Political ads get crazier

Two weeks from the mid-term elections, and the empty rhetoric keeps getting more vacuous. Being out of the newspaper and editorial-writing business for two years now, I've found that I'm just not as on-top of politics as I was for 30-some years. Still, I'm aware enough to find a few amusing hyperboles among the political advertising:

• While in Virginia last weekend, I twice encountered an ad for a congressional candidate named Krystal Ball (honest to God!). Among other things, the candidate promised to "cut the politicians' pay." That might be popular sentiment among angry voters mired in a recession, but it's about as empty a promise as one can imagine. As one of 435 members of the House, just how would she come up with the votes to cut politicians' pay? She can introduce a bill to reduce congressional pay, but she can't pass it, and she certainly can't fulfill her promise by personal edict. Congressional pay is "on automatic," scheduled to add a cost-of-living raise each year unless Congress specifically overrides the provision by majority vote. It ain't going to happen, no matter what Ms. Ball promises!

• State Sen. A.B. Swindell has shifted his mailing to voters from an attack on his opponent over 20-year-old drug charges, which documents show the prosecutor blamed on a mistake and dismissed, to an irrelevancy. The latest flier Swindell (and the Democratic Party) sent to my mailbox says Swindell is "protecting our borders." Hunh? Since border enforcement is a federal matter, I can only wonder what it is Swindell is protecting us from. Is he personally keeping South Carolina tomatoes or Virginia antiques or Tennessee music out of North Carolina? The picture on the flier shows A.B. standing beside a uniformed officer and a sheriff's patrol car, so he must mean business. Surely there are actual state issues that a candidate for state Senate could address in his campaign, even if they're not as volatile as border protection.

After being away from the newspaper and editorial-writing business, I've found that I'm not nearly as cognizant of all the political issues and candidates as I had been. But after seeing this year's political ads, I'm thinking that might not be such a bad thing.