The Washington Post has a piece summing up negative ads, mostly by Republicans, leading up to the midterm elections. Some of them are hilarious, if you can abstract these statements from the fact that they are being made by members of the legislature and are an indication that political discourse has hit rock fucking bottom.
The Democrats, the Post points out, are guilty as well. One example is this ad by Dartmouth Alum Kirsten Gillibrand '88, who is running as a Democratic in NY's 22nd (? I'm too lazy to check).
And House candidate Kirsten Gillibrand has an ad online ridiculing Rep. John E. Sweeney (R-N.Y.) for attending a late-night fraternity party. "What's a 50-year-old man doing at a frat party anyway?" one young woman asks, as a faux Sweeney boogies behind her to the Beastie Boys. "Totally creeping me out!" another responds.
Other gems include accusations of child molestation, relation to serial killers, phone-sex addiction, support for illegal alien child molesters, support for illegal alien child molesting flag burners, black-baby abortion advocacy ("If you make a little mistake with one of your hos, you'll want to dispose of that problem tout de suite, no questions asked"), school-children abortion advocacy, and of course, loving America too much.
Why do the Washington Post and you feel the need to equivocate and go out of your way to point out that Democrats, too, are guilty of negative campaigning, when clearly the Republican ads have been a full magnitude more offensive this year? If you're a Republican, Seal, just come out and say it.
ReplyDeleteHey douchebag, check the author byline.
ReplyDeleteHey douchebag, check the author byline.
ReplyDeleteSuh-lam!
I'm really hoping that all this is an act of desperation as the bell tolls for a GOP caucus that overplayed its hand in power, 'cause once you get past the giddiness over the Democrats chances of taking power, the whole thing is pretty sad.
The biggest fear I have is that these ads will actually work and nothing will actually change. I think the public is smarter than that, though--for example, Rich Tarrant has been running some wicked dirty ads running against Bernie Sanders, as all he's succeeded in doing is making himself the most hated man in Vermont.
I think politics has always been something of a dirty business, and we're just reminded of it every election cycle. This isn't really a new low, just par for the course in October of an even-numbered year.
ReplyDeleteWhat could possibly be more important than knowing that, if you squint just so, and draw the right inferences, X candidate becomes a slave-owning, child molesting, serial killing, goat-raping, nun-torturing, terrorist-supporting, racist, sexist, fascist, homophobic fraud? Because that's what elections are about, right? Not something less exciting like differences of opinion regarding how best to prioritize and meet the country's needs without expending too many of its resources, or what balance should be struck between keeping people safe and respecting everyone's rights? Those things are for pundits and professors.
If George Allen or Bob Casey is secretly building a massive laser to destroy the sun and mankind with it, that's something I should know before heading to the polls.