Blue America stopped making TV ads a couple of cycles ago when we found that they're a tremendous waste of money and don't move the needle much-- if the deceitful networks even run them in their entirety (which they rarely do.) TV ads are a tremendous rip off but the political operative class makes all their money from them-- especially corrupt operations like EMILY's List and the DCCC, which force (literally force) their candidates to sit on the phone begging for money all day and then turn it over to DCCC and EMILY's List-related consultants and companies which take gigantic rake-offs for substandard and pointless ads. If a candidate says they'd rather spend money on something uselful-- like field-- the DCCC and EMILY's List threaten to withdraw their support.I don't care that Republicans waste their money on this kind of nonsense but I bet they're learning what a waste it is faster than the Democrats are. So far $111 million has been spent on TV and radio ads by the presidential campaigns, some good, some bad, most unremarkable. (Many millions of dollars generated in commissions and other rake-offs for the people who trick these candidates into wasting this kind of cash.) This week NBC News reported how the more money Jeb Bush spent on ads ($38 million so far)-- more than all the other candidates combined-- the more his support tanked.Keep in mind that the latest CNN poll-- released Wednesday-- looks like this (juxtaposed with how much has been spent on TV and radio ads):
• Herr Trumpf- 39%, up 3 points ($216,669)• Cruz-18%, up 2 ($1,253,726)• Dr. Ben- 10%, down 4 ($3,229,812)• Rubio- 10%, down 2 ($17,799,911)• Christie- 5%, up 1 ($8,124,131)• Rand Paul- 4%, up 3 ($1,000,074)• The Jebster- 3%, steady ($38,109,644)• Huckabee- 2%, steady ($75,258)• Kasich- 2%, steady ($9,075,362)• Fiorina- 1%, down 2 ($1,021,237)
Meanwhile Hillary spent around $12.2 million and Bernie spent around $7.6 million. The 4 biggest GOP ad spending machines-- Jeb's, Rubio's, Kasich's and Christie's (4 tired establishment campaigns)-- have resulted in a combined 20% support, about a third of the support that just Herr Trumpf and Cruz, the 2 proto-fascist candidates who have spent very little on TV and radio, have accrued. Here's a typical ineffective, expensive TV ad run by the Jebster's SuperPAC:I can tell you for sure, these kinds of stupid and mostly ineffective ads are not what Blue America's Independent Expenditure Committee has in mind for 2016. If you want to contribute to our independent efforts as part of your end-of-the-year giving, the I.E. Committee is here. Oh... and Happy Holidays from everyone at DWT We have some year coming up!
