November, 2006

Today is November 2. The mid-term elections are in five days. Tuesday cannot possibly come soon enough.

I live in Ohio, which is THE battleground state these days. We’ve lost about a quarter of a million manufacturing jobs in the past six or seven years. The state’s unemployment rate is 5.7%, a full percentage point higher than the rest of the country. The economy in this state is a wreck. Our convicted criminal governor is leaving office after two terms filled with corruption and scandal. Mike DeWine, Republican Senator, is closely linked to Skippy Bush and his failed, corrupt administration. Deborah Pryce, the fourth ranking Republican in the House of Representatives, is in the race of her life. The next district to the east of where I live is the district of convicted felon and corrupt politician Bob Ney. Ney’s hand-picked successor, who defaulted on a $700,000 government guaranteed SBA loan, is running for his seat. Even previously safe seats are in play; my district is represented by Rep. Pat Tiberi, who was the chief of staff for John Kasich, and was his hand-picked successor. Tiberi is in a dogfight with a 79-year-old multimillionaire who served a single term in Congress in the early 1980’s until his district was gerrymandered out of existence. A blue tide is about to sweep this state (and hopefully, both houses of Congress, too).

From all of this, you can probably imagine what the TV ads are like. It’s non-stop attack ads, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There’s not a single positive ad. Instead, it’s every possible attack you can imagine, including an especially egregious Willy Horton-style ad for a Republican candidate for the state house. It started in June, and it has just increased in intensity until there are virtually nothing but negative attack ads every commercial break.

I can’t stand it any more. Next Tuesday CANNOT come soon enough.

Whatever happened to commercials where the candidates actually said something positive and laid out their ideas and justifications for why they should be elected? Nothing of the sort happens now. Instead, every possible skeleton in every possible closet is dredged up, and there simply is no reason why ANYONE would want to subject themselves to this. Is it any wonder that we’re stuck with a government of such mediocrity that an imbecile coke head like Skippy Bush could possibly have been elected president twice????

We deserve better.

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