Political TV Ads
Matt Seinberg

I am so sick and tired of seeing the same, inane political advertisements on television during this mid-term election season. Once there was little other than car and pharmaceutical advertisements; now there is a tranche of terrible political advertisement, too. The worst political advertisements are where one candidate disparages another candidate, attacking the record of the opponent or embellishing bad advertisement news.

Where one attacks, so does the other one.

In the New York City area, the worst political advertisements, so far, come from New Jersey, where pharmaceutical executive, Bob Hugin, a Republican, is in a battle with Democrat incumbent Bob Menendez. Hugin claims Menendez took trips to the Dominican Republic to have sex with sixteen-year-old girls. Menendez claims Hugin is nothing but a Trump puppet that cannot, will not, show any distance from the president.

Hugin supports same sex marriage, pro-choice on abortion and calls himself a moderate Republican. I didn't know there was such a thing these days. Is Hugin being truthful?

Bob Menendez has been a New Jersey politician since 1974. First elected to the Union City Board of Education, he subsequently was Mayor of Union City, a US House Representative, from 1993-2006, and a US Senator since 2006. He’s up for re-election to the Senate this year, 2018.

In 2012, The Daily Caller accused Menendez of the same transgressions, as has Hugin. Mainstream new organizations, such as ABC News, the New York Times and the New York Post refused to publish the allegations, claiming a lack of substantiation and credibility.

In 2013, allegations that surfaced that Menendez and his friend, Florida ophthalmologist Solomon Melgen, were under investigation for fraud, bribery and making false statements.

In 2015, the US Department of Justice indicted both Menendez and Melgen on several charges. In September 2017, the Menendez trial started, but ended, in November 2017, with of a hung jury. There was no re-filing of the charges, which the DA, in the case, ultimately dropped.

I bring this up because Hugin fails to mention that for all the charges, there was no conviction. Moreover, there are no underage girls, in the Dominican Republic, that had sex with Menendez, as Hugin claims. The stories false and fake; the girls paid to make false statements.

What's the lesser of two evils?

The choice, in New Jersey seems simple. Elect the lying big pharmaceutical executive, a friend and would be puppet of the president; alternatively, re-elect a supposedly corrupt Senator that enjoys lining his own pockets and his friends. It seems a Catch-22 to me.

My other favourite race is for Governor of New York. It pits incumbent Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat seeking his third term, against Hudson County Executive Marc Molinaro, a Republican. Each accused the other of corruption and allowing such a sub-culture to flourish. Cuomo has accused Molinaro of cozying up to the president; Molinaro has accused Cuomo of letting corruption run rampant in Albany.

According to recent polls, reasoned speculation is the Democrats will re-take control of The House of Representatives. There's also a chance they can take control of the Senate, as well. Still, there looms the heavy shadow of the president, who will work tirelessly, spewing lie after lie, to undermine the Democrats.

Trump lies pile up. On 9 May 2018, Chris Cillizza, a CNN editor-at-large, reported the President lied three thousand times in his first 466 days in office. Trump “lies constantly, on matters great and small, and repeats those lies no matter how obvious it is that he’s lying and no matter how many times the lie is debunked,” concluded Matt Gertz in USA Today, on 26 October 2018.

If the Democrats take back control Congress, they might start impeachment hearings against the president in January 2019. Then we have Mike Pence as the president. This is frightening.

No matter what, the American people get the wrong end of the stick. The divisions in American, of Democrat verses Republican, run so deep that only a strong leader can regain the trust of the people and the world. This won’t happen until at least 2020, but a blue wave in 2018 is a start in the right direction.

I can't wait to vote on Election Day. My daughters asked me for whom they should vote. I told them go straight Democratic ticket. My wife asked me the same thing, several times in fact. I gave her the same answer: vote Democrat, no Republicans.

Watching political advertisements, this year, is like polluting the eyes. They itch, water and feel like they're going to fall out. I truly believe that this year, the pollution level of advertising is like never before. I can't wait for it to be over.

The solution is to vote.

To bend a phrase of Jack Kerouac, “Go forth and vote.” Vote your heart, your knowledge and the facts. Don't let these advertisements corrupt what you know to be true. Vote your mind.