If you live in Minnesota (or another politically polar state) you know exactly what I’m talking about–those damn negative campaign ads! The ads get tiring–from both sides of the fence. One of the particularly atrocious ads is a misleading ad about Tom Emmer and his drunken past. Don’t get me wrong. I think Emmer would make a horrible governor. He’s a bigot and I highly doubt he would actually help small businesses, but that’s another story altogether. Let’s get back to the point of my blog post.
Bruce D. Kennedy ran for Secretary of State in 2006 (and lost). He keeps his website up, because it has these wonderful campaign ad spoofs. He also has a blog.
If you want to watch is campaign ad spoofs, go here. In fact, these negative campaign ad spoofs are negative campaign ads about Bruce Kennedy. No one would make negative ads about him, so he made negative ads about himself. (That’s what he gets for running as an independent!) In addition, he teaches about some of the tactics used in negative campaign advertising, mainly sophistry.
I very much respect Bruce Kennedy. It’s too bad non-Democrat-or-Republican candidates don’t seem to stand a chance.
So, take a break, watch an ad, and laugh.
Update: This ad is probably the worst! Totally misleading! It angers me.
Update 2: Another particularly atrocious ad that uses the State Fair as a negative ad campaign tool!
Fortunately, Tarryl Clark responded with a positive campaign ad instead of continuing the vicious cycle.
Tags: bruce kennedy, campaign ads, elections, satire, spoofs
I agree. Negative ads are super annoying and dumb. I hate them.
The one thing that can get an independent candidate into the running is a truckload of cash. Of course, that’s the underlying problem with the two big parties: they have to suck up to the folks with the cash.
The sad fact is that mudslinging works. People remember the bad things more easily than the good things when it comes to voting. They forget all that nuanced policy stuff and decide they won’t vote for the person who…
Independents would do it, too, if they got truckloads of cash. Nothing made me more cynical of politics than actually getting involved in politics. I used to be optimistic.