Politics as Usual, Sadly

Here in flyover country rages one of the many battles for a Senate seat that could shift the balance of power in Congress in November. The battle is between incumbent Republican Jim Talent and Democratic challenger Claire McCaskill, and it resonates nationally not only because of the potential significance of its outcome, but because the campaign has featured some of the same disgraceful, disheartening tactics used around the country. Both Talent and McCaskill are running enough ads during the World Series (which features the St. Louis Cardinals) to single-handedly finance Major League Baseball's new labor accord. It is these ads that are so disgraceful and disheartening.

Factcheck.org, and indispensible and under-used resource for those wishing to limit the manipulative power of politicians, has authored a critique of several Talent ads that attack McCaskill. In those ads, Talent and his organization attribute several critiques of his opponent to the Kansas City Star when, in actuality, those critiques were uttered by McCaskill critics quoted in the Star. The difference is significant, obviously. According to the Factcheck report, Talent's campaign has not responded to the critique. According to another report, Talent has promised to pull the ads, but has yet to do so. I cannot help but anticipate that the ads are working, and that more potential voters will be manipulated by the mis-message than will be repelled by Talent's deceit.

The record of success is clear: look at the Swift Boat campaign in 2004, and the hatchet job Bush and his thugs did on John McCain in 2000. In politics, truth is what you make it. Which makes truth crushingly difficult to find.