Democrats Stoop Even Lower to Conquer

Local media are in full election mode:  covering the press conferences, the candidate debates, dissecting the latest opinion polls, etc.  In other words, they are busy covering any topic besides the things that will drive results on November 4^th.

To understand what’s happening in this election, you need to get down to ground level.  Take, for example, this television ad by Democrat-front-group Alliance for a Better Minnesota being run against Republican candidate for state representative Barb Sutter.

It features “Frannie Olson” from New Brighton (nowhere near the targeted Bloomington district) complaining about the Koch Brothers efforts to end Medicare.  Of course, no such effort exists or ever existed.

But the visuals suggest that Republicans want literally to cut off the oxygen supply to an elderly man.  Nothing is out of bounds when the Democrat monopoly on power is under threat.

For its effectiveness, the ad counts on the low information voter not understanding that Medicare is a Federal program:  state representatives have no say—for better or worse—in how Congress and the President run the program.  Then again, voters can be forgiven for not knowing, since the ad never mentions the office Sutter is seeking, or even the level of government involved.

All of the “sources” cited by the ad (I don’t count The Nation as a source for anything useful) pre-date Sutter’s entry into the race.  Again, the ad counts on voters not knowing that Sutter is a first-time candidate. 

In fact, the ad implies that “politician Barb Sutter” is actually an incumbent.  The ad itself never bothers to mention the name of her Democrat opponent.  There is not a single claim or assertion in the ad that is true.  (Say, isn’t the Democrat incumbent also a politician?)

Falsehoods aside, on pure politics, the ad seems off target.  Seniors are, in fact, the most loyal Republican age group, according to polling conducted by the Pew Research Center.  Pew reports that seniors (65+) favor Republicans over Democrats by a 13-point margin.  As for the Koch Brothers, polls show that most voters have never even heard of them.

The ad seems off target only if you misunderstand the target.  This ABM ad is directed at getting out the liberal base in this off-year election.  Pew reports that, for Democrat voters, health care is their number one issue.  For Republicans, health care barely makes the top 5.

References to the Tea Party and the Koch Brothers are geared at getting the left-wing base motivated to come out and vote against Republicans.  The Koch Brothers in particular have taken on an Emmanuel Goldstein role on the far left of the Democrat party.

This copycat mail piece, put out by the state Democrat party, repeats the same false claims.

For starters, no voter under age 45 will know what a literal rubber stamp is, so they will not get the visual reference.  The picture of Sutter, meant to represent the rubber on the stamp, bears no resemblance to the actual human being.  Here is what Sutter actually looks like.

Just like the “scaring seniors” TV ad, including a black-and-white, grainy photograph of your political opponent is a time-dishonored tradition in political advertising.  However, there should be an obligation to include a likeness that actually represents the candidate.  In all seriousness, when I first saw this lit piece, I thought the picture was of the late actress Estelle Getty.

Again, the sources cited in this mail piece predate Sutter’s candidacy.  In fact, the piece cites two 2011 state House votes, a time during which neither Sutter nor her opponent were in office.  Like the TV ad, it does not mention the office Sutter is seeking or the level of government involved.

The rest of it is there:  the Koch Brothers, scaring seniors with Medicare, etc.  For good measure, they toss on the fictional “budget cuts for schools,” hoping something in the piece will get their dispirited voters to the polls.

As political propaganda goes, it’s not exceptionally competent.  But in Minnesota, it doesn’t have to be.  Fueled by infinite amounts of campaign money from public employee unions (taxpayer funded, of course), ABM and the Democrats can pump out ad after ad, piece after piece libeling Republican candidates.  Republicans, having to both pay their taxes and donate to their candidates, cannot hope to compete on a money basis.

Taking a step back, the Democrats’ 2014 Minnesota campaign illustrates why our politics are so completely dysfunctional.

Not a single issue of the day is addressed in these ads.  They are designed to attack character, not to persuade.  They are meant to libel, not to inform.  On Twitter last night, we were treated to Democrat ads featuring dead dogs and dead camels.  No really, camels.

Meanwhile, local media portray an election where issues are debated and polite exchanges rule the day.  In the trenches, it’s all Democrat mud and filth, lies and slander.  And no one is held to account.