There aren’t many things that I loathe – but I loathe political TV ads. These last few weeks, if I turn on the TV to watch a baseball or football game, my eyeballs are buried in political ads. I forgot how they grate on my senses like fingernails across a chalkboard. Maybe more like the pain of a kidney stone. Your mind and body just want to wipe the pain from memory. I curse myself if I don’t have the controller close so I can mute the TV.
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They are the bane of decency. The only people who like them are the people who get paid billions to put them on TV.
Game 3 of the World Series is tonight, and it will undoubtedly feature ads from local politicians and the national race for the White House. A Harris ad features mostly Donald Trump because that is all she has. And the lies. Mostly the lies. The voice-over is a deep baritone, who tells the audience that Trump will implement “his Project 2025” if elected. It is much like the “very fine people” lie. Project 2025 was never his – he disavowed it pretty early — but Harris and her team of hacks can’t let a good lie die.
Although that was (apparently) the first of the Harris ads coupling Trump to something he didn’t do, it won’t be the last.
In 1964, Lyndon Baines Johnson aired an ad about his Republican opponent, Barry Goldwater, being a warmonger. If Goldwater was elected, KABOOM! — a nuclear winter would follow. It was called “Peace Little Girl” and then “‘Daisy’ Ad.” The irony, of course, was that Johnson lied to get us into the Vietnam War. Johnson lied constantly to keep us in it. Up to GWT, Vietnam was America’s longest war.
Political ads haven’t gotten any better at truth-telling. In fact, it seems that most ads are intended as legal vehicles to lie. That, and to cast candidates as the guy you would want to have a beer with. Harris recently tried that and failed miserably.
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Some ads just crash and burn – like this guy’s ad. He was running against Kristi Noem for South Dakota’s sole representative seat. He cut this ridiculously long ad. It is such a spectacular failure that it’s hard to take your eyes off of it.
That guy couldn’t act for a classroom of comatose patients. It’s no wonder that Noem beat Barth like a drum. Well, Barth kind of beat himself.
What is the greatest political ad of all time? It is the below. Ok, sure, it’s a spoof of political ads, but it’s also a pallet cleanser. This ad is by fake candidate “Gil Fulbright.” It’s old — but timeless. It’s a product of Frank Riley. If you don’t find this funny – sorry we can’t be friends.
I’m Jim Thompson, and I approve this message.