The Feld-Blog

I understand that Attack ads are now an integral part of politics. In campaigns, attack ads tend to get replayed on all sorts of news outlets adding to both their airtime and credibility. Through I suppose the same holds true for the recent attack ads against Ronnie Earle, federal procsecutor in the Tom Delay case, it seems a little out of place.

In all honesty, Earle is a federal prosecutor. This is his job. Most attack ads in political campaigns cite a president, senator, member of congress, etc who hasn't been doing his or her job well. In this case, the ad attacks Earle for doing his job at all. Am I the only one who thinks this is ridiculous. Furthermore, no matter how much popular animosity this ad can drum up against Earle, how will this affect the case? He is not elected to this position. He is not going to lose his position. What is the point, then, of even running such an ad?

Adding to the curiosity, this ad is only running in Austin, Texas and on the FOX network. Though it airs often, I am pretty sure Austin FOX viewers are already on Delay's side. They are preaching to a choir of zealotts. Whats the point?

Really, this whole episode astounds me. Does the Free Enterprise Fund just not have anything better to do with its money? Maybe they should be saving up for the midterm elections when all of these scandals are going to come back and knock out he knees of the Republican Party. Send the money to Katrina or Wilma clean-up efforts. But to throw money away on an attack ad against someone whose job is not actually dependent on public approval just seems silly to me.