What Is In A Campaign Ad? - Granite Grok

What Is In A Campaign Ad?

Total Bummer....I like Ron Paul

“If you’re going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else you’re going to be locked up.” —Hunter S. Thompson

I am watching the television. I cannot remember which station or what show. But to be certain, it was the Discovery Channel, Learning Channel, Smithsonian, NatGeo, Military Channel or Fox News. Most other television is, in the words of Frank Lloyd Wright, “Chewing gum for the eyes.”  With the current political season upon us, the channels are replete with rank and file political ads. Political ads that are simply unavoidable.

One that galvanizes in my mind is a recent hard hitting, vitriolic ad put out by the Ron Paul campaign where Newt Gingrich is the target. The ad uses sound bites, sober and serious background music and billowing voice enhancements to create a serious, yet stoic collection of imagery. If one hates Newt Gingrich, this ad is a, “must-appreciate.”

Now that I have seen the ad a couple of times. I evaluate it. Does this negative ad tell me anything new about Gingrich? Assertions made in the ad are a collection of various media sound bites from many different commentators. This amalgam of sound bites also lack context.

Depending on who you are and what your world view is, there is also the question of credibility. For example, one who is conservative might be troubled by the Rush Limbaugh Sound bite or Paul Ryan… But, Larry Kudlow? or Ed Shultz?

How about this notion that Ron Paul is a unique candidate separate and apart from others? How does an attack ad like this work to set him apart from the other candidates? The bare fact is this ad is a status quo “politics as usual” attack ad.  But the Ron Paul folks defend it as a factual rending to say Newt is a bad choice. Hyperbole is nothing new to American politics. After all, lesser know Charlatan Andy Martin calls Ron Paul a, “confused old man” and then calls Newt Gingrich a, “crook.”

Frankly, I think Ron Paul has some excellent ideas about government. He is a superior human being of the highest intellect and a great humanitarian. After all,  they don’t let just anybody be physicians. He has an outstanding family that attests to his success as a father: One son who is not only a Senator, but a learned physician himself and perhaps one of the smartest most visionary people in the Senate today.

So the question begs asking. Why this ad? Why is Ron Paul acting like a Charlatan? A confused old man? I thought he was many notches above that. He espouses many concepts that are both novel and needed, but his ad campaign says politics as usual.

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