Way Beyond Spin

Likely most folk are so bored to death by political campaigns they may just mentally turn them off. Of course, if they match up to their biases, like cheerleaders and fans in the stands of the favorite sports team, they may holler “Yeah!” mindlessly. There is only one ad that seems remotely sensible that I’ve heard; it is the one where Obama clearly lays out the differences between himself and Romney when it comes to growth plans for the country; rather refreshing. Others go beyond silly and even downright embarrassing. 

To whit, all Mark Neuman ads which he proudly proclaims nobody likes him including members of his own party therefore we should elect him. Tommy Thompson vain attempt to reinvent himself as a younger more vital man than his grey hair indicates where he proudly proclaims he destroyed welfare in our state, Wisconsin, and was an inventor of the conservative movement (as Al Gore invented the internet I guess), just sounds like a pompous ass or silliness personified. A friend of mine who was a Thompson fan when he was governor here used to marvel how he always managed to come up with money for some needed program; later to be found he was just plain stealing funds from one place to use in another. I think people are supposed to go to jail for things like that.

Mother Jones tells of Paul Waldman who has done a ton of academic work on political ads. He claims he has watched every presidential general election ad sin they were first aired in 1952. I don’t know whether to applaud him or to weep for him. That aside, he has found a new low in presidential ads in Mitt Romney. He says, “But I cannot recall a single presidential ad in the history of American politics that lied more blatantly than this one.” The ad he refers to is the one that claims President Obama has a plan for “dropping work requirements” for welfare, saying, “you wouldn’t have to work and wouldn’t have to train for a job. They just send you a welfare check.”

Waldman thinks there are a few ads that may be more inflammatory than this one but none which is just a bald faced lie as this one is. We are used to spin, and taking things out of context and unflattering pictures or distortions of policy effects; but this one goes beyond that. What Romney’s group here is to say the Obama said something that a John McCain aide said; snipped pieces out of two Obama speeches and spliced them together to make it say something entirely false.

Is this where we’ve come to a “post-truth campaign”? Nasty we know and expect; campaigns have been vicious, but now we have gone to a new level. Waldman sees us in a new place where a presidential candidate can just make stuff up and assume nobody will bother to check it out.

I’ve come to expect that from Rush Limbaugh and the like and far out extreme irresponsible web sites but this is a presidential candidate. Of the four Romenys’ we’ve seen over the years, this one is the worst.

But pragmatists may just wonder, “will it work?”

To me it says the Republican Party of the past that had moderates which could work with moderate Democrats has died.

R.I.P. G.O.P.