Fact Checking Political Ads

As the midterm elections are upon us, we have seen an increasing number of political ads.  As someone who is a student of politics, I feel confident that I am able to see past the rhetoric and the lies.  But can the same be said for your everyday citizen?  Or, are they simply taking what they see on television and hearing on the radio as the truth?  I must admit that some of the ads are quite convincing, and that the fact that nearly one billion dollars has been spent on them should tell us something.  They effectively use all of the production components that West discusses in order to make us believe that what they say is the truth.  So what happens when these ads are put to the test by way of a thorough fact check?  

Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post wrote an article discussing the top ten fact checked ads of the 2014 midterm elections.  Four of the top ten ads came from the senatorial race in Louisiana between Sen. Mary Landrieu and Rep. Bill Cassidy, both of whom are pictured above.  Each of the candidates and their supporting pacs have put forth ads that have proven to be nothing more than a pack of lies.  They range from lies about immigration, veterans rights, tax cuts for outsourcing jobs and tragedies brought on by not supporting the second amendment.  After reading this I couldn't help but think, how do these candidates have any credibility with their voters?  

My home state of Georgia was not immune to the false ads either.  Anyone who has watched television in Georgia in recent months is surely aware of David Perdue's ad that linked Michelle Nunn with terrorist groups.  This was proven to be utterly false.  The claim's only evidence was from a Nunn campaign plan that stated that the Republicans would use that as a bogus attack.  The Points of Light Foundation was simply a pass through for donations by E-Bay users to charitable organizations , one of which was a well respected group that had the word "Islamic" in their name.

There were five other ads that were fact checked from midterms around the nation.  Each one of them proved to be egregiously false and misleading.  It is up to each of us to be informed and not take these political ads at face value.  We shouldn't let these steer us in the wrong direction, which includes away from the voting booth all together.  If we don't do anything about, then we have no right to complain about it.

Read the full article below:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/wp/2014/10/31/the-most-fact-challenged-ads-of-the-2014-midterm-elections/