What's the Big Deal About Conspiracy Theory Hatchet Job Ads Anyway?
So Bush is now calling for an end to the Swift Boat Ads. Make that all 527 political ads. Well at least he is being fair about it - Kerry didn't start to complain about these tactics until he was the one being attacked. Nor do some of his apparent supporters who denounce SBVT for being "inappropriate" pause to denounce MoveOn for their attacks.

At the same time, I am quite disturbed by the debate over the "appropriatness" of these ads. In my opinion, unless a political ad is inciting violence, it is only "inappropriate" if it doesn't work. An ad that "goes to far" is the ad that backfires on its creator/funder. If an ad is distorting in a political debate, then air an ad that takes the original admaker to task, instead of taking the "high horse" that negative ads are bad. For if you have to take the high horse, the probability is that you do not have anything persuasive to say in response.

So here's a proposal. Let's stop this nonsense about inappropriatness. Let's stop restricting what people can say in an election season. Let's let the sparks fly, and the most persuasive candidate come out on top. Anybody with me? At least I think I can count on Greg Ransom. Can I count on you? If not, why not? I'm open to persuasion.