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Tuesday, November 26, 2019

Given the universally poor quality of political ads, may the billionaires' excess stage a turnaround and bite them.

Two thirds of present political advertising [television adverts for those who still watch television] are from billionaires, per Guardian.

Most of that stuff is hatefully awful, but candidates buy, and consultants count their payouts. A quick early-in-the-item Guardian excerpt:

Bernie Sanders said: “I’m disgusted by the idea that Michael Bloomberg or any other billionaire thinks they can circumvent the political process and spend tens of millions of dollars to buy our elections.”

Elizabeth Warren similarly derided Bloomberg’s shortcut approach.

She said: “His view is that he doesn’t need people who knock on doors. He doesn’t need to go out and campaign, people. He doesn’t need volunteers. And if you get out and knock on 1,000 doors he’ll just spend another $37m to flood the airwaves and that’s how he plans to buy a nomination in the Democratic party. I think that is fundamentally wrong.”

One of the Bloomberg ads, titled “Promise”, explains: “Mike is running for president to beat Trump and have the wealthy pay their fair share to build an economy that works for everyone.”

If Mike does win, and does meet that promise, many might be surprised - by the win, and by the promise kept, given how it comes from a lightly taxed billionaire.