A rant
Tomorrow are the gubernatorial elections in Virginia. Both guys have been sniping at each other during prime time and incessantly for weeks and weeks. I'll be glad that the elections are over just to get their commercials off the air.
I'm a progressive, independent person. If I lived in VA, there is no way I'd vote for the Republican candidate. Not because I just toe the party line. Hardly. I don't even belong to the Democratic party. There's one thing that really irks me about his political ads: lack of personal responsibility.
The other guy's ad all have the "I'm [Candidate D], and I approved this ad" tag line. Not Candidate R. Every single one of his campaign ads end with something like "I'm [Candidate R], and my campaign sponsored this ad."
This is a subtle difference, but with the number of time the ads are on air (and how often I'm in front of the TV!), one cannot fail to notice. I know I'm not the only one who has. Now, it may be legal to sorta kinda disavow responsibility by attributing it all to the campaign, but is smacks, smacks, smacks of two-faced political shenanigans, a complete failure to take personal responsibility for the ads that are running while trying to benefit from the attack they make on Candidate D. So, does that mean that we should NOT attribute the positions the ads promote as being his? That the ads do not reflect his platform? Does that mean that he has no control over what they say? Just what does it mean?
It completely irks me that Candidate R has created that distance so that when his attack ads on ... hmmm, a woman's right to choose or the death penalty or even something so unsexy as traffic congestion... run, we are supposed to credit him with the message if we like it but not if we don't? Are we the viewing public to believe for just one second that he is not responsible for them? Are we supposed to attribute it all to the campaign (which isn't on the ballot, by the way)? And if he isn't the man behind the message, then what the hell?
He seems to want to have his cake and eat it too. He wants to clobber Candidate D without having any of the shit he's throwing bounce back at him and stick. I think those tactics are completely transparent and without integrity. If he's gonna sling it, he should stand up and either take it or learn to duck. Forget this "my campaign sponsored this ad" bullshit.
Be a man, Candidate R. Stand by your ads as your own or don't run them. I'd respect you more if you did.
But I still wouldn't vote for you. Even if I did live in Virginia.
I'm a progressive, independent person. If I lived in VA, there is no way I'd vote for the Republican candidate. Not because I just toe the party line. Hardly. I don't even belong to the Democratic party. There's one thing that really irks me about his political ads: lack of personal responsibility.
The other guy's ad all have the "I'm [Candidate D], and I approved this ad" tag line. Not Candidate R. Every single one of his campaign ads end with something like "I'm [Candidate R], and my campaign sponsored this ad."
This is a subtle difference, but with the number of time the ads are on air (and how often I'm in front of the TV!), one cannot fail to notice. I know I'm not the only one who has. Now, it may be legal to sorta kinda disavow responsibility by attributing it all to the campaign, but is smacks, smacks, smacks of two-faced political shenanigans, a complete failure to take personal responsibility for the ads that are running while trying to benefit from the attack they make on Candidate D. So, does that mean that we should NOT attribute the positions the ads promote as being his? That the ads do not reflect his platform? Does that mean that he has no control over what they say? Just what does it mean?
It completely irks me that Candidate R has created that distance so that when his attack ads on ... hmmm, a woman's right to choose or the death penalty or even something so unsexy as traffic congestion... run, we are supposed to credit him with the message if we like it but not if we don't? Are we the viewing public to believe for just one second that he is not responsible for them? Are we supposed to attribute it all to the campaign (which isn't on the ballot, by the way)? And if he isn't the man behind the message, then what the hell?
He seems to want to have his cake and eat it too. He wants to clobber Candidate D without having any of the shit he's throwing bounce back at him and stick. I think those tactics are completely transparent and without integrity. If he's gonna sling it, he should stand up and either take it or learn to duck. Forget this "my campaign sponsored this ad" bullshit.
Be a man, Candidate R. Stand by your ads as your own or don't run them. I'd respect you more if you did.
But I still wouldn't vote for you. Even if I did live in Virginia.
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