COMMENT & ANALYSIS Last week, I turned on the television in a hotel room in Phoenix, Arizona, where I was attending a conference. The first commercial I saw, for a vulnerable Republican congressman named Rick Renzi, was an effusion of pure, political poison. In a voice rancid with contempt, the announcer declared: “Over 100 Democratic elected officials are opposing Democrat trial lawyer Ellen Simon. Liberal Ellen Simon served as the president of the ACLU, a radical organisation that defends hardcore criminals at the man/boy love association, a national group that preys on our children. One Democratic mayor called Simon’s actions ‘utterly disgusting’. He’s right. Ellen Simon: radical, liberal and wrong for Arizona.”
The viewer sees key terms superimposed on the Democrat’s face: “LIBERAL”; “Served as the president of the ACLU”; “Radical organisation defends hardcore criminals”; “ACLU defends child molester group”; “Preys on our children”; “utterly disgusting”; “radical liberal”.
