We’re being blitzed by campaign material in NW Ohio–not only is Ohio traditionally a swing state (i.e. one of the few US states where one’s vote for president seems to count, thanks to the electoral college), but we’re facing a special congressional election next Tuesday to replace the late Paul Gillmor. The national parties seem to be pouring a lot of money into this race so that they can claim some sort of trend going into the next election. This barrage of advertising makes me, like you, I expect, think of only one thing: rabbitandmouse. (There are some cusswords speckled through the video below.)
The truth is that I’m sort of in favor of attack ads, as long as they’re accurate. They tend to have more content than the warm fuzzy commercials that show the candidate-we-are-supposed-to-love standing on a hill under a rippling flag or walking in shirtsleeves among the Regular Folk. And it’s not swiftboating if the charges are actually true, and relevant.
For instance, I saw an ad yesterday directed against the candidate I plan to vote for. The ad made clear that she was an X and a Y, and advocated polices W and Z. Since those were four solid reasons to vote for her in my view, I thought it was a fine ad (though I did wonder if it was having the desired effect among voters generally).
“Since those were four solid reasons to vote for her in my view…” Never thought of it in that manner before, James. Interesting point you’ve made. Oh, and I’d vote for Rabbit.
Thanks–and you may be right about Rabbit. At least he’s not trying to run me down with a car, and his plan has fourteen steps.
Yes, it’s good when the opposition helps you out like that. Back when the Illinois senatorial race was Obama vs. Ryan, Ryan ran an ad that fairly delineated four positions points. Three of them I disagreed with. But they were rant-free, and I had to give him credit for running a decent race.
Of course then the state GOP dropped him for his sex not-really-a-scandal, and replaced him with, no kidding, Alan Keyes.
Honesty is certainly a dangerous weapon in politics; one never knows when the thing is going to go off, and in what direction it’ll be pointing when it does.
I always remember Ryan as the guy whom Seven-of-Nine wasn’t hot enough for. There’s a man with demanding standards (but maybe not ones that would endear him to Republican primary voters–strong Voyager fans, if I’m interpreting my imaginary polling data accurately).