Depending on when you read this the elections might not yet have happened. For those fans of Recoil who eagerly await each new issue, you might be digesting this current rant while waiting for the band to start at Billy’s. Quite possibly on the TV screen there is yet another paid political ad by Dick, Jen, Debbie or mike hoping to convince you how wonderful they are. Better yet, the ads are more likely to be designed to tell you how their opponent got on the state sex offender registry list.
It seems that for the past few months you can’t go anywhere with out seeing some disgusting political ad that has some lame slogan. How about Tim Doyle for State Rep….”Securing our Future.” Sounds like an ad for anti-home invasion systems. How about this one from Democrat Al Abasse, “Fresh leadership starts now!” Sort of a cross between a Tupper ware ad and WZZM 13 news. The best are the TV ads though. I love the one with Debbie Stabenow acting mad because some people have lost their pensions. I wonder how many takes it took while filming that. “Debbie, can we do that over. A little more angst in your voice, OK?” Then there have been all the Michigan Dem ads on DeVos and China. I loved the one where DeVos morphs into Bush and then back into himself. Of course, some of the best have been the DeVos ads. One of my favorites has Lee Iacocca telling everyone that Dick DeVos hasn’t given up on Michigan. He says “When others gave up on Michigan, he toughed it out….” Sure he did. I’m sure it was pretty painful to tough it out while having meetings on board his private Alticor jet. I’m sure DeVos was toughing it out when the state of Michigan gave Alticor tax breaks. Right…..and I look good in a dress.
While the public has been subjected to the sludge of political ads, TV and radio stations have been smiling all the way to the bank. As of late September the Governor’s race had spent $26 million just to smack us in the face with those 30 seconds of excrement. DeVos alone had spent $18 million to heap political dung on our psyches every time we turned on the radio or TV. In the other races the spending has been in favor of incumbents. According to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network Congressional incumbents have raised “$12.3 million this election cycle through September 30th, while non-incumbents have raised $1.9 million. The 14 incumbent members of Congress have fund balances that total $7.3 million, while the challengers have $290,000 on hand for the last five weeks of the campaign.”
If this article was a TV ad there would be the song “For the Love of Money” in the background…….Some people gotta have it…..In case it is not obvious by now, money drives the hummer that is known as partisan elections. According to the website Money in State Politics as of October 17 $51 million had been raised for elections in Michigan. That is estimated to be only 35% of all monies raised for the November 7 election. Then there is the website Political Money Line, which states that as of October 16 more than $3 million dollars have been given to candidates by the top 50 donors from Grand Rapids alone.
Here’s an idea, how about we use all the money raised in political campaigns to pay people currently unemployed. Or maybe we could put that money into public education or health care for those who have none. Silly me, then the radio and TV broadcasters wouldn’t make a shit load of money off of the democratic process. According to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network http://www.mcfn.org/migub06sep.php TV broadcasters in West Michigan had made a combined $5.3 million. So what’s the incentive to actually inform voters? No matter what the broadcasters tell us, it is hard for me to see informing the public is what TV news has done. Most of what you will vote on in the November 7 election has not received a single second of coverage. Let’s take a look at the white board…….here is a list of what is on the ballot that has not received any coverage as of this writing (Oct. 15): Secretary of State, Attorney General, Congressional races, State Senate, State Reps, State Board of Education, University Regents, State Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Circuit Court, Probate Court, District Court, Darin Commissioner, County Commissioner and Proposals 1, 3 and 4. What what has there been coverage of?.......the Governor’s race, Senate race, and Proposal 2 and 5. WOW! This is what they call in broadcaster language serving the public interest. Sounds more like serving the interest of those who don’t want people to vote.
If you are looking for something a bit more light-hearted and want to engage in political ad therapy, we have the perfect thing for you. On Friday, November 3 we are having a Dick vs. Jen Video contest. You, the audience will have a chance to vote on the best anti-political ad video at the Wealthy Theater. The fun begins at 7pm and is sure to help you wade through the political sewage. We’ll provide the waders.
Jeff Smith will be overcoming his catatonic state after November 7. No more drooling, but he could still use a drink.
