Friday, Sept. 7, 2018 | 2 a.m.
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Most people do nothing to find out about the candidates and the accuracy of what they claim about their opponents in TV ads. We elect people who try with such ads to convince us of inaccurate negatives about their opponents. Both sides do this.
No need to look far to see how deceptive these advertisements can be. Sen. Dean Heller’s TV campaign ad against Rep. Jacky Rosen for not voting for the Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veteran’s Act of 2017 (agent orange veteran’s bill) is a good example. The ad makes it sound like it didn’t pass or almost didn’t pass because Rosen did not vote.
In reality, there were 32 Democrat and Republican representatives who did not vote.
Had Rosen voted, the vote count would have been 383 yes votes instead of 382, and 31 representatives who did not vote instead of 32. All the nonvoting members, including Rosen, would have also voted yes. There is no information to show differently. The fact — if we care about facts anymore — is that Rosen supported the bill and supports veterans, but the ad claims the opposite. Shame on Heller.
We are a very uniformed electorate. We are to blame because we do not demand more, do more or care. Shame on us.
