The Bush-Cheney campaign was recently forced to pull a feature on its Web site that allowed users to create campaign logo items with customized slogans above the Bush-Cheney ’04 emblem. Presumably, liberals were abusing the feature by superimposing such slogans as “run for the hills” and “hey look—gay marriage.”

Sloganeering is one of the most interesting things to watch in this campaign—certainly more interesting than the negative attack ads that dominate almost every commercial break. Kerry is certainly on top with nearly 20 slogans on record, almost triple the number of Bush slogans. Bush has the lamest: “Yes, America can!” Can what? Can put millions out of work? Can carpet bomb a country at a moments notice? If anyone figures out where that slogan is heading, please inform the rest of us.

Kerry isn’t doing much better, well maybe a little. His “Let America be America again” was based on a Langston Hughes poem. After an article in the June National Review criticizing the slogan, and the poem it is based on, for being Marxist, the Kerry campaign immediately canned it.

Probably the worst slogan of all was Kerry’s “hope is on the way,” an obvious take off of G. W. Bush’s 2000 convention speech where he chanted “help is on the way.” Coincidence?
In an attempt to elevate the slogan effort, we here at Kalamalama have chosen to offer a few suggestions for each of the candidates.