This is a still frame of a Republican TV ad about to Vice President Gore's prescription drug plan. The word RATS is flashed on the screen in large letters for a very short duration. (AP photo) RELATED STORY Ad controversy won't hurt Bush much, local pundits say Do you think GOP's "rats" commercial was created on purpose, or the result of an editing error? [ Story ] On purpose Editing error

WASHINGTON -- George W. Bush dismissed as "bizarre and weird" any allegation that the Republicans fleetingly inserted the word "rats" as a subliminal message in an ad criticizing Al Gore's Medicare plan. He said the ad was scheduled to come off the air but he didn't say when.

"One frame out of 900 hardly in my judgment makes a conspiracy," Bush said Tuesday in Orlando, Fla. He said he took the word of the admaker that no subliminal message was intended.

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman called the ad "very disappointing and strange."

Alex Castellanos, who made the ad for the Republican National Committee, said he flashed the word -- as part of "bureaucrats" -- so it would look more visually interesting, and that it was just a coincidence that the letters appearing first spelled out "rats."

"It's a visual drumbeat," he said. "People get bored watching TV. You're trying to get them interested and involved."

"I am convinced this is not intentional," Bush said as he arrived in Orlando for a day of campaigning in Florida. "You don't need to play, you know, cute politics."

As for the idea of subliminal messages, he said, "To put people's minds at ease ... this kind of practice is not acceptable."

"Conspiracy theories abound in American politics," Bush said. "I don't think we need to be subliminal about prescription drugs."

The ad has run for more than two weeks, so it is likely that Republicans were planning to replace it.

The ad, which has been running in several states, touts Bush's plan for adding prescription drugs to Medicare, arguing that senior citizens will have more control over their health care under Bush's proposal. Under Gore's plan, the ad says, the program will be run by bureaucrats.

Words flash on the screen to echo the announcer's message: "The Gore prescription plan: Bureaucrats decide."

As the announcer says "Bureaucrats decide," the word "rats," in large capital letters, flashes on and off the screen just as the phrase "Bureaucrats decide," appears.

Democrats are trying to make a case out of nothing, said Terry Holt, spokesman for Victory 2000, which represents the Bush campaign at the RNC.

"The word bureaucrats ends with `rats' just like the word Democrat," he said. "It is a spot about health care. It's not a spot about rodents."

The Bush campaign was equally dismissive.

"It sounds like happy hour at the Gore campaign lasted a little too long," said Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer. And, referring to decades-old buzz about a Beatles song, he added: "If you play the ad backward, you hear the words `Paul is dead."'

Even if it was intentional, it isn't necessarily effective, said Bill Benoit, who studies political advertising at the University of Missouri. There's been only limited research on "subliminal perception," he said.

"There's no conclusive evidence that it works," he said. "Of course, that doesn't stop advertisers.''