How a Political Ad Works

It's been a while since I posted anything because I haven't called any politicians lately. Today, I had some questions for Representative Joe Donnelly and some of his ads he has been running on TV. I tried to contact his office for this information several months ago, but apparently, I wasn't given the correct phone number. Today, I got the right one.

Here's a summary of the first ad. In it, they quote Jackie Warlorski stating that we should privatize social security, just like President Bush had tried to do before. The commercial then goes on to state how much money we all would lose in the stock market. So the obvious question would be, "Does privatization of social security mean that our only option is to invest in the stock market?" In other words, we would not be able to invest in bonds or any other type of financial vehicle.

The first person I spoke to, a receptionist, couldn't answer the question, so she got another guy to help me out. When I asked him the same question, he repeated the quote that Jackie had made. This much I already knew. So I rephrased the question, "If social security is privatized, can we only invest in the stock market and not in bonds or money markets or anything else?" He insisted that privatizing social security would include the stock market, but he wouldn't tell me if we would have other options. As I continued to press him on the issue, he finally told me that I would need to call Jackie's office to find out where she stands.

Okay, let's get this straight. Your ad states that Jackie wants to privatize social security, and whether or not they state it, they obviously imply the only option is for the stock market, at which point we would all retire penniless. After repeatedly asking for clarification, he did admit the ad did imply that the stock market would be our only option. Ah, my point finally made it home.

But just when I think I'm making progress, the person on the other end of the line continues to astound me. I then asked about the Pell Grants, which the Donnelly commercials clearly state that Jackie is opposed to. When I asked for a source, they told me that she has opposed healthcare reform. There were increases in that bill for Pell Grants, so since she opposed the healthcare bill, she must oppose Pell Grants. "That's how legislation works," he explained.

So the logic here is that if you vote against a bill, that means you support nothing in it. So here's the question I asked: "Let's say a bill goes to Congress that includes a 50% flat tax for all Americans. In that bill is an increase for Pell Grants. If Joe Donnelly voted against that bill, would that mean he opposes Pell Grants?" The answer was a resounding, "No!" because Joe Donnelly supports Pell Grants. Despite my best efforts to get him to answer the question because it was essentially the same scenario as the commercial, he declared that would not indicate that Joe did not support Pell Grants.

I must have hit a nerve, though, because he put me on hold and passed me along to Butch. Butch continued to dodge the question. And then I couldn't help myself. I had to ask a healthcare reform question, at which point he stated that those insurance companies "make obscene amounts of money."

I countered the statement, stating that insurers don't really make any larger profit margin that either Target or Wal-mart. Now here's reasoning at it's best: "Well, I don't have to shop at either of those stores." What in the world does that have to do with healthcare reform? What does that even mean? And what is a reasonable profit for an insurance company to make? And if insurers don't make any money, you'll have even fewer insurers to go to when choosing your insurance coverage, right?

(By the way, for all their statements, I asked for sources to back their viewpoint. I always ask for sources. And never once has anybody been able to give me a source other than "search the Internet." But that's where I find all my sources.)

So there's the real process behind the truth of a political ad. Or at least there's some insight to their logic. Well, to be honest, I'm not really sure what it is.