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Dale Peterson: We Are Better Than That!

The World's Greatest Political Ad

2010-11-02

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"We Are Better Than That!" went viral as soon as it was released in May 2010. It now has over 2.3 million views. More than that if you count the other online sites where people posted it as their own.

Part of the strategy was for Dale to be as honest as possible about his feelings regarding his competition. Most political ads don't have the candidate talking down his opponent - usually it's done by a third-person narrator. By going the opposite direction, I believe people saw in Dale a refreshing change of pace from the mealy-mouthed politician. Conservatives were especially angry that election season and wanted to see people willing to "name names and take no prisoners."

In other words, if you don't have the guts to call your opponent a dummy (if that's what you think of him), then go home to momma.

Many people have asked me who wrote the script, and I am guilty as charged - but I did not put words into Dale's mouth. After meeting with him a couple of times, I sat down and wrote the script based on his own words. Dale had a couple of changes, notably changing "they don't give a damn about Alabama" to "they don't give a rip about Alabama." I must agree with him, it's a better line.

Some spoofs of the ad "aped" the editing style in a way that implied that the original's frenetic cuts were designed to alleviate the candidate's lack of on-camera abilities. This is not true. If you watch carefully, there are many moments in which he speaks without edits. The frenetic editing was for dramatic effect and nothing else.

And, by the way, it worked.

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