If you’re in one of the 17 “lucky” battleground states, you’ll soon be exposed to the first barrage of presidential ads that tend to have one goal… confuse the living beejesus out of voters.
This year promises to be ever more fierce than most as the combined candidacies are expected to raise an eye boggling $400 million by the time the actual election rolls around. I don’t believe that figure includes funds that are being filtered through organizations not officially associated with the candidates in order to bypass restrictions resulting from the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform legislation. Those funds promise to be even more egregious as individuals don’t have to conform to the $2,000 limits imposed by the reforms.
Any-who, John Kerry is the first to strike with a $25 million ad campaign, the largest single ad placement ever by a presidential candidate. Kerry, refreshingly enough, has decided NOT to bash Bush with the ads, and instead will provide Americans with a glimpse into the background that has led to the man that we call John F Kerry.
El Duderino has enlisted the help of the crack staff at the Los Angeles Times to break down the integrity of the ads. Read below for the results…
Themes highlighted by Kerry in the ad campaign and the reality of those themes:
- Military record: He’s a decorated Vietnam veteran, but upon his return from the war he became a vocal anti-war activist, which ultimately launched his political career. There’s also been a recent spat of pettiness about whether Kerry through his medals or his ribbons over a wall during a demonstration… in the friggin early 70s! WHO CARES!
- Healthcare for children: Kerry touts himself as a “leader” due to his vote and participation for a 1997 law that grants federal aid to states for children’s health insurance. The L.A. Times notes, though, that other Democrats played a far more prominent role in the legislation.
- Job creation: Kerry’s ad claims that he cast a decisive vote in the 90s that created 20 million new jobs. Unfortunately for Kerry, the vote was only decisive in as much as all of the other Democratic senators that supported the bill, in which former vice president Al Gore actually cast the deciding vote. Further, the 20 million new jobs claim falls in the Bush fuzzy math category.
So begins another campaign season of ridiculous statements and pandering… sigh.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/2004/la-na-kerry4may04,1,7843735.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Contact El Duderino at jaipf@hotmail.com.
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