voters that it will indelibly taint public perception of the LDS church long after it has helped trigger a massive rejection of Prop 8 on Nov. 4th?

I mean, c'mon, everywhere one looks, it's nothing but GOP operatives running the Yes on 8 effort.

Just today, when Frank Schubert, the Yes on 8 campaign manager, invited me to pop over and check out his campaign's first TV ad, here's what I found:

If you go to the ProtectMarriage.com website and click on "First TV Ad" on their front page, it takes you to this site to view the clip:

https://www.icontribute.us/protectmarriage/initiative/firstadweb

Well, I'd never heard of icontribute.us before, so I thought I'd find out who runs that site:

Registrant Name: Patrick Ruffini
Registrant Email: patrick@patrickruffini.com

So, then I popped over to www.patrickruffini.com to learn a little about Patrick, and this is what I found ...
Patrick Ruffini is an online strategist dedicated to helping Republicans and conservatives achieve dominance in a networked era ... Ruffini currently advises Republican candidates and organizations on mastering new media, with a disciplined focus on Web site, e-mail, and blog strategies ... From 2005 to 2007, Ruffini served as eCampaign Director at the Republican National Committee, overseeing the Party’s online strategy for the 2006 election cycle ... In the 2004 election cycle, Ruffini served as webmaster for Bush-Cheney ‘04, overseeing a wide range of activities from day-to-day website operations, designing special features around high-profile events like the Conventions and Presidential debates, and managing the first-ever campaign blog for an incumbent President.
This is not political neutrality, this is farce.

Oh, and regarding this first Yes on 8 ad: It was awful. It offers the viewer a choice between an enthusiastic crowd and a dour Pepperdine law professor going for the hard sell like a used car salesman facing the end of a bad month. I hope and pray that Frank and Jeff decide to spend their entire war chest buying airtime for this ad.
Frank Schubert, the Yes on 8 campaign manager, wrote supporters that the campaign has reserved $10 million in TV ad time in the final five weeks of the campaign.
Check out Justin McLachlan's rebuttal along with the response from the No campaign here.

My new favorite Christian blogger blogger-named-Christian describes his visceral response to the ad here.

Read this to understand the real impact that such scaremongering ads have on real California families. Shame.

And here's what the star of the show, Gavin Newsom, had to say about the ad:
"The debate about gay marriage isn't theoretical anymore. Marriage equality is now an established fact in California, and this debate is about people we know and care about. We need to stand up and support our fellow Californians by voting No on Proposition 8 this November.

The claims in this ad are absurd, and I'm confident Californians will see it for exactly what it is - an attempt to distract attention from exactly how Proposition 8 will hurt our friends, neighbors, co-workers and family members.

To the extent the ad seems to be attacking my own advocacy for equality, I am not concerned. I just want to make sure Proposition 8 doesn't rob thousands and thousands of newly married couples of the ability to express their lifelong commitment and responsibility for each other."
And just to remind ourselves what an effective ad looks like:



"Whether You Like It or Not" vs "Don't Eliminate Marriage for Anyone" = No Contest:
"The [Yes on 8] advertisement, while not compelling, will likely speak to the concerns of people already supporting the ballot initiative."
That sounds about right, and considering that opponents already outnumber supporters, it would suggest that this ad is another wasted effort from the Yes on 8 side.

And now Republicans Against 8 have come out with their response ad:



Let's close this out with one last link (this one just for fun):

Fast4Equality ... Fight Prop. 8 With a Brief Fast! (brand spanking new website - brainchild of the geniuses (and spiritual giants) over at Calitics, California's leading progressive blog.)

UPDATE: Pepperdine has asked the Yes on 8 campaign to delete the Pepperdine attribution in their TV ad. Ouch.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hope you keep tab of which station(s) accepts the spot.

Em said...

We ARE trying to protect marriage. Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained by God. YES on Prop 8!

Chino Blanco said...

em -

Does God issue marriage licenses?

Or is that not perhaps the county clerk's job?

I'm not talking about anything other than civil marriage here.

If you're LDS, you believe that the only marriages that will last beyond "until death do us part" are those that are sanctified in a Mormon temple ... in a religious ceremony.

You have every right to your belief, and the LDS church has every right to set the qualifications for temple marriage.

That's not the issue here.

And because that is absolutely NOT the issue here, your support for Prop 8 is entirely misguided.

I am not the enemy. I just want to see my gay friends (who pay taxes just like you) get equal treatment before the law.

Whatever treatment you believe is in store for my friends from your God once they've left this mortal existence remains your own belief (a belief which is under no threat from me or those who oppose Prop 8), but such beliefs should not be a determining factor in the distribution of civil marriage licenses.

J. Max Powers said...

Chino - are you an ex-mormon?

Chino Blanco said...

jmp -

Yup, I'm an RM. Am I "ex" if I'm still on the church rolls? Regardless, as a descendant of Mormon pioneers, I'd reject the "ex-mormon" label ... it'd be like calling me an ex-American just because I live abroad.

J. Max Powers said...

Chino - thanks for your candor.

terrierchica said...

chino, thanks for another great post. I think you should address the fact that getting involved in politics like this means that the lds church should be paying taxes...

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