November 2, 2006- Anonymous Bullshit

   Now that we are getting down to the final few days before Election Day 2006, the campaign ads are running hot and heavy, in fact, it is getting very hard to watch anything on TV now without seeing these ads, about the only programming that is exempt from it seems to be kiddie shows, and that may even change in the next few days. The tones of these ads seems to be the same, they attack and smear one candidate on one or more issues. Everything seems to be fair game as far as throwing it in there, shit like illegal imigration and Internet sex predators and gun laws seem to be two of the main issues this year, they always say that the candidate is not doing anything on these matters, and that they suck because of that, and at the end, they mention the other candidate and say that they are better. These things are getting so bad that they are alomst becoming comical, with every single one of the trying to call someone new names and make new accusations against them, and they all fight to show thew worst possible picture of the candidate that they hate, pictures of them making faces and shit are al the rage, this shit is starting to look like some kind of comedy skits, but they are no skits, they are deadly serious. Even though the resemble the skits that saturday Night Live used to air durinfg electionn years, these types of ads have become the dominant ones this political year. As we get closer  to Election Day, the accusations get wilder, now there's one that claims that one dude is some kind of racist, and offers no proof to back that up, but the problem has been that many that have seen that ad believe it, and that had led to trouble on both sides of that race. Similar scenes are popping up all over America this week, maybe not as serious as that one, but making other wild accusations nonetheless. What is happening is that even the politicians that are portrayed favorably in these commercials are starting to disavow them, like in that racist one, both sides have said that this was all bullshit and not true. That only pacifies critics of this a bit, because then they ask just who was behind all of this and time after time, the politicians say that they do not know. They define the offical ads for their campaigns by apearing at the end of them and saying that they approved this message, and any ad that does not have that in it, even if it celarly for them, has not been authorized by them. These controversial ads are always ones that do not have these official endorsements in them, so  when the politicians say that they have zero idea as to who was behind them, they are telling the truth for once, because they honsetly don't. That is why these types of ads have taken over this election year when they would have all been rejected in years past because of their tones. Running ads like these used to be seen as amateur hour tactics, and if you did, you rarely gained anything and  soon became a political footnote in the losers column. Now, all you seem to see are these types of ads and there is a reason why, and that has zero to do with political campaigns today.

   Back a few years ago, there was a serious outcry about the ways in which politicians got campaign money. Many of them ended up right in the pocket of some kind of special interest or another and did their bidding, not the people's. Certain politicians had huge advantages over their opponents in terms of how much money they could raise and use, like veterans rarely lost to outsiders unless they were involved in some kind of scandal because they could always outspend them massively. That pissed a lot of people off, mainly those that lusted for political office but could not raise money like that, so they screamed for change, and change they got. As always, there were politicians ready to jump on that bandwagon for political reasons, and Senators John Mc Cain and Russ Feingold led the way on that one. They went out of their  way to craft legislation that they said would straighten out the inequities in that system and that would make political races more fair fior all. Since these two cats had lots of clout in Congress, they were able to get this legislation passed and signed into law, with their names on it of course. Many said that this was a bad idea, but they were all painted as greedheads that just wanted more and more money and did not give a fuck about the system, so everything that they said was essentially ignored. The law was put into effect, and many hailed it as the greatest thing since the flush toilet. They said that it would level the playing field because it was designed to limit just how much money that someone could give any one politician. Strict limits were put in place and accounting practices were tightened up too, so that there was a much better idea of just where the money was coming from. The idea was to stop Mr. Businessman from essentialy buying his own personal politician  so that the politicians could get back to the people's business. However, the law failed to take one thing into account, and that was the ever increasing expenses associated with running for political office  in America. Costs in that scene have been skyrocketing for decades now,  and as there get to be more and more information services, the politicians have to shell out more and more money to get their message across. Nowadays they have to all have websites, at least one, and TV ads and  radio spots, not to mention shit like podcasts and the like. None of that has ever come cheaply to the Politician, and making more of it has just made it all more expensive. It is nearly impossible to have a do it yourself type of political campaign in America, even for the smallest of offices, more than ever, American politics has become a pay to play game. That was why so many said that passing campaign reform was really a bad idea, because now more than ever, candidates need money to survive. Gone are the days of using the TV news to spread your message, if you don't do it through every medium available, you are sunk. However, Senators Mc Cain and Feingold had not totally lost their minds when they crafted this legislation, they had to ger re-elected every so often remember, so they made sure that their legislation was full of loopholes and outs, following a great American tradition.

   These loopholes menat that there was far greater room for anonymous types to ghet in the door and offer the poor politicians money. People that had no real connection to Mr. Businessman or anything like that, but who had an agenda to push, could now come forward and offer their services with campaign ads that the candidate did not have to pay for. That looked good to them, because now that they were handcuffed by legislation, they needed all the friends that they could get, they could no longer rely solely on a select few. They did not even have to knokw who these anonymous friends were, since the ads and shit were  all paid for by these contributors, they did not have to reveal themselves to anyone. They all became "friends of --- or supporters of ---", seemingly these anonymous benefactors. That meant that the candidate did not have to approve  anything that they said, that he(or she) had zero control over it, leaving that all up to these groups that made these things. They did not really have to endorse a candidate's total position, they could cherry pick what they wanted to emphasize and support, and that meant that people with a specific agenda could freely promote that agenda at the candidate's expense. Like if a candidate was not making a big deal out of issues like immigration or gun control, these people that want that agenda pushed could make an ad bringing these issues out only and ignoring everything else. This meant that they could basically say anything that they wanted, because the fact that they were so anonymous that even the TV stations that their ads ran on really did not know who they were madce these things their ads, not those of the candidates. This idea has caught on like wildfire, and the ads that we are seeing on America TV now show that. What has happened is that these people with certain agendas to push just sort of latch themselves onto a candidate and use that candidate to push their agenda. They seemingly do not care at al about the candidate, they are just props used to push an agenda. This year, they have taken that to the extreme with these crazy ads tha are cluttering up TV now, ads in which the candidates are taking morre and more of a backseat. Lying  and distorting the facts means nothing in these ads, since the people behind them have naught to do with the candidates anyway, so they are doing it full blast, that racist shit being the crown jewel of that one. They do not even care if the candidates that they profess to support approve of anything that they say or do, and the candidates are paying the price for that. More and more, they are becoming increasingly irrelevant in what are supposed to be their own campaign ads, as the agenda is taking center stage. Even if a candidate has zero to do with an agenda, these ads do not care, if someone sees an opportunity to use these candidates to pormote something, they are doing it, making a joke out of the whole process. Instead of looking like something that Mr. Businessman has bought and paid for, this year's campaign looks more and more like some kind of Three Stooges film, replete with yucks and jokes and lies and distortions.

   If this shit is allowed to go on unchecked much longer, it is going to be a death blow to the politicians  all over America. People are already sick to death of these fucking ads that do nothing except engage in name calling and slander and smears, and since most Americans are unaware  that this is the product of campaign reform, they stick the blame on the faces that they see on these ads, and that would be the politicians that the ads are supposed to be for. They see every fucking politician in America engaging in childish behavior that is seriously unbecoming for an American politician because every ad they see is just another negative one. When they hear the candidates saying that they don't know who is behind this, they think that they are lying, and that is going to hurt all of them. If your average American sees weeks of ads that look like playground fighting and then hears everyone involved saying that they do not know where that is all coming from, they are going to say fuck it and blow the election off entirely. The pitiful turnout numbers in American elections will tumble even lower, and that is going to impact the system. These numbers have gone about as low as they can and still be able to have a viable system, and if they crash much more, that will fuck everything up but good. These silly TV ads that everyone has been seeing on their favorite TV shows for weeks now are going to be the catalyst for just that if something is not done  soon. This year has been the worst yet, and with a serious free for all election due in 2008, just where these things could go is anyone's guess. The more that these agenda folks are able to get away with this year, the further they'll take things then, and they could seriously turn an American Presidential election into a fucking circus that becomes a total joke. How this is any better that having Mr. Busienssman being able to donate as much as he wants to anyone is unclear. These others are pushing an agenda just like Mr. Businessman was, but their agendas seem to be more  socially oriented, while Mr. Businessman's was purely self oriented so he kept it to himself. Since these other agandas are socially oriented, they have to be exploited to the max like they are being now. Neither of these types of agendas are good for the average America, but with Mr. Businessman's, you did jot really know just what that was so it did not bother you so much, with thse new ones, they are bugging people so badly that they just want to turn off to the entire thing. That will kill American politics faster than having people buy everything will, because when you buy everything, you can buy cosmetic things to hide what you are doing, when you are just pushing things, the results are raw and in your face. The cosmetic shit would hide things enough to keep the people coming out to support the system, but the raw shit wil send them running for the hills and the TIVO pronto. That is why there have to be some kind  of controls on the ads that the independent people run, they should be made to tie in with a candidate's campaign in some  way, even if there is no money involved, because in this case, it is the politicians that are the only ones that can keep these ads  even a semblance of honest, and since that is what the fuckers are suposed to do anyway, let them do it because they have seen that the alternative is not beneficial to them anyway.

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