Bad Press and Bad Politics

“There’s no such thing as bad publicity”…or so the saying goes. Publicity of any kind tends to make an impression. Then, whether the press was good or bad, the person in question is, at least, remembered.

There’s some truth to this. But I don’t buy it across the board. Here’s why…

I’ve been receiving voice mails on my house phone. I have a house phone only because it’s free with the cable and internet. So, it rings, I don’t answer. And then I get voice mail from every yahoo trying to get me to consolidate credit card debt, refinance my house, etc.

Here in the midst of the political season, I have politicians (a.k.a. yahoos) leaving voice mails. Today’s was from a certain yahoo I hear from at least a couple times per week. Tonight, his “advertisement” went a little something like this…

“I’m (insert yahoo’s name) and I’m looking out for the best interest of all Americans. The Democratically controlled House is trying to use your tax dollars to bail out corporations and give golden parachutes to the speculators…again, this is with your money.”

Now, that’s really intellectually dishonest. I’m not an economist. Chances are, neither are you. I’ve done my best to study this mess and it seems like there are just too many greedy bastards out there who’ve gotten us in this mess. I don’t know if it’s all speculators, if it’s all CEOs, if it’s Joe Average mortgage broker, if it’s bankers…I think there’s PLENTY of blame to go around.

I do, however, know enough about the market and the American economy to say, without a doubt, this particular yahoo has an agenda. He is not looking out for the best interest of me, nor any other American. If he’s looking out for anyone, it’s himself (duh, he’s a politician). With comments that are so biased and contrived to cause average folks to be panic-stricken, yeah, he’s got an agenda.

Even if this guy spoke the truth about everything, I don’t like hearing him on my voice mail. And I definitely don’t like it when he’s re-constructing the truth to fit his agenda.

So, in this case, there IS such a thing as bad press…and when I walk into the voting booth on Nov. 4 (and if you’re any kind of American, you’ll be in one, too), I will remember his name. And then I’ll pull the lever for the other candidate.