Foreign Policy Video - Planning Thread - Chainspell & FreeTraveler

[speciallyblend]

I like the short 89 seconds of Ron Paul on every subject, but that should be a separate project.

We should have a longer foreign policy video with some of the videos provided.

I agree , now to put the new ron paul sticker on my car thanks

 

[Birdlady]

I like the short 89 seconds of Ron Paul on every subject, but that should be a separate project.

We should have a longer foreign policy video with some of the videos provided.

I disagree. If this video is meant to reach to non-RP supporters, then we need to make it as short and to the point as possible. If you make a 5-10 minute video on foreign policy, only RP supporters are going to watch it. I don't think we need another video on FP directed at us. I think it's a waste of time and resources, personally.

What we do need though is a video that succinctly explains RP's foreign policy, so that we can sway some people towards voting RP. I think this is exactly the video we need right now and I can't wait to see the finished product!

 

[speciallyblend]

I disagree. If this video is meant to reach to non-RP supporters, then we need to make it as short and to the point as possible. If you make a 5-10 minute video on foreign policy, only RP supporters are going to watch it. I don't think we need another video on FP directed at us. I think it's a waste of time and resources, personally.

What we do need though is a video that succinctly explains RP's foreign policy, so that we can sway some people towards voting RP. I think this is exactly the video we need right now and I can't wait to see the finished product!

I would agree with both. No reason we cannot have 2 versions one lengthy and one shorter and then another project focusing on the 89 second them. Get'er done breaks out the whips and chains for chainspell!!!!

 

[FreeTraveler]

I really appreciate all the love for this idea, and the ideas for other videos. But to get this one done, we still need some stuff.

Additional information we're looking for:

All candidates' federal foreign affairs experience, in years. Obama gets credit for his presidency, 4 years I guess. We need to know how long Ron's been on the House Foreign Affairs Committee counting to the end of his current term, and I think Bachmann is also on there. We'll need to research the rest of the candidates; Santorum may have some experience from the Senate. Not sure about Gingrich. Romney, Perry and Cain will get goose eggs.

Military service, in years, for all other candidates. We've got Ron's 5 years in the Air Force and Air National Guard covered. Santorum and Perry served, IIRC.

A catchy title and opening sequence idea. 3 seconds of time there.

A powerful quote from Dr. Paul and wrapup for the video. We've allocated 10 seconds. Maybe something about his sane foreign policy and stable views.



Let's focus this thread on those issues so we can put this one to bed soon.

Thanks, everybody!

 

[Birdlady]

Bachmann is not on the Committee on Foreign Affairs. http://www.internationalrelations.house.gov/members.asp

I looked all over the place trying to find out how many years RP has been on the committee and I could not find anything.

Rick Perry served 5 years in the Air Force according to this article. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/j...-change-the-outcome-of-the-presidential-race/

His personal background makes the difference: when Rick Perry graduated from Texas A and M in 1972 he was commissioned a lieutenant in the US Air Force, completed the pilot training program and became a C-130 transport pilot. He served five years as an officer, flew thousands of hours and left the military as a captain in 1977 to return to the family farming business in Texas.

Santorum has no military service.

This is what I found on Santorum. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...icy-advantage/2011/11/15/gIQAKwOkPN_blog.html

There will be another foreign policy debate next week. Santorum has experience that other contenders lack, and he can claim co-authorship of the Iran Freedom and Support Act and the Syria Accountability Act, and eight years on the Senate Armed Services.

 

[FreeTraveler]

Thanks, Birdlady. I would have sworn I heard Bachmann say she was on that committee. I'll have to figure out where I went wrong on that. All that other information helps us fill some of the last holes as well.

 

[Birdlady]

Let me dig around more about Bachmann. Part of me thinks she is on the monetary committee?

Ok from Bachmann's own website. http://bachmann.house.gov/Biography/

Bachmann is a member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Financial Services Committee. She has taken the opportunity of serving on the Intelligence Committee to regularly advocate for peace through strength[sic] to ensure America’s national security.

I can't keep all of these committees straight, but the first one would give her some "experience". Here's the wiki page on what that committee does. Their official website isn't very good.

I hope this helped some. I don't mind doing fact checking/research.

 

[vechorik]

Oh -- but the people at The Blaze blog are very afraid! Yes, they have been conned into the media to fear for the survival or Israel and to believe we must destroy Iran.
No kidding -- they ARE AFRAID. Any video must not try to lesson that fear -- but show how Ron Paul can take care of what they fear.

 

[sailingaway]

The new Face the Nation video has good stuff for foreign policy about submarines and long range missiles existing so why do we have to be overseas in everyone's face for DEFENSE purposes.

 

[GHoeberX]

Bachmann is not on the Committee on Foreign Affairs. http://www.internationalrelations.house.gov/members.asp

I looked all over the place trying to find out how many years RP has been on the committee and I could not find anything.

Alright, I've actually worked as a congressional researcher, so it wasn't very difficult to find it.

REPUBLICANS IN FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE (this is without chairman and ranking member)
111th congress (2009 - 2010)
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS— Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Burton of Indiana, Mr. Gallegly, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Manzullo, Mr. Royce, Mr. Paul, Mr. Flake, Mr. Pence, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr. Boozman, Mr. Barrett of South Carolina, Mr. Mack, Mr. Fortenberry, Mr. McCaul, Mr. Poe of Texas, Mr. Inglis, and Mr. Bilirakis.

Source:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-111hres38eh/pdf/BILLS-111hres38eh.pdf

110th congress (2007 - 2008)
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Burton of Indiana, Mr. Gallegly, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Royce, Mr. Chabot, Mr. Manzullo, Mr. Tancredo, Mr. Paul, Mr. Flake, Mrs. Jo Ann Davis of Virginia, Mr. Pence, Mr. McCotter, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr. Boozman, Mr. Barrett of South Carolina, Mr. Mack, Mr. Fortenberry, Mr. McCaul of Texas, Mr. Poe, Mr. Inglis of South Carolina, and Mr. Fortuno.

Source:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-110hres45eh/pdf/BILLS-110hres45eh.pdf

109th congress (2005 - 2006)
COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: Mr. Leach, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Burton of Indiana, Mr. Gallegly, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Royce, Mr. King of New York, Mr. Chabot, Mr. McHugh, Mr. Tancredo, Mr. Paul, Mr. Issa, Mr. Flake, Mrs. Jo Ann Davis of Virginia, Mr. Green of Wisconsin, Mr. Weller, Mr. Pence, Mr. McCotter, Ms. Harris, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr. Boozman, Mr. Mack, Mr. Fortenberry, Mr. McCaul, and Mr. Poe.

Source:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-109hres48eh/pdf/BILLS-109hres48eh.pdf

108th congress (2003 - 2004)
COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: Mr. Leach, Mr. Bereuter, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Mr. Burton of Indiana, Mr. Gallegly, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Ballenger, Mr. Rohrabacher, Mr. Royce, Mr. King of New York, Mr. Chabot, Mr. Houghton, Mr. McHugh, Mr. Tancredo, Mr. Paul, Mr. Smith of Michigan, Mr. Pitts, Mr. Flake, Mrs. Jo Ann Davis of Virginia, Mr. Green of Wisconsin, Mr. Weller, Mr. Pence, Mr. McCotter, Mr. Janklow, and Ms. Harris.

Source:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-108hres33eh/pdf/BILLS-108hres33eh.pdf

So at least since 2003 it was Ron Paul in the committee and Bachmann has definitely never been in there.

 

[theczar1776]

Republicans hate government schemes when it comes to the economy but they are worshipers of government schemes when it comes to foreign affairs. If you have eyes to see, disastrous interventionist government schemes are rampant in both the economy and foreign affairs.

Ron Paul is the only politician who is ideologically pure. No interventionism in the economy and no interventionism in foreign affairs. As the founders knew, and Ron Paul is trying to remind us, the government is not wise enough or selfless enough to know how, where, why or when to intervene in human affairs, foreign or domestic. Peace and prosperity can never be achieved by government intervention. Peace and prosperity can only be achieved by FREEDOM.

Interventionism is government scheming.

How about...Ron Paul ideologically pure. No government scheming in the economy, no government scheming in foreign affairs.

Just a thought. Probably too complicated.

 

[FreeTraveler]

Thanks, GHoeberX. I also found him listed for the 112th, and the 107th too. So that's a total of 12 years for Dr. Paul. Earlier Congresses seem to be hard to find.

This may be the source of the confusion on Bachmann: Bachmann is a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. That's not really foreign affairs experience, IMO. Any dissenters?

 

[FreeTraveler]

Rich Santorum served 8 years on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Congress 104, 105, 106 and 107. That qualifies as Federal Foreign Affairs experience.

 

[FreeTraveler]

Let me dig around more about Bachmann. Part of me thinks she is on the monetary committee?

Ok from Bachmann's own website. http://bachmann.house.gov/Biography/

I can't keep all of these committees straight, but the first one would give her some "experience". Here's the wiki page on what that committee does. Their official website isn't very good.

I hope this helped some. I don't mind doing fact checking/research.

Yeah, this isn't as easy as it seems it should be. But then again, who ever promised us transparent government?

So to be nice, for Federal Foreign Affairs Experience, so far we have Ron Paul 12 years, Rick Santorum 8 years, Barack Obama 4 years, and Michele Bachmann 2 years. Ut oh, forgot Gingrich. Off to do more digging. Perry, Cain and Romney get goose eggs, right? Who'd I leave out?

Oh, yeah. Huntsman. Does he get a couple years for his time as ambassador to China?

ETA: It looks like Gingrich was all about domestic policy during his time in the house, and he gets a 0 for foreign affairs. Any disagreement?

 

[sailingaway]

Thanks, GHoeberX. I also found him listed for the 112th, and the 107th too. So that's a total of 12 years for Dr. Paul. Earlier Congresses seem to be hard to find.

This may be the source of the confusion on Bachmann: Bachmann is a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. That's not really foreign affairs experience, IMO. Any dissenters?

I'd be generous and not frame her as having no experience because bringing that up otherwise would make the video appear 'wrong'. I'd just put it in terms of Ron's greater knowledge.

 

[sailingaway]

Yeah, this isn't as easy as it seems it should be. But then again, who ever promised us transparent government?

So to be nice, for Federal Foreign Affairs Experience, so far we have Ron Paul 12 years, Rick Santorum 8 years, Barack Obama 4 years, and Michele Bachmann 2 years. Ut oh, forgot Gingrich. Off to do more digging. Perry, Cain and Romney get goose eggs, right? Who'd I leave out?

Oh, yeah. Huntsman. Does he get a couple years for his time as ambassador to China?

Why would we want to build up their experience by listing it? Many don't know they have any. I'd just say how much Ron DOES have, including having been stationed in Afghanistan when in the Airforce. It was an 'aha' moment in the Des Moines Register interview when he was talking about how we should have gotten OBL at Tora Bora, saying 'we had him trapped there [self deprecating laugh], I was stationed over there in the airforce so I have this mental image of the terrain...' [unfortunately they had asked about Saddam Hussein, and he had been expecting a question on OBL and went into a discussion of OBL...]

I think it would be great to include Ron's alternate approaches like his views on letters of marque (he discusses that with the Register as well) and his discussion of nuclear submarines and long range missiles (there is a discussion in the Face the Nation interview this morning)

 

[FreeTraveler]

Okay, we've collected the data for the two charts that we need behind a couple of voiceover segments. There's not a lot of data, which was kind of the idea.

Any volunteers to make these two charts?

The charts will finish off items 4 and 6. Since we're using that great chart of contributions from the Veteran's day moneybomb in item 5 (sample in post #20), it would be nice if these two graphs used similar colors, typefaces, etc. Since they only get a few seconds each, simple bar charts with names down the left side would probably be a good idea. They can both be the same size, since they list the same people, just in different order.

Since Ron is #1 on both, maybe the winner's name should be in a different color or otherwise emphasized ??? Last name only if that fits better, or even Ron Paul on top and last names only for the rest, since Ron Paul is such a short name.

Here are the details on items 4 and 6 and the charts we need to complete them. Data provided!!

4) Ron's experience on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the legislation he's written dealing with international policy.
10 seconds - VO: Ron Paul has X years in foreign affairs experience as a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and sponsor of 16 related bills.
(Chart: Federal Foreign Affairs Experience, sorted by years of experience. Subtitled with Sun Tzu quote: "Know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles.")
Ron Paul 12, Rick Santorum 8, Barack Obama 4, Michele Bachmann 2, Jon Huntsman 2, Newt Gingrich 0, Mitt Romney 0, Rick Perry 0, Herman Cain 0

6) Ron's military service. Again, we can contrast this against the other candidates.
6 seconds - VO: Ron Paul served five years in the Air Force and National Guard as a flight surgeon.
(Chart: Military Service - sorted by years served)
Ron Paul 5, Rick Perry 5, Mitt Romney 0, Newt Gingrich 0, Rick Santorum 0, Herman Cain 0, Jon Huntsman 0, Michele Bachmann 0, Obama 0

Those two charts will appear before and after the following chart (sample in post #20) that we're using for item number 5., so consult post #20 for color and typeface ideas.

5) Ron's support from the military.
6 seconds - VO: Our military troops vote overwhelmingly for Ron Paul's foreign policy with their contributions. (zoom out on graph showing total donations by candidate - already done)

Additional items still needed:

Charts from items 4 and 6 above - need volunteer to create and post.

A catchy title and opening sequence idea. 3 seconds of time there.

A powerful quote from Dr. Paul and wrapup for the video. We've allocated 10 seconds. Maybe something about his sane foreign policy and stable views.

We still haven't picked the last 36 seconds or so of video, but that's in the works now. Specific recommendations < 36 seconds still being solicited, although we've got some possibles already in the thread.

Now I'm going to go work on title, opening sequence, wrapup and final selection of those 36 seconds of video.

I saw several good ideas as I was skimming the thread, I just need to get back on top of all that now. If it's already in the thread, no need to repost it.

Thanks again to everyone for their hard work! This is going to be a dynamite video thanks to all the input.

One last item: Current VO for 6), and an alternative.

Current VO: Ron Paul served five years in the Air Force and National Guard as a flight surgeon.
Alternative: Ron Paul's military service offers an important perspective when considering foreign policy.

Which one do you all think does a better job of making the point? This is an area where only Rick Perry has experience besides Dr. Paul, so the viewers are going to be looking at a mostly-empty chart when they hear the voiceover.

 

[Chainspell]

I certainly agree with birdlady that you have to make it simple and believable. That people don't need to know everything to believe that he's right.

When you're making an ad to sell something, you want it to be short and catchy. not complex and full of information. Why? because first you have to catch their interest. That's why billboards are written in big letters, and not a wall of text. The people we're trying to reach either don't like or don't care what we have to say. So no matter how much we say it... nobody's gonna listen. So all the information in the world is meaningless if you can't get their attention.

When you get down to it, the question then becomes:
- Do you want to prove that he's right? or
- Do you want to make them believe that he's right?

So the question sounds the same, but the approach is vastly different. If you want to prove that he's right then you stuff them with facts, as a kind of vindication that he was right all along, which I think will turn off everyone who believes he's wrong, people dont like to be told they're wrong.

I think the script so far should still be made as a kind of "explanation" on why he's right. But that's not our real problem. I mean, there are hundreds of videos out there that explain why he's right. Our problem is getting the attention of people to "listen" to the ad.

I was thinking more to the line of presenting his foreign policy ideas in short 30 second clips as to why he believes those ideas. I mean the reasons why is so powerful that you don't have to explain the details or give out facts. If people believe in respect for life and liberty they should respect ron paul's beliefs on foreign policy. Ron Paul's beliefs don't just cover the united states, he believes in liberty for ALL people. liberty is you are free to do whatever you want as long as you don't trample on another's liberty--which basically explains his foreign policy.

so we go over there to bomb iran so they can't have a nuclear weapon?
we get to dictate to israel what they should do or shouldn't do?
how do you promote liberty by overthrowing governments around the world?

 

[Chainspell]

sorry freetraveler i know you sensed my discomfort in the current script. I didn't know why I was uncomfortable with the script until a few minutes ago, until I put it into words.

We can still make this video. And then make those videos I was talking about.

 

[FreeTraveler]

Hey, don't apologize for tossing another good idea into the stew. Let me sleep on this idea. It's not coming together exactly right for me either, so maybe you just handed me the missing key. OTOH, I want some more specifics from you. Toss out a clip or two or some VO that you see as an example of where you're heading. I've got a clue, but I need a little more.

And remember my lecture about if you don't tell me what's not working, you're not doing your job as a Beta Reader.