I am working on a 365 photo project. That means I take at least one photograph each day. It is not an easy task and some of my photos show the strain of the commitment. I was in the Union today and I noticed that North Dakota Congressman Earl Pomeroy was walking about shaking hands. I decided a photo of ND’s only representative would be unique. I approached and just motioned that I wanted to take a photo. My Pomeroy nodded and after I had taken the picture came over to talk.
He asked how I was doing. I suggested he was in a tight race and I liked his most recent ad. I actually do. The Berg/Pomeroy contest is close and evidently both parties are pouring huge amounts of money into the campaigns because the ads associated with something like the evening news nearly fill all of the available time. Most have been quite negative. For whatever reason, the Pomeroy camp is now trying a different approach. The ad has been called an act of desperation by some. Evidently this time of year the strategy is to give the opponent no credit for anything. Anyway, it was a brief conversation – my choice. I felt a little strange taking the time talking with anyone engaged in such a competitive race of national significance. He wanted to know what I did. I said I worked in the Psych department. He said that he was a graduate of the political science program. I guess that was a connection of a sort. I wished him good luck and I added that he had my vote. He does. Time for him to spent time on someone else.
I think election ads would be great fodder for exercises in critical thinking. What credibility do we give the source? How effectively do we differentiate fact from opinion?
Here are a couple of examples from the recent ad by Earl’s opponent.
1) Evidently Earl votes in the same direction as Nancy Pelosi most of the time – 90+. Nancy Pelosi must translate as devil or the anti-Christ or something. I get the impression the ad creators assume North Dakotans will regard this as very disturbing data. Yes, I understand Nancy Pelosi is a Democrat.
I started thinking about the percentage. It does seem that 9o% is close to 100% supposedly indicating that Congressman Pomeroy cannot make his own decisions or something. I wonder about the 90% thing because I am sure that most people understand percentages and this seems very high. However, what do you think the agreement is on any given vote. I am guesing many votes are not controversial and everyone votes in the affirmative. What would be the voting record of the Republican with the lowest overlap with Nancy Pelosi? Would Republicans vote against any Republican who agreed say 50% or the time with Nancy Pelosi? How about 70% of the time? So, if Nancy Pelosi voted to adjourn for the day, should all Republicans vote to the contrary? The 90% thing is not what you need to understand. You need to understand how Congressman Pomeroy voted on issues that interest you.
2) It annoys me when people degrade by using “cute phrases”. So, educators sometimes use the phrase “drill and kill” to indicate their disagreement with a focus on memorization. It is a manipulative device that indicates nothing about the quality of the argument. So, the ploy in this case is used to describe Congressman Pomeroy’s support of health care reform as a vote for Obamacare. Just to be clear, the present approved health care legislation was not the proposal offered by the President. It was the bloated plan necessary to make some progress on health care and to avoid wasting a great deal of time getting through a lengthy delay and threat of fillabuster. This is what we call the political process and all involved own the result. I am not a defender of the games that are involved in the process. The President did want to change health care in our country. He did want to find a way to make certain anyone interested was covered by insurance and that some would not be excluded for pre-existing conditions. If you are against these improvements or if you took advantage of the Democrats wanting to assure these opportunities and complicated the process with your additions – stand up.