Yesterday I posted on the advertisement by an extreme right-wing group that tried the not-so-subtle tactic of trying to convince Latinos not to vote in order to diminish the Democratic vote in Nevada. Today, let me post an advertisement from the other extreme wing. Here is an advertisement from Florida that takes a small snippet and turns it into a forest fire.
After you see the snippet, let me assure you that it was taken so badly out of context that if you look up the original quote, you will see that the person is saying the complete opposite of what the advertisement appears to have them saying. In passing, the charge of “forcing women to bear a rapist’s child” is the classic straw man argument raised by extreme pro-abortion people against anti-abortion people. (What is the actual percentage of women who become pregnant after rape? Some studies place is as low as less than one percent. Sadly, the figures partially depend on one’s definition of rape. Nevertheless, the average of the majority of studies say that a pregnancy resulting from a rape is not that common, but it certainly works for the purposes of political advertisements.)
While this advertisement has a clear sponsor, part of the problem in the 2010 political advertisements is that “freedom of speech” was defined by the Supreme Court this year as meaning the freedom of anonymity regardless of how much money you give to a political action committee. In other words, the PAC does not have to tell anyone who gave to them. An anonymous donor can give vast amounts of money to a PAC and no one will know that. The debates over whether this is good or bad are raging right now. We shall find out this election. In the meantime, some really sick ads are out there. This is a sick ad from the Democratic side of the campaign.
These kinds of things are why no one in their right mind wants to go into politics–which is why the crazys go into politics–It is my humble opinion that no one who REALLY WANTS BADLY to have a political office is really sane enough to have the good sense needed to really be good in that office. I say we go back to the pick the name out of a hat method. WE could not do worse than we already have and we might even do better.
Wow. Hadn’t seen this one. The worst part is that there are voters that automatically believe these insane ads or statements put out by extremists on both sides.
“Taliban Dan” — sounds like some villain from an old Western.
Come to think of it, did I forward you the Kentucky Senate race attack ad about “Aqua-Buddha”? If not, check Scotteriology; he printed my forwarding word-for-word. Argh.
I mentioned “Taliban Dan” to a friend and he said it sounded like a South Park name for a Bond Villain.