With the campaign season now in full swing, the number of attack ads far outweighs positive ads by at least 4 to 1. Here in my home state I see the Democrats and the various PACs supporting them are doubling down on the so-called “War on Women” meme, making all kinds of claims that a little bit of research usually show to be questionable, out of context, or entirely fabricated. In one case a candidate was castigated for voting ‘the wrong way’ on a bill some years ago. But looking at the roll call of that vote, it turns out the incumbent voted exactly the same way. (At the time both candidates were in different districts.)
Another favorite meme that ties in to “War on Women” is “Tea Party extremist”, yet another bugaboo used to frighten low-information voters into pulling the ‘D’ lever come election day on November 4th.
I have asked a few folks I know who are buying into the accusations what they understand about “Tea Party extremists”. Not one of them came anywhere close to the actual Tea Party platform or the stated positions of the candidates in question. All they know is what they’ve been told. But the fact that what they’ve been told is a lie doesn’t seem to bother them one iota. They don’t want to be confused with the facts and seem more than willing to take a biased source’s word rather than look up the information themselves. (Hmm, does that make them low-information voters, too-damn-lazy voters, or both?)
One of my favorite 'bad' ads accuses a GOP US Senate candidate of “voting to deny women access to birth control.” Really, this candidate voted to make sure women will no have access to birth control at all? Or was it that the candidate voted to keep taxpayer dollars from paying for birth control? They aren't the same thing.
As insane as it's gotten here, I have no doubt it isn't any different in the rest of the US. Just watching the campaign ads from neighboring Massachusetts shows it's even worse there, with candidates that aren't all that far apart in their beliefs and political views running 'scorched earth' campaigns.
And people wonder why I will never run for any elective office outside of our town...if I ever decide to run for any office again.
