the 7 words which would fix the whole fiasco are...

"Just kidding, folks. Here's the real ad!"

Barring that most blessed of miraculous reliefs occurring....

I would like to make an attempt to bridge the yawning chasm between the grassroots pitchfork wielders and the defensive campaign staff. I've read a lot of the comments on both sides and I think I "get" where everybody's coming from.

As one of the many who were shocked and outraged by the *HORRIBLE* "quality" of this ad, I think I can speak for that group fairly well. I don't know what the campaign side of this is -- and that is actually the heart of the problem.

They have given us a lot of good signals lately. Yeah, there were the drearily forgettable Iowa TV ads, but it was still kind of early and we brushed those off and moved along. Since then, most of what we've seen has been encouraging. The web site has been improved (though it could still be improved a lot more). The flash widgets excited us all and broke new ground in multiple ways. The recently unveiled radio ad is at least OK. All the great YouTube vids just keep coming! The new 12-page paper mailer looks very good (at least the small pics I've seen of the pages). And there's all that CA$H! We were told $1M was being spent on TV ads for NH. Wow!!

So, with all of those indicators looking solid, I was feeling confident that the TV ads were going to be good. After all, the campaign had no need to go with bad quality ads; if they couldn't come up with anything, they could have simply posted a notice on ronpaul2008.com saying "We will start running TV ads as soon as we have good 30 second vids in TV quality" and then sat back and watched their desks disappear under a mountain of TOTALLY FREE videos sent in by eager video producers... and every last one would have been better than this groaner.

With all of that context... we got this dumped on our unsuspecting heads. My reaction was essentially the same as if HQ had suddenly emptied a bedpan onto me from the 3rd floor with no warning.

Then, to make things worse, when we, the many in the RPR, who have *poured* our souls into this campaign for 6 months, began to complain about the awful smell, the campaign's response is that we should shut up and that we're harming the campaign by complaining.

This is absurd.

Contrast it to the fundraising data flow which has been daringly opened up to us. Now we have a loop: we donate and the results are fed back to us instantly. Yes! And we can see all the others donating, too. Yes!! So, that is an example of doing communication between the masses and HQ the *right* way. This ad is an example of just the opposite.

I don't demand to micro-manage the campaign. I wouldn't know how anyway. But I do expect some decency and to be treated as what I think I am: a partner, of some sort, in this effort. Sure, the campaign should keep some of its cards close to the vest, as needed. But that doesn't preclude some communication, and in particular, it doesn't preclude a heads-up if the campaign is about to drop a log in our punch bowl.

What I need to know, in order to "just trust" the HQ, is that they *know* the ad is atrociously bad. I need to know they realize that, and are -- for whatever mysterious strategic reason -- OK with that. I require that knowledge, because if they think that is a *good* ad, then I do have a problem on my hands; I can't in good conscience ask anyone to give money to put more stuff like *that* on TV, and I'm going to be demoralized thinking about more bad ads being made and funded with our efforts.

So, please, HQ, put this right. Either bring out the real ad or give us a reason to have confidence in your judgement. And no, the 10 previous election wins don't suffice. This ad is *that* bad, at least in comparison to what else we're used to seeing, daily, for FREE on YouTube. Reagan said "trust, but verify" and I think he had a good point there. I need some verification that you are sane (and also not infiltrated). Give me that and I can get back to work confidently. Without it, starting in the morning, I'll have to force myself to go through the motions, and that hurts. I've never had to do that before.

If you need help creating good ads, just say so.

If you meant, mysteriously, to make a bad ad, just say so.

"People in an open society do not demand infallibility from their institutions, but it is difficult for them to accept what they are prohibited from observing."
--U.S. Supreme Court, in Richmond Newspapers, Inc. v. Virginia