Republicans Cure Depression!

Kevin Drum observes,

Democrats are taking unsurprising glee in rubbing GOP noses in the fact that the new campaign slogan chosen by House Republicans — “Change You Deserve” — turns out to also be the trademarked slogan of the antidepressant Effexor. That’s prepackaged comedy gold for the late-night comic crowd. But I’m genuinely curious: how did this happen? Didn’t Boehner & Co. even bother to Google the phrase to see if anyone else was using it? It shows up in a 10-second search, after all.

True that. In the age of Google, there’s not much excuse for this sort of mistake.

On the other hand, I seem to recall that the theme of the 1984 GOP convention was supposed to be “Together, A Fresh Start.” Right before the convention, someone realized that “Fresh Start” was the name of a laundry detergent and the phrase became “Together, A New Beginning.” Ronald Reagan nonetheless managed to go on to win 49 states.

(I hasten to add that I can’t envision a scenario where McCain wins that handily. It’s just unlikely this particular issue will matter.)

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Bithead says:

    But isn’t it amusing that Democrats, who supposedly eschew slogans, and bumper-stickers, latched onto this one so quickly?

  2. floyd says:

    How is this worse than the Obama campaign, taking their slogan directly from a children’s television show, to wit,
    “Can we do it?.. Yes, We can!”
    This is manifest condescension, and embarrassing to watch!

  3. Michael says:

    How is this worse than the Obama campaign, taking their slogan directly from a children’s television show,

    Bob the Builder first aired in 1997.

    Cesar Chavez started using “Si se puede” in 1972.

    I will assume you don’t need help with that math.

  4. yetanotherjohn says:

    Michael,

    But Obama isn’t saying Si Se Puede now is he.

  5. G.A.Phillips says:

    Don’t you remember Bill the backsplater Clinton, he used the same he’s for chance garbage.

    find the biggest empty promise that you can and liberals will eat it up, poop, to bad his intern dint get the memo, would have save poor old Bill a lot of trouble.

  6. Patrick T McGuire says:

    After the Republicans suffer a severe drubbing in November, perhaps they will come to their senses and change the slogan to “Change We Deserve”.

  7. sam says:

    I still like McCain’s “The President You’ve Been Waiting For”– I leave it as an exercise for the reader to determine what that says about McCain’s opinion of the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

  8. floyd says:

    Michael;
    Dictionary.com translates “Si Se Puede” as…
    “if it can”

    In 1959 my first grade teacher ask me if I could spell “antidisestablishmentarianism”.
    I said.. you guessed it….”Yes I Can!”

    I’m sure you don’t need help with that math?[lol]

  9. Michael says:

    Dictionary.com translates “Si Se Puede” as…
    “if it can”

    Yes yes, I was lazy and didn’t look up the character sequence for “í” (Alt+0237 on Windows). You knew what I was getting at.

    “Sí, se puede” literally translates to “Yes, it can”, but carries the meaning of “Yes, we can”.

  10. Michael says:

    I still like McCain’s “The President You’ve Been Waiting For”

    I’m sure you meant: “The American President for America that America has been waiting for, America”.

  11. sam says:

    Nah, I meant what I wrote. I just nonremembered it missyntactically.

  12. mq says:

    Maybe the GOP was trying to make a depression joke and it fell flat? You know, we’re in a “depression”, Effexor is an anti-depressant…oh, never mind.

  13. Robert says:

    ¡Sí podemos! That is yes we can.

    Puede is third person singular of the verb poder ( to be able, can) meaning he, she, you can.

    Podemos is first person plural which means you and I (we) can.

  14. Mike S says:

    This is the kind of “change” the Republicans have given us the last 7 years:
    1. They changed Bill Clinton’s federal surplus into a $300 billion deficit.
    2. They changed a $5 trillion National Debt into a $9+ trillion National Debt
    3. They changed a 4% economic growth rate into a barely 2% growth rate
    4. They changed $30/barrel oil into $125/barrel oil
    5. They changed $1.30 gas into $3.75 gas
    I’m not sure Americans “deserve” much more of that kind of “change”.

  15. floyd says:

    A very simple minded analysis, Mr.S, with little regard for the truth.
    This leads me to think you might be a Democrat!
    Here’s your sign….!

  16. C.Wagener says:

    How about “We Suck 50% Less Than The American Hating Socialists”.

    It’s the only reason I’ll be voting Republican in November.

    The Dems could try “Hoover’s Economic Policy with Chamberlain’s Foreign Policy”.

  17. G.A.Phillips says:

    This is the kind of “change” the Democrats have given us the last 40 years:
    1.men into woman
    2.woman into men
    3.California and New Mexico into Mexico
    4.our money into theirs
    5.food into fuel
    6.45 million babies into dead babies
    7.large inner city’s into 3rd world city’s
    8.the earth into God
    9.porn into art
    10.porn into free speech
    11.dead babies into free speech
    12.idiots into Nobel prise winners
    13.terrorists into Nobel prise winners
    12.the MSM into a propaganda ministry
    14.monkeys into men
    15.Christians into evil doers
    16.Muslims into men of peace
    17.Ghosts into to real
    18.UFOs into real
    19.evolution into a religion
    20.the public school system into a propaganda ministry
    21. and every day donkeys into jackasses

    America deserved this kind of change because we voted for it, well at least to many of us did.

    VOTE!!!!ITS A KEEP THE POWER OUT OF THE WRONG HANDS THING!!!!!