In this mean season, I know I can't get cranky about every single shitty campaign ad, but when it comes to base pandering, blatant dishonesty, and out-of-context manipulations, the GOP's political spots are without equal. From Willie Horton to the Swiftboaters to the little old lady in Ohio's SB 5 ads, the Republicans are masters of the shameless scum-bucket strategy. It's their brand: "Oh gosh, did we tell another intentional lie? We're sorry, but we don't care. It's out there, and we know it's already done its job."
A current example is the heavy-rotation ad ripping Obama for his "If you've got a business, you didn't build that" comment. Except that's not really what he said. The ad (screen shot at right) is a cut-and-paste gross distortion.
Obama spoke the "didn't build that" line in a Virginia speech where he was describing a classic Blue/Red divide regarding business. Democrats remind us that all businesses benefit from things like public utilities, railways, roads, interstates, and bridges; airports and sea ports; postal delivery and the internet; public education. They point out that these things were created, funded, built and maintained by government with our tax dollars, not by private business. And all that helpful infrastructure allows private business to do it's thing.
On the other side of the divide, Republicans prefer to ignore all that. They believe they are brilliant job/business "creators", alchemists who turn lumps of clay into economic miracles, and do it all by themselves, despite all those impossibly unfair governmental roadblocks like taxes, fair labor laws, work safety laws, and environmental regulations. (For Obama's full comments on the topic, click the video below.)
In the ad, the business owner guy in the green shirt rhetorically asks Obama, "Why are you demonizing us?" I missed it. What demonizing? The out-of-context video snippets slapped together in the attack ad? Mr. Green Shirt ought to watch the full video.
Green Shirt ends by telling us that "Success should be rewarded, not punished." What the hell does that mean? No one begrudges a business its success. But isn't success its own reward? Apparently not to Mr. Green Shirt. He says he built his successful company and implies he now wants to be rewarded even further. Probably with zero taxes and the ability to pollute with impunity. Anything other than that he regards as a punishment.
The ad is a crock, and Green Shirt is a selfish ass. He wants it all his way -- all revenues, no expenses; all peaches, no pits. But it just doesn't work that way, does it?
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