That figures: looks like MSNBC ripped off, eh, borrowed a 2004 DNC video contest winner for its wicked cool new 'Lean Forward' branding campaign

MSNBC recently introduced a wicked cool new slogan and branding campaign called Lean Forward .

Now commenter G tips us off to a report that MSNBC (or its ad agency) likely ripped off borrowed a 2004 DNC video contest winner which concludes, oddly enough, with the watchword "Forward".

If you have been watching MSNBC lately, you have seen the new "LEAN FORWARD" ad campaign directed by Spike Lee... "We talked about all the attributes that make MSNBC what it is," MSNBC president Phil Griffin told TVNewser. "It is active, it is positive, it is about making tomorrow better than today, a discussion about politics and the actions and passions of our time"...

Turns out, the campaign's kick off ad "Declaration of Forward",  looks strikingly like the 2004 Democratic National Committee video contest winner...

..."Americas Party" created by Adam Klugman and Jefferson Smith and funded by the Democratic Party Of Oregon... Also seen here is the debut of the video at the 2004 National Democratic Convention...

...We will let you be the judge (especially the last several seconds of each), but MSNBC and the ad agency that created "Lean Forward" (Minneapolis ad agency mono) should explain how an objective news organization  uses a concept  suspiciously like that from a national political party video to brand itself...

To help distinguish MSNBC's ad campaign from the earlier DNC version, I've created a new poster to help reestablish the network's unique persona.

Joe Scarborough could not be reached for comment at press time.