Monday, October 11, 2010

Thank you, Mr. Slice


Paul Turner sliced it right today.  I chuckled all through his daily column in the Spokesman-Review  http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/oct/11/the-slice-sorry-bob-but-youre-out-of-touch/  and almost screamed out, "YES!" 

In a "what if?" style, Paul Turner articulated similar thoughts to what go through my head every evening when I want to sit down to watch the news and have to hold the remote in my hand for the rest of the evening.  

I hold the remote and will be holding the remote until the first Tuesday in November.  How many moons is that away?  

Seems like that day is an eternity every time I see that unflattering picture of Ra UUUL Labrador hanging off in space while the Minnick folks prove he's bad for Idaho because of bad things he's done with immigration.  

And, those counter-attack ads Ra UUUL puts out against Minnick and how awful the Congressman is always put my finger into action also. 

Get this straight----I'm not a Democrat.  I'm not a Republican.  I'm not a Tea Partier.  Or a member of any other organized political party, for that matter.  

I'm one of those stupid voters who still believes in shopping for the individual who I think at the time will best represent me in the office.

I'm also the stoop who drives around town with a Keough sticker (Republican and a fine state senator) on one side of my bumper and an Obama sticker on the other (yes, I voted for the Muslim, Alien, Commie, Socialist, Racist). Send me to Hell for that.

I keep wondering what public school in Idaho allowed a political ad showing Mr. Allred sitting amidst a classroom full of students, all smiling, of course, in Mr. Allred's behalf.  Mr. Allred is going to straighten out education in Idaho, especially the funding-------as if---we've ever seen that in our lifetime.

Isn't there some conflict of interest in having a publicly funded institution and its publicly funded students providing the backdrop for a political ad?  I know. I know.  It was filmed on the weekend and the students who showed up to sit with Mr. Allred are all children of Democrats. 

I'm sure those kids had a big voice in the decision to be filmed with "the candidate." 

To be honest, I can't remember any negative stuff I've had to mute out with the present governor saying bad things about Mr. Allred, but I'm sure it exists.  

Basically in the election for Idaho's governor, the overall decision will be made after deciding who looks best on a horse and, of course, wearing them tight fittin' jeans.   

In my case, if one of those candidates would saddle up an Appaloosa---maybe even my Lily---they might get my vote. 

And, those aforementioned ad samples come from our Idaho candidates who spend a fortune in this "questionable economy" telling us how they're going to spend our money more wisely.  Oops, they don't tell us how they're going to spend our money more wisely----that's too positive.

Spending millions of dollars on their garbage ads, they tell us how their opponent has completely screwed up with spending our money.  

I don't know if it's the ad with the former U.S. Marshall constantly berating "Bad Ra UUUL" or if it's the sum total of those slimy ads in Washington State put out by the Dino-Patty brainless wonders that irritate me the most.  

Hell, we've come a long way from "the mom in tennis shoes."   

Remember those days when Patty Murray first got elected.  I wonder if she still wears tennis shoes.  Probably has to with all that money she spends on those ads.

As for Dino, he's a broken record.  So far he has never been elected to any of those big offices in his state of Washington, but he always shows up. 

This constant barrage of nauseating footage shown over and over and over hauntingly reminds me of the David Koresch stand-off years ago in Waco, Texas, when the Feds played nauseating music for hours on end to get those people to come out of their compound.

Did they comply?  No, I think they all died when the compound caught fire. 

The bottom line is that this method of political advertising does not convince me to rush to the polls to vote for any candidate who resorts to such strategies.  Instead, it completely diminishes them in my mind, causing me to rebel with my remote every time they show up on the TV screen.  

I wonder if I'm alone in that sentiment.

Whenever that welcome election day in November finally comes, I plan to vote for "Write In" wherever those candidates' names appear.  And, I can think of a lot better people to write in than those stale candidates served to us voters every single night on the television set. 

Can't we do any better than this in our political process?

Now that I've got that off my chest, go read Paul Turner's "The Slice."  It's dead on this morning and funny. 

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Marianne,
This is definitely one of the advantages of not even having television!!!!
Helen

MLove said...

Helen,

If you can't read the column at the site, maybe Oliveria will post it on Huckleberries. Check there a few times during the day. www.huckleberriesonline.com

Marianne

Word Tosser said...

Marianne, I guess you are in my party.... the Cafeteria Party, where you walk between the others, and pick from one side and the other.... but this year is slim pickings for sure.. guess we will be on a diet... but then we can write in.."none of above" did that when we had Gore and Bush.. sure was gratifying... lol
By the way, doesn't the guy who was a US Marshall, sound like Dino from Wa? maybe he did a voice over.. lol

Anonymous said...

We haven't watched a commercial of any kind in years. First we used the VCR, now the DVR (best invention ever!) There is no other time of year I appreciate it as much as now.
On the down side, if we wanted to go to a movie, we wouldn't have a clue what is out there.
Janet

Lori said...

If the politicians spent as much money on education and military as they do on attack ads our country would be in much better shape. As far as education, if we could elect someone to office that has actually been a teacher in the classroom and not just gone to school to become an "administrator" we would be much better off!!!

MLove said...

Amen, Lori.