I’ve been watching the campaign ads for the Senate and Governor’s races here in North Carolina. Set aside the fact that, in keeping with the general tenor of things, they are pretty ugly. There is an important difference.
On the whole, the Republicans have nothing but attack ads. More dishonest than usual, too. They have no ads at all putting forth their platform. They don’t say what they’ll do. They don’t say what they won’t do. They just say how awful their opponents are, and in the worst possible way. .
For instance, Burr shows a picture of Ross, the evil ACLU lawyer who supposedly opposed the creation of the sex offender registry – which has a smidgen of truth, she did work for the ACLU – a picture of Ross, as I was saying, with a shadowy black man’s face in the background.
Black man, sex offender. Shades of Emmett Till.
Talk about bringing out the worst in people for political gain. The term “dog whistle” has become current to describe a kind of racist talk that is not explicit – you don’t exactly hear it, like you can’t hear a dog whistle – but it sends a message anyway. Furtive. Even deniable. But effective. The point is made.
Well, this goes past dog whistles. This is a bull horn.
All the more reason to get out the vote in a couple of weeks, or right now if you want to be an early voter. We have a chance to turn these racist, misogynistic throwbacks out of office. The Democrats won’t be perfect, but they won’t be this bad. And they will create a climate in which further progressive change is possible, instead of just fighting against the latest outrage all the time.
Help get others to the polls. Get on the phone banks and call your neighbors, or go door to door. And for God’s sake, vote.
Letters from the Street 