In New Jersey’s 5th
Congressional District’s election, Roy Cho seems to have gotten a jump on Scott
Garrett, producing not just one, but two political ads, before Garrett has
released any. Cho’s advertisements, one attacking Garrett while barely
acknowledging Cho’s involvement in the race, and the other not mentioning
Garrett by name, instead condemning Congress as a whole while boasting the
traits Cho will use to help the situation. Interestingly, though, not a word is
uttered in either commercial about what Cho will actually do to make a
difference, but instead it is supposed to be assumed that he will.
In Cho’s first advertisement,
titled Teacups, Scott
Garrett is depicted as an extremist, with no regard for women’s rights, Social
Security, or equal pay, but Roy Cho’s only involvement in the commercial is the
image of him smiling that fades in at the end as his endorsement of message
rings. This is a blatant attack ad, and seems like a desperation move on Cho’s
part, and a rather ineffective one at that. The wording of the advertisement
puts Scott Garrett in the air of an extremist who votes against all that is
right with the world, instead of a conservative Republican who votes
consistently for generally Republican ideals. The objective of Cho’s camp in
this commercial seems not to be to sway moderate Republican voters to his side,
but to be to lambaste Garrett for decisions he has made and hope that it
mobilizes and invigorates those who already agree with Cho on these issues. In
a race where Cho needs all the support he can get, especially that of those
outside of the his party, attacking a candidate and isolating potential
supporters seems like a shortsighted plan.
Gridlock, Cho’s second
commercial, on the other hand, doesn’t mention Scott Garrett, instead indicting
Congress as a whole on its collective inaction, appears more positive and about
the issues, but it isn’t. Not once in the advertisement is an actual idea
mentioned, the closest coming in the form of mentioning that Cho would “balance
fairness with fiscal responsibility, and fund our schools ”, an incredibly
vague statement that any politician, regardless of party affiliation could have
gotten away with saying on any given night. This commercial gives the
impression of being more interested in advertising Roy Cho, the person, rather
than Roy Cho, the politician. Cho is described as being raised with a strong
work ethic by immigrant parents, and he is said to have already given back to
the community. Both noble characteristics indeed, but neither of which say
anything about what Cho stands for, or the difference he will make.
Roy Cho began this campaign
operating a deficit; he is the rookie challenger trying to unseat the ingrained
incumbent, and to this point, despite all odds, has made this a competitive
race, down by only 5 points according to a Monmouth University Poll. (3)
However, with momentum starting to shift in his favor, and because Garrett has
not produced any ads as of yet, an opportunity to make a move, Roy Cho, his
camp, and his supporters should be disappointing that he didn’t do more with
it. If Cho’s intentions were to condemn Garrett and boast about his characteristics,
then he did his job, but the floor was open and it might not stay that way for
long, so it will remain to be seen if Cho will end up regretting that he
attacked Garrett and stayed ambiguous about himself rather than pressing his
issues, and running ads about his ideas and ideals instead of relying on the
fact that he thinks people are just looking for a change.
(1)Roy Cho “Tea Cups”. YouTube. 31 seconds. Posted by Roy
Cho. September 16th 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnvgDxlH0hg
(2)Roy Cho “Gridlock”. YouTube. 30 seconds. Posted by Roy
Cho. September 30th 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2zaR8EdQOk
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