I just viewed the finalists in MoveOn's 'Bush in 30 Seconds' contest. Here are my summaries. Please add your own notes in the comments.

It would take too much time to delve into these in much depth. A couple of them are downright offensive (using dead soldiers for political purposes).

#7 is bad enough and stupid enough to be really funny (the picture is taken from a between-morph frame of #7). This commerical even includes - wait for it - a shot of a cavorting killer whale. I guess the message is that that's one of the last remaining Orcas that haven't yet been slaughtered by $hrubCo.

#12 is so stupid and the voice-over is so poor it's pretty funny too.

#13 has all the wit of this guy.

#14 has bad actors, including a "billionaire" who looks more like a cleaned-up "liberal" and a young girl who looks right into the camera when she shouldn't.

#15 is a pretty violent commercial for peace-loving "liberals." Note that the guy who wrecks the car is named "Dick." Cute, huh?

#17 is so boring I can't imagine it being watched for more than 3 seconds.

And, of course, the commercials talk down to people. And, why not? If they were going to vote against Bush, they wouldn't need talking down to, now would they? Commercial #7 commands that we "THINK." Thanks, I'm already doing that. Commercial #9 suggests that I wake up. Thanks, I've got that covered too.

Here are the summaries:

1. Shots of kids working factory jobs, followed by a graphic saying "Guess who's going to pay off President Bush's $1 trillion deficit?"

2. There is not, strangely enough, a #2. Perhaps this is the explanation. There isn't a #16 either. I wonder why.

3. A guy with an Indian/Pakistani accent speaks into the camera: "In my country, a group of religious extremists are reshaping the government to promote their own agenda and morality... The government can keep a list of everyone I call and they do not need a judge's permission... [gong sounds]... Our citizens are seized and held in prison without being charged of a crime... without the right to a trial and without a lawyer... why should you care about what is happening to my country?... [shot widens to reveal New York skyline in background]... because my country is the United States of America." End graphic: "George Bush is Changing Our Country"

4. Shot of a lie detector, with a Bush speech playing. After various statements, the pen of the lie detector oscillates wildly. The statements are: "Saddam Hussein had an advanced nuclear weapons development program," "Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa," "Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al Qaeda." End graphic: "Americans are dying... for the truth."

5. Bush speaks: "The security of the world requires disarming Saddam Hussein now... 500 tons of Sarin, mustard, and VX nerve agents... significant quantities of uranium from Africa... mobile biologic weapons labs... Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al Qaeda... there are some who feel like the conditions are such they can attack us there, my answer is bring 'em off [?]" graphic is originally 'He Lied', changing into 'He Lied, They Died' near the end. While Bush's speech plays, a slideshow with pictures of U.S. servicemen and women killed in Iraq plays to the right of the screen in a small window.

6. Kids on a stage behind a podium saying "The Next President." They make statements followed by shocked looks from those in the audience (presumably their parents). "If elected, I'll lie about WMD as a pretext to invade another country." "I'll call myself an environmentalist, and gut clean air standards." "Our allies will go from respecting us to hating us, and I don't care." "I'll leave no child behind, unless they can't afford it." "I promise to keep you in a state of fear and anxiety, so you never question what we're doing." "And if you do, we'll call you unpatriotic." Graphic "What are we teaching our children" followed by one of the kids saying "Bring 'em on."

7. And here we thought morphing was so 90s. A series of likely Democratic voters morphs one into the next, saying the following: "Imagine a world where corporations choose leaders, put them in power and have them rewrite laws to increase profit. Imagine a world where corporations start wars to create and increase demand for their products. Imagine a world where the news media - owned by these corporations - only tells the public what they want them to know. Imagine a president who sells out his people and their environment to boost the wealth of a few. Unbelievable? It should be." Followed by a graphic saying "THINK".

8. Bush's speech of 1/28/03 plays. Graphic: "The President of the United States lied to America." "...And the world." "Since then, more than 451 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq." "An American soldier is killed nearly every day." "More than 8,000 civilians have been slaughtered in Iraq." "No weapons of mass destruction were ever found". The final graphic reads: "Lies. The ultimate weapons of mass destruction."

9. Shots of a twenty-something (complete with a bike in his bedroom) trying to sleep. His alarm radio keeps going off, and he keeps pressing the Sleep button when the radio announcer comes on: "Three million Americans have lost their jobs." "The President has cut unemployment benefits." "Cut health care for veterans." "The largest annual deficit in history." "Bankrupt the treasury." "Dissolved more international treaties than any other President in U.S. history." "Revoked more freedoms and civil liberties..." End graphic: "Wake Up America"

10. Samba music plays in the background. A Macintosh desktop is shown with the presidential seal in the center and folders on either side. The folders are dragged one after the other to the trash. Their names are: Environment, Social Security, Civil Liberties, Budget Surplus, $87 Billion, Veteran Benefits, Separation of Church & State, Corporate Accountability, Healthcare, The Constitution. Other folders which aren't dragged to the trash include Syria, Democracy, Bible Study, and "...ive Strikes" After dragging the folders to the trash, the unseen hand empties the trash. The first dialog shown after choosing to empty the trash doesn't match the closeup of the dialog shown later.

11. Voice-over: "The war they are in has been declared over by the same man who lied them into it. Their reward? Combat pay cut in half. $1.5 cut to their military family housing. $20 billion cut to military health care. No health care for reservists." Bush: "My answer is bring 'em on" Voice-over: "Thousands wounded, Hundreds dead, and no end in sight. If we support our troops, why can't Bush? Or is this what they mean when they say An Army of One?" The last line is spoken over a picture of a flag-draped coffin.

12. Angry, disturbed voice-over: "Friends left at the United Nations: 3" "America's future: bankrupt" Child's voice: "The time is now. Take our country back."

13. Guy in a Robin Hood outfit, wearing a Bush mask travels throughout the city taking things from the people. Voice-over: "Once upon a time, a man set out to change America. Under his leadership, 3.3 million jobs disappeared. He signed a bill taking away our rights to privacy. He cut hundreds of millions of dollars from education, including his own No Child Left Behind Act. He even proposes draining $1 trillion out of the social security program. Who benefits from these changes? Not us." As the final words are spoken, the character goes to a door at a building marked "MEGACORP INC." and hands his bag full of loot to a guy in a business suit who had exited from the door. The recipient takes a quick look around before receiving the bag. On his tour, the character stole a worker's toolbox, reaches into a window and tears down a curtain behind which is a guy in his briefs, he steals books from a couple of kids, and he picks the pocket and takes the cane of an elderly man.

14 - 17. I got tired, you do the rest.