Every election year a handful of weenies decry the inevitable onslaught of negative ads--this time it was that grating Pollyanna Matt Lauer demanding Meg Whitman to stop attacking Jerry Brown. But America was built on mud-slinging, Reason argues. In 1800 voters were forced to choose between "blind, bald, crippled, toothless" John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, whose reign was sure to bring about "children writhing on a pike."
"If anonymous political speech, the other widely decried villain of this political season, helped found the United States, attack ads are as American as apple pie." History buffs have approved this message.[H/t Gawker's Max Read]
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Elspeth Reeve
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