New Democrat New Danger
Boing Boing Gadgets colleague and Vice President of Photoshoppery Rob Beschizza says,
Brits older than maybe 20 or so will doubtless remember the general election of 1997, which saw Tony Blair — then a young center-left liberal running on a platform of change — defeat incumbent conservatives with a tarnished reputation.The parallels with 2008's presidential race go beyond just a similar placement of pieces on the board, though: by the end, Blair's opponents were reduced to running personal attacks on Blair that make the McCain-Palin's recent larks looks like a vicar's tea party. They were incredibly bizarre.
Check out these campaign posters (above). They actually ran these on billboards, in newspapers and other media!
I was feeling a little sorry for the Republicans, given the thrashing they're about to be dealt. Perhaps this sort of thing will work a little better on this side of the Atlantic? (below).
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Looks like it could've been done by Shepard Fairey's evil British wingnut twin. Crazy, but there's some actual graphic design sense that went into it.
blair's got one creepy smile.
Ha! Back in '97 the Tories were desperate. In the election they were slaughtered. Best night of telly ever. Euphoria...
Now look where we are.
I remember they also had little Tony Blair badges with flashing red eyes too. Though I think those where only exclusive to Tory MP's going on tv chatshows.
Memory fog is foggy.
To be fair, the creepiness of Mr. Blair's smile is worsened by the eyes.
I thought these were hilarious at the time. Sadly it turns out there was some truth to them.: Blair, in spite of overwhelming support in the Commons, became a caretaker prime minister, choosing to avoid nearly every unpopular issue for ten years. The one exception: he defied overwhelming public opinion to participate in the invasion of Iraq. If only he'd avoided that one, too . . .
I think the only "insult" left for the GOP to throw is to accuse Obama of being french.
Well they were right weren't they? Those images were prophetic, considering the megalomaniac Blair became and the surveillance society New Labour has created. We would have expected this from the Conservatives of the 80s. Not from the party of the ordinary working man and our new best mate Tony. The Labour party becoming the Neo-Conservative party was certainly a new and unexpected danger.
If that image had been created in 2003 by an artist protesting the war we would all be deeply impressed.
No I don't think life under the Conservatives would be much better. I thought I would add that because people automatically assume if you are anti-Labour you are pro-Tory.
I'd forgotten about this! It did mark a new low in Conservative Party campaigning.
But I should point out that nobody seriously believed that Blair was an emissary of Satan.
Older readers may also remember the notorious "L is for Labour, L is for Lice" broadcast.
I was just thinking the other day that the 1997 election has been the only election in my life that hasn't been a massive disappointment*- I'm really hoping that the 2008 presidential election turns out to be the second one...
*And yes, I still think that it was a great moment, and I'm still glad the Tories were ousted.
Well, in fairness he did turn out to be a bit of a nipple. Blindly following Dubya into the Gulf, democratising education 'til it's little more than a check-box and generally turning the country into a nannystate cesspit. So despite the daffy posters, it did turn out a bit crappy.
I recall that the eyes are actually upside down to make them look more creepy.
Those eyes on the poster are sad looking eyes turned upside down. That's rather rind of clever.
While the eyes make Tony Blair look like an evil supervillian on loan from Hades, they give Obama a sort of mysterious, 007-esque badass quality, as if Samuel L. Jackson was running for office.
I'm a little hazy on this myself but weren't those posters roundly denounced by many people over here at the time? They may even have been withdrawn.
Either way, they were a sign of the Tories' utter desperation at that point in the campaign. An interesting parallel with the Republican position now, perhaps?
Comment edit nightmare!
And I was going to say, but isn't it too late for this kind of stuff? It seems like a foregone conclusion ..
Should I not tempt fate?
And strangely enough, I remember that the model used for the demon-eyes (actually they were upside-down eyes) was a bald-headed chap who looks a great deal like McCain's partner in shame Joe the Ersatz plumber.
Actually, they were ruled illegal and ordered to stop.
I think the same thing happened to the "B.Liar" ones.
I'm still puzzled as to why the Americans are allowed to get away with outright lying. Don't you people have laws for politicians?
Why yes we do, but clearly you are not understanding the level of government corruption over here. If anybody beefs, a retroactive immunity bill will quickly sail through the legislature.
I was afraid that Bush was going to call the election off (why else keep signing off on the State of Emergency every September?) but the effort that the Bush adminstration is putting into purposely destroying the economy makes it look more like they are setting up the next President to be another Hoover.
Let's face it, the neo-cons hate McCain as much or more than Obama - they are trying to scuttle the next presidency regardless of who wins.
Deeming this sort of thing illegal is a testament to Britain's election laws/enforcement process.
Despite that, posting these sorts of images, at this point in time, represents a certain amount of editorial risk. This is certainly the case if they are posted with preemptive pity to an anticipated Obmam/Biden romp.
Friends of Obama around the world: you may be familiar with the time honored saying "don't count your chicken's before their hatched?" Well, don't underestimate McCain and the GOP and, more importantly, the volatility of the American voter. Remember, this is the same electoral college who re-elected G.W. Bush in 2004... If we can do that, we can easily erase a 10% spread and put McCain/Palin in power.
Let's hope newdemocratnewdanger-sm does not go viral.
Conservatives visually referenced the Sex Pistols? The irony, she burns.
Barack Obama wishes he were Tony Blair. The differences between the two are important.
Make that "was"... Damn!
Hey, that's as nothing to the one that showed his head on the body of a poodle on (then German Chancellor) Helmut Kohl's knee. Because, you know, he'd end the special relationship and it would be the nazis all over again!
Like a forgotten tuna sandwich, politicians start to smell funny after sitting in the same office for eight years.
new republican, same old crizz-app!: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/226/story/54582.html
ASUFFIELD @17:
"I'm still puzzled as to why the Americans are allowed to get away with outright lying. Don't you people have laws for politicians?"
hahahahahahaha
Oh, that was a serious question. Well we have some campaign laws, but we don't have one specifically barring lying or seriously distorting the truth (or if we do, it's widely ignored). It's assumed that a candidates sense of shame will prevent them from lying.
HAHA, that was a joke, candidates have no shame!
"Deeming this sort of thing illegal is a testament to Britain's election laws/enforcement process."
Is this true, or just a flippant comment?
Doesn't England have the equivalent of the first amendment?
I remember at the time of Blair's election, I had a friend from Britain who was estatic over the results.
After the letdown (rip-off?) that was the Clinton administration, my reaction was that she was going to miss the days when she knew who her enemies really were...
"the Republicans, given the thrashing they're about to be dealt"
That statement's one of the scariest things I've seen all day. Sweaty memories of 2000. Some Dems might even believe it and not bother voting. Perhaps that's even the strategy.
There's only one point between them according to the last two AP polls. And McCain is still winning who would make the best Commander in Chief question on all polls.
Remember New Hampshire?
I remember that campaign, I was living in England at the time. And I remember thinking it broke one of the cardinal rules of an advertisement. Here it was, supposedly an ad for the CONSERVATIVE party...and not once did it mention the Conservative party, just over and over "New Labour...New Danger!" Which would be the opposite of what you wanted..."Hmm, let's instill the OTHER feller's brand name in the listener's brain and not mention our brand once. Bwa-ha-ha!"
That'll show us...
Is it just me or does the Blair poster's grin and eyes force a recollection of Jack Nicholson in The Shining?
Once again, totally a demonstration of the old fact that whenever Repugs run out of rational arguments, they revert to playground name-calling.
It is a universal genetic trait.
Blair was really a centre right politician and due to successive humiliation at elections (1992 being the worst) Labour promised to keep the Tories spending plans right up to the year 2000. Even though these ads are stupid, people said they'd vote Labour in 92' but when they got to the polling stations they voted Conservative on tax.
The Tories tried to play the same sort of game - primitive but potentially effective.
Only after the year 2000, did extra money finally go into the creeking services and transport system in the UK. After being under-invested in and constantly being used as a political football, it's no wonder these services are belatedly improving. That wont last long - unlike Scandinavia, the UK doesn't do collective acts of unity (unless of course, you live in Scotland).
It is sad Labour has been quite as illiberal as it has been, but the tabloids have an impossible demand for there to be 'less government' while at the same time demanding action on XY and Z whenever something goes wrong.