Every October, the amount of crap on the airwaves always seems to increase as both Democrats and Republicans push campaign ads more and more as the elections approach. This year is no different. Most recently, in a desperate attempt to try and salvage an election that seems like it’s going to give control of the House and Senate back to the Democrats, Republicans are putting complete nonsense ads on the air.
It seems that every time I turn on the TV, I see some candidate attacking his or her opponent. That’s just disgraceful. Ads should be about promoting one’s image, not trying to damage another’s.
The Republican National Committee (GOP) has recently produced a commercial that has clips of Al Qaeda training camps and quotes from Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri, keeping the phrases, “kill Americans,” “inside America,” “nothing compared to what you will see next,” and “what is yet to come will be even greater” remain on the screen; highlighting them so they stay in your mind. Throughout the entire commercial, a bomb is ticking in the background and at the end, it explodes and the words, “These are the stakes. Vote November 7th.” This ad just continues the Republicans’ campaign of lying to the American public into believing that if the Democrats gain control of Congress, there will be more terrorist attacks because according to Republicans, Democrats are weak on national security.
Republicans have reached a new low. They are actually saying that if Democrats are elected that they will let another terrorist attack happen. Come on Karl Rove, if you’re going to take a shot at the Democrats, at least make it believable. It’s not that Democrats are weak on national security, it’s that they actually have a conscience and aren’t willing to treat other human beings, no matter how evil they are, worse than rats in medical labs and commit every act that the Geneva Convention was set up to prevent. Democrats are not about to let Al-Qaeda attack us again. No one living in this country would let that happen.
The fact that Republicans are using fear to win votes shows that there is no depth that they won’t sink to. They’ve only furthered the state of fear that we live in by doing this. This type of advertising may help the Republicans, but hurting our country by making them live in fear is too big of a price to pay. When a country is living in fear, they are willing to give up essential rights and liberties in order for a false sense of security that things like phone-tapping and unwarranted searches and arrests provide.
Campaign ads should promote candidates, not make the other candidate seem immoral or threaten the American people. American people have the right to make their own decisions and not have to worry what the ramifications of their voting decisions will be. Both parties need to realize this or campaigns will just get dirtier and dirtier until the only thing that matters in an election is what lie a candidate can make up about his or her opponent.
