Thankfully, we get a bit of a reprieve from the inane political commercials that permeated the televisions in the homes and businesses throughout the state in the months preceding the state’s primary elections. The most blatant and distorted ads can be attributed to Ainsworth’s bid to become the Republican nominee for Lt. Governor. It is most interesting that in his initial commercial prior to the primary, he is sitting in a church pew in front of a stained-glass window holding what is presumed to be a Bible. He then lays claim to the inerrant contents of the Holy Book by stating that it has all the answers for any problem confronted by humankind. Now fast-forward to his commercials prior to the runoff between him and Twinkle Cavanagh. His ads are a litany of mean. vicious, and deceptive claims about Cavanagh, yet he continues to lay claim to be a “Christian, conservative, gun owner.” In a recent article, Unholy Bible Belt politics, written for Al.com by Dana Hall McCain, she makes a very salient point when referring to an admonishment from the Bible that we are not to bear false witness against our neighbor, and to do so is “an affront to the God they trot out like a mascot.” The unholy politics rampant prior to the primaries and the runoffs was not limited to the Lt. Governor’s race.
The races for Attorney General, Agriculture Commissioner and Supreme Court Justice were also prone to including statements that were questionable. For example, Troy King claimed that Steve Marshall was really a Democrat running as a Republican. To support this claim, the ad asserted that Marshall even had an Obama bumper sticker on his car. When confronted about this, King stated that someone told him about it and he continued to use the claim even though Marshall denied that this was true. The examples of offensive and unsubstantiated ads are legion and seem to be a clear case of the end justifying the means. “Win at any cost” is the mantra that politicians for whatever office seem to follow. I know that Alabama is not the only state where such antics occur, but these are the ones that I am aware of and are offended by. I do believe that outside of the Bible Belt, politicians are not going to be touting their religious beliefs in effort to sway the electorate. Unlike what we have been witness to for the past six or so months, they may refer to issues and their position on those issues. There is a great deal that Alabama politicians ought to reference when it comes to issues, including education, prison conditions, health care for the poor, infrastructure problems, tax reform, reform of the archaic state constitution, to mention a few of the areas that are subject to discussion and debate.
The voter turnout for the primaries on July 17, was pitifully and embarrassing low. Only 12.7 percent of the registered voters went to the polls. It should be noted that there were no significant Democratic runoffs, and this could be a partial explanation for the low turnout; however, it is conceivable that many registered voters simply were fed up with the debased nature of the ads that folks were subjected to at all hours of the day and night. Is it possible that people were saying enough is enough and that --to demonstrate their angst-- they simply did not vote?
Now that we have a bit of a reprieve from the television onslaught of those vying for state positions, we unfortunately, have the same kind of intrusion into our homes by ads for Kavanaugh’s nomination for the U.S. Supreme Court. Recently, it was reported that several conservative camps, including the Koch brothers, were collectively, spending millions of dollars to promote Kavanaugh’s nomination and admonishing those watching to let their Senators know of their support for this nomination. I can never recall this level of promotion for a Supreme Court nominee and it demeans the significance and importance of the role of a Supreme Court Justice. There is no shame and, once again, we witness the end justifying the means.