First, an admission. When I watch TV (which is rare these days since I’m in a pretty challenging re-election race this time) I rarely watch commercials. I flip to another station to see what’s on, and if there’s an ad there, I’ll flip to a different station. Drives my wife crazy, so we typically watch stuff on different TV’s when I’m in town.
Anyway, this time of year the airways are filled with – yep – political ads. Hundreds of them. Thousands of them. And I bet you’re pretty sick of ‘em. I know I am (especially the ones attacking me!)
So I thought I’d do something a little different this week. I thought it might be interesting to take you through our latest TV ad, which has just been released, and sort of analyze it with you. Seems kind of intriguing to me – hope I don’t end up boring you to death. Here goes.
The first line is “I’m Steve Chabot and I approve this message, because it’s really an honor to represent you in Congress .” Candidates have to say they approve their ad as a result of the McCain Feingold Act which was passed back in 2002. The law did a number of things, but this particular part of the law is known as the “stand by your ad” section. Typically this is put at the end of the ad, but in our ad, we put it at the beginning, so as not to take away from the, we think, powerful ending to the ad.
It really IS an honor to represent the people of our community in Congress. I have always emphasized with my staff that we are to serve ALL the people of our district, whether they voted for me or not. Some of the things we most commonly assist constituents with are veterans’ claims and benefits; Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid matters; citizenship and passport issues; and troubles with the IRS. And with every vote I cast in Congress, I always consider two things: what is in the best interest of the people of my district, and what is in the best interest of the country.
The second line is “I’ve fought hard to combat the opioid epidemic; to cut your taxes and create jobs; to protect Social Security and Medicare.” I’m a member of the “Opioid Task Force” which is a bipartisan group of congressmen and congresswomen who studied the opioid epidemic in detail, and came up with legislation to fight this scourge on our nation. The bill, known as The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) passed the House and the Senate and was signed into law by President Obama in July of 2016. We passed another anti-opioid bill in the House recently which I hope also becomes law in the near future. We lost over 70,000 Americans in the last year alone due to drug overdoses, and we must not give up.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which I voted for re-envigorated the economy and created many jobs for Americans who needed them. And of course the greatest threat to both Social Security and Medicare is our $20 trillion debt, and I have consistently been at or near the top of the list when it comes to fighting wasteful spending, as determined by our nation’s premier fiscal watchdog group, Citizens Against Government Waste.
The third line of our ad is “ but my opponent, and his Washington allies, are spending millions to smear me.” This statement doesn’t need much explanation. If you’ve watched any TV at all over the last few months, you’ve seen my opponent and his left-wing allies run outrageously misleading ads against me. A total smear campaign.
The fourth line is “all to hide the fact that Aftab Pureval has a health care plan that will double your taxes, and bankrupt Medicare.” Aftab says his ultimate goal is single payer health care coverage, sometimes referred to as universal health care, or nowadays commonly as Medicare for ALL. A number of comprehensive studies have determined that the cost of this progressive (liberal) dream, would be $32 trillion over a decade. This would require at least a doubling of the federal income taxes we already pay, and that’s a conservative estimate. It’s no surprise that far-left liberals like Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and my opponent, Aftab Pureval, support this irresponsible plan. We must do everything within our power to make sure they aren’t back in control to push through their budget-busting proposal.
And finally, our ad closes with me saying “when you see their ads, just remember, they’re attacking me because I don’t work for them, I work for you.” And I sincerely mean this. I am committed to doing my very best to represent you in Congress. The values I was raised with – hard work, love of family, love of country, honesty, religious faith – are reflected in the way I represent the people of the First Congressional District. And always will.
And (here’s the ad) if you’d like to view it.