Just a brief entry this week. As we get closer to the election, there are more and more ads, particularly for a very close Pennsylvania senate race between Democrat Joe Sestak and Republican Pat Toomey. My daughter Olivia turned 18 in September and immediately registered to vote, and she has been paying closer attention to the election than ever before.
The attack ads from Toomey against Sestak have been especially nasty. Despite their idiotic names like "Citizens for Responsibility" and so forth, it is clear from their content that some of the ads are paid for by the NRA or the National Chamber of Commerce. The NRA ad makes it seem like Sestak, a retired admiral in the US Navy, is going to come to your house in the dead of night and take away your guns. Toomey is painting him with the same "liberal" paintbrush that implies that "liberal" really means "treasonous." (I love how these Tea Party idiots conveniently forget that the United States was originally founded by a bunch of liberal free thinkers.) Sestak's congressional record is being tied to the dreaded "Pelosi agenda" (whatever the hell that is) and just in general he is being made to look like a man in favor of taxation, abortion, free love and peace without honor. (Sestak's ads have been pretty straightforward, commenting largely on Toomey's role as a Wall Street lobbyist and questioning the wisdom of his Tea Party endorsements, the implication being that a stamp of approval from the likes of Sarah Palin is not worth much.)
When Olivia first saw the Toomey attack ads, she thought that they were, in fact, ringing endorsements FOR Joe Sestak and decided on the spot that she was going to vote for him. The very qualities which the Republicans were decrying were in fact her -- and my -- core values.
Chew on that, Mr. Toomey.
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