Spinning out of control

The Associated Press reported today that the Democratic and Republican candidates spent $94,000,000 dollars in August. That’s $94 MILLION dollars in one month. What did they spend over half of this money on? Advertising. Here’s a quote from that AP report:
“Their campaign finance reports, filed before Saturday's midnight deadline, shows that more than half of their $3-million-a-day spending rate was devoted to advertising that became increasingly negative during the month.”

Once again the American political process devolves to a mud-slinging process. The winner is the one with the best spin and the most convincing lies. I sometimes wonder how the rest of the world views us. I’d wager they are having a good laugh at us.

Considering the shape our economy is in I suppose that I should be glad that there is all this money flowing around. They are keeping advertising agencies, television stations, radio stations, and print media employees from loosing their jobs. They even have their own well-paid staffers. Obama has a monthly payroll of $2.8 million and McCain has a $1.2 million payroll. Glad to know that there are still some people with jobs. Maybe I should have gone to work for one of them.

What really worries me thought is that when it comes time to vote the average American won’t have a clue who they are really voting for. Instead they will vote for the one with the best advertising and the candidate with the best spin doctors that money can buy. This country is facing some very serious and potentially catastrophic problems. We should be asking the candidates hard questions about what they will do to fix these problems. Instead it’s all sound-bytes and spin.

For those who might be curious about the truth and lies in what our candidates are saying I recommend the following sites:

• The Annenberg Political Fact Check, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania
• National Public Radio, Election 2008
• Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan guide to money’s influence on U.S. elections and public policy
• CNN Political Fact Check, located towards the bottom of the page

Beware though, many sites that profess to provide nothing but the facts are in truth just putting their own spin out on the Internet. Which is, unfortunately, why I am not able to recommend more sites.

Lastly, if you would like to try your own hand – and maybe land a good job with a political candidate – at spin, check out this how-to site at eHow.