And Pinocchio's Nose Just Keeps Getting Longer and Longer...

Date: December 21st, 2011
Author: Glenn Kessler
Topic: The facetiousness of super PAC ads
Source: Washington Post "Romney vs. Gingrich: A super PAC's over-the-top ad" http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/romney-versus-gingrich-a-super-pacs-over-the-top-ad/2011/12/20/gIQAeJQn7O_blog.html

        For anyone who actually believes the bullshit content of political ads, perhaps this article will be a reality check for you. In recent anti-Newt Gingrich ad put out by Romney's super PAC "Restore Our Future." Perhaps the only absolutely true statement in the ad is that Gingrich has "baggage." However, the ad's description of this "baggage" goes far beyond the truth. Lying and exaggeration abound.
        The article quotes the video, saying, "Nancy 'Pelosi and Gingrich co-sponsored a bill that gave $60 million a year to a United Nations program supporting China’s brutal ‘one child’ policy.'” Turns out that a) this bill was proposed in 1989, b) was never even voted on, was part of a much larger bill, and c) was co-sponsored by 144 people, not just Pelosi and Gingrich! Out of context this portion of a bill is completely misrepresented and, in reality, indicates absolutely nothing about Gingrich's legislative past. Not only is the information in the ad incorrect, but the sources from which it draws information are not valid. For example, the ad states, "“Freddie Mac, which helped cause the economic collapse, paid Newt Gingrich $30,000 an hour for a total of at least $1.6 million.” That 30,000 dollar figure was taken from a tongue-in-cheek blog entry about Gingrich which openly acknowledged that it was exaggerating and guessing at Gingrich's actual financial benefit from the Freddie.
        If the purpose of political ads is to bash the other candidate, the ads should at least be truthful! Gingrich has enough real baggage to fill up an entire ad, so why make up lies? Honestly, I think ads should only cite truthful praise about the candidates they support. These candidate bashing ads only make for a dog eat dog political atmosphere. It's bad enough that bipartisanship has turn into letsbestubbornandcometoacompletestandstillpartisanship. What are stubborn and hurtful ads going to do to foster any sort of collaborative spirit either within or between parties? Political ads are useless.