Fitz Patrick Murphy

You can watch this local news clip to get a feel for the congressional race happening in my district.  You can watch it to hear the reporter haul out so many poorly chosen war metaphors that your head will ache.  ("Insurgent Patrick Murphy" is my favorite.)  Or you can watch it to hear the unhappy (for the incumbent) coincidence that the naming of the race has become. 

They're describing the race as one of the biggest in the country, which it is.  The money involved is staggering.  When I think of the good that could be done with the $4 million that's going to be spent on ads in the next 56 days, it's sickening.  What's even more sickening is that we already know that the RNC is planning to haul out some of their trademark slime.   We've seen that before in suburban Philly.  There was this charmer that ran against Ginny Schrader and Lois Murphy last time around:

It's hard to read the print, so allow me.   It says that because Ginny raised money by showing Farenheit 911, she is on even footing with Hezbollah.  She is "spewing venom" at our (Dear) leaders and criticizes the "liberation of Iraq."    Also she is opposed to No Child Left Behind and the Patriot Act.   Good times.   Seriously.  Remember when we were only concerned with what the Patriot Act might lead to instead of having all our fears realized and then some?

I'm not looking forward to the next two months.   If the RNC and Fitzpatrick thought they needed to do that to Ginny in a race that Fitzpatrick won in a walk, what could they possibly think they need to do when it's a close contest and they truly are desperate?   Whatever it is, it'll cost them $2 million to show it to us. 

Comments

[KathyF]

I don't understand why more people don't campaign to eliminate TV and radio political ads altogether. There are none here, yet the public airwaves are used to educate people on who the candidates are. Local MPs and council candidates must get out and walk their districts to introduce themselves to voters.

Billboards are allowed, but there aren't very many of those.

I think this would go a long way toward bringing back responsible campaigning.