Candidates can and do say pretty much anything they want in political ads. They are not completely immune from libel laws – an Iowa state senator won $231,000 in 2012 after his opponent claimed he “put profit over children’s health” – but such consequences are so rare, that rules of law (and decency) are usually ignored.
In the run-up to yesterday’s elections, TV ads declared that almost all of the candidates from either party were terrible - describing them as deadbeats and felons, treasonous bastards that hated women, children, fair play and puppies. If the ads were to be believed, there was nobody running for office that you would want living in your state, much less running it!
Many of the claims were outright lies, and many took statements out of context in attempts to prove the candidate held opinions that had nothing at all to do with the statement quoted.
In spite of this, democracy seems to have worked. People went to the polls and voted.
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