-By Warner Todd Huston
For his L.A. Times column for Halloween day, Doyle McManus made to rate the best and worst political ads of this presidential campaign cycle. Yet, even as he presented some interesting entries, McManus completely ignored the hateful Obama ad that told viewers that Romney killed a steelworker’s wife. What other ad was as filled with lies as that one and how could McManus have missed it?
After bemoaning all the political ads he had to sit through on a visit to Ohio, McManus warmed to his theme saying, “But effective or not, the ads are still interesting — for what they tell you about the campaigns’ strategies as much as what they say about the candidates.”
The columnist went on to talk about the best positive ads of both campaigns, their most effective negative ads, and “the most artful ad.” Yet when it came to “the most deceptive” ads, McManus short shrifted the category.
Worse, the “most deceptive” ad McManus mentioned coming from team Obama was an ad that lied about what Mitt Romney said about the number of troops he wanted to keep in Iraq. Troops? What about the disgusting Joe Soptic ad where Obama’s surrogates claimed that Mitt Romney killed a steelworker’s wife? How is that calumny-filled piece of garbage not worse than a lie about Romney’s troop recommendations?
How could Doyle McManus not choose the Soptic ad as the worst ad not only of this campaign but one of the worst ads in modern presidential campaign history?
McManus’ sudden amnesia is like talking of vicious campaign ads of history without mentioning the infamous “daisy ad” put out by Lyndon Baines Johnson that led viewers to imagine that opponent Republican Barry Goldwater wanted to start a nuclear war.
It is inexplicable that Doyle Mcanus didn’t rate the Soptic ad as “the most deceptive” ad put out by Obama. It’s also inexcusable.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
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