Stan Geiger

A Little Relief in Sight

Ahhhh, it's primary day; some relief from political ads is in sight. There is no panacea at hand, mind you. November is still 3 months away. But at least the field will narrow after today.

You might have noticed I have a bit of a problem with campaign ads on TV. They don't tell anybody anything.

Hey, I'm a "conservative," vote for me! In Oklahoma, that's a very popular message in TV ads. The NRA thinks I'm cool, vote for me! That's another popular message in Oklahoma ads. I have a wife and kids, vote for me! Every dude running seems to think having a wife and kids constitutes a qualification for high office. Women, on the other hand, don't seem to think having a husband and kids rates even a mention. That's interesting.

A lot of folks shoot lip about getting money out of politics. Hell, that will never happen. It won't happen as long as we have whores running for office, at least. But if you really want to try to get money out of politics, banning TV ads would be a good start. A person can't be considered a "viable" candidate these days unless that person is putting his or her face on TV every 5 minutes. Politicians run ads like they're trying to sell Big Macs. Paying for TV time is the biggest eater of campaign money.

Without question, the biggest winners in a campaign cycle are TV stations.

At any rate, I'd say Mary Fallin has the best shot at becoming our next governor. I hope she can learn to pronounce the word "government" between now and November. Some folks might be a little confused when her ads refer to an "overreaching federal gurment."

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