Captain's Quarters Comments - Latest Comments in The Christmas Ad That Topped Them All

Re: The Christmas Ad That Topped Them All

Guest — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 05:46:11 -0000

Merry Christmas.

Re: The Christmas Ad That Topped Them All

NahnCee — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 01:53:19 -0000

Dear Troll - no. No one else took offense. Are you going to keep posting and re-posting your same inane question until you find a fellow braindead idjut to agree with you, or will you sink into sock puppetry and post an agreement to your idiotic question under a different name?

Words of One Syllable: No. No one else took offense.

Re: The Christmas Ad That Topped Them All

newton — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 01:30:21 -0000

Fred Thompson might yet surprise us all in Iowa...

Re: The Christmas Ad That Topped Them All

Guest — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 23:39:03 -0000

Anyone have a more intelligent response than this?

Re: The Christmas Ad That Topped Them All

NahnCee — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 18:15:43 -0000

No. No one else took offense. Only Muslims and nit-picking trouble-makers take offense over cartoons.

Re: The Christmas Ad That Topped Them All

Only_One_Cannoli — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 17:38:34 -0000

Generic was not my take at all. The Thompson campaign found a way to take a completely self-serving ad format and turn it into a gift to our men/women who who aren't receiving enough appreciation and that communicates something about this candidate's character and, imo, character may be the only real thing that voters learn about these candidates. Personally, I'm turned off by a bunch of campaign promises.

The worst you can say about this ad is that by praising our troops the candidate is using them as a campaign tool to which I'd say good, let all the candidates "use" our troops that way -- let's hear more praise for them. The net result is a positive one for our people serving and if it happens to benefit a candidate with some voters well then so be it.

Classy ad. Red sweaters are nice, but this was nicer.

Re: The Christmas Ad That Topped Them All

Lethologica — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 15:41:27 -0000

Actually, I agree more with michael Reynolds - that this ad doesn't do much to advance Thompson's political cred. He could have run many other topics and gotten more out of them, but he chose this. That doesn't speak of an "exploitive [spelled "exploitative"], insincere, and pandering" politician to me. What would have been "exploitive, insincere, and pandering" would have been for Thompson to show a dozen quotes of him supporting the troops and then telling people to remember the troops.

And if you want to use this kind of standard for Christmas ads, how about Huckabee using "let's not use Christmas for political gain" for political gain? How about Hillary using "I give presents with other people's money!" for political gain? Thompson's ad doesn't even show his face once, it doesn't even mention the presidential campaign, it doesn't feature a "I am XXX and I approve this message" - how is it so clearly using the troops for political gain? Contrast that with all the other ads, which feature the candidate and ONLY the candidate doing something for thirty seconds.

Re: The Christmas Ad That Topped Them All

Lethologica — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 15:31:16 -0000

But "Carol of the Bells" invokes Christmas, so you could say the same thing about Hillary's ad. Let's stick with the "May God bless them all" caveat to differentiate Thompson's ad from the usual platitudes about "happy holidays".

Re: The Christmas Ad That Topped Them All

MrLynn — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 14:39:08 -0000

Congratuations to Fred and his people, for a classy piece of work.

Does Fred have the bucks to run that ad nationwide?

/Mr Lynn

Re: The Christmas Ad That Topped Them All

Phil Larson — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 12:02:40 -0000

If improving our image overseas is a valid objective for national figures then maybe President Thompson's advertising team is just the ticket?

Re: The Christmas Ad That Topped Them All

AmendmentX — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 11:18:52 -0000

Wow! And I voted for Thompson to have eggnog with BEFORE I saw his Christmas message.
Way to go Fred!
I'm going to give him a contribution based on just that ad.

Re: The Christmas Ad That Topped Them All

dave rywall — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 10:09:25 -0000

He's trying to turn "Let's think about the troops" into political gain.

How exploitive, insincere, and pandering.

But typical.

The candidates can't even shut their yappers for 2 weeks and let Americans enjoy Christmas.

Re: The Christmas Ad That Topped Them All

daveinboca — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 09:27:04 -0000

Beautiful and understated in a time when shrill and in-your-face tastelessness prevails, Thompson's ad reminds us of the higher calling to greatness true Americans respond to.

Classy and thought-provoking, with a tug at the heartstrings to boot.

Re: The Christmas Ad That Topped Them All

CoRev — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 08:03:27 -0000

It definitely gets my vote as best of "Breed."

Re: The Christmas Ad That Topped Them All

Matthew King — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 07:58:34 -0000

The background music wished our troops a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. "Holiday season" covers that pretty well.

Re: The Christmas Ad That Topped Them All

michaelreynolds — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 07:56:42 -0000

The purpose of a political ad is to sell the candidate. By that standard Hillary and Huckabee win. This spot is generic, like the kind of thing one of the news divisions puts up this time of year. It does nothing to sell Fred. Nice sentiment, weak politics.

Re: The Christmas Ad That Topped Them All

Guest — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 04:51:31 -0000

While we're in the spirit of Christmas, did anyone else find it offensive and somewhat ironic that the Day-by-Day strip at the top of the page yesterday took the Lord's name in vain....and that would be the same Lord Whose birth and divinity we celebrate at Christmas?

Re: The Christmas Ad That Topped Them All

Lethologica — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 01:43:35 -0000

Oh, one more thing, Captain - where did you get the music for your ad? It sounds like a nice variation of "Carol of the Bells".

Re: The Christmas Ad That Topped Them All

Lethologica — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 01:38:27 -0000

For the sake of nitpickiness, I'll note that one beef posters here had with Hillary's ad is that it used "holidays" instead of "Christmas", and now Fred's is using "holiday season" instead of "Christmas". Of course, this is offset by the "May God bless them all."

And of course, this ad beats Hillary's by a mile.

On the subject of Christmas campaign ads, I 'd like to take this opportunity to note one misconception people seem to be having about Huckabee's ad - that it featured a cross in the background. Not only is this an insignificant sticking point, but it's not a cross. Look again, people. It's a cabinet. You can see the compartments behind the "cross", the far edge of the cabinet is behind the Christmas tree, and it's holding some ornaments. So the complaint isn't even that there's a cross there, it's that one can read cross symbology into the lighting on the cabinet. There's plenty to gripe about with Huckabee that doesn't involve making up trivial gotchas. Let's stick with that.

Re: The Christmas Ad That Topped Them All

Jon Prichard — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 01:32:43 -0000

I'm a vet and I already support Fred Thompson for President. That being said, this is the type of ad that brings things home and reminds me that I love my country. We, the collective free democratic people have done much good in the world and THAT is the spirit of Christmas. GO FRED!

Re: The Christmas Ad That Topped Them All

Archdean — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 00:18:25 -0000

As a retired military officer who has been totally put off by the dwarfs (either party) that claim to be able and want to lead this country and the free world for the next four years, this ad says it all!

I honestly believe that the Next president need do nothing more than be a good spokesman with no ranting/screeching/raving/self franchising/fomenting new programs and the like!

Lets just take a break from Bullshit and with that Fred will get my Vote...

Re: The Christmas Ad That Topped Them All

Bluefio — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 21:38:53 -0000

I couldn't agree more with the Captain. This is the best ad of the lot, the rest don't even come close. In the spirit of Fred's message here is a You Tube link to an original Christmas song written and sung by a Vietnam Vet for all of those who serve. It reminded me of the sacrifice of our Vietnam Vet and the bond that connects all of our Veterans through the years.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Re: The Christmas Ad That Topped Them All

Tano — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 21:28:10 -0000

Good Fred ad.
I fell asleep halfway through.