A Picture Worth a Thousand Bags of Hot Air

A picture worth a thousand bags of hot air.

37 total in 10 days (12 on one day).

And because I have nothing better to do (we put people on the moon and invent things like hanging chads, but we can't come up with a sarcasm font?), here's the breakdown:

Of the 20 republican supportive ads, 8 were positive (vote for me because I can do this for you), 11 negative (don't vote for the other guy because he's a lying scum) (6 of those were paid for by outside organizations) and 1 neutral (just go vote, please). The outside organizations went after the democratic candidate for US senate.

Of the 17 democrat supportive ads, 3 were positive, 12 negative (6 of those were paid for by outside organizations) and 2 were neutral (one of these was an outside organization endorsing a slate). The outside organizations (other than the one neutral ad) went after the republican candidate for US House of Representatives.

So I see which way the wind blows. "We don't campaign negatively. That was [Name of Citizens For or Against Something Group]. We have no control over them!" Horse poop!

Of particular interest was the Mommy Letter (which I counted as "positive", but read on). A US House of Representatives candidate's (party affiliation doesn't matter) mother wrote a heartwarming letter, a one page, typed-on-computer-paper letter in a cursive style font, to all her "neighbors" (25 miles away… hello?) asking for their votes for her wonderful son. I don't know who paid for that one. It wasn't indicated on the envelope, which bore a handwritten "send to" address and a homey-looking, crookedly affixed (more homey!) return address (PO Box... Wonder whose it really is?) sticker, and a real US postage stamp. In my opinion, the Mommy Letter was a big mistake. It made me feel physically ill, not because it was a "my son is wonderful" letter but because it was so blatantly… I dunno… what's the opposite of "fear language"? I felt used and manipulated, and not by the candidate or a committee (such manipulation is expected of them), but by someone's mother who pretended to confide in me as an old friend! Or worse, someone used their mother to manipulate me. Pathetic.