Remember in the first gubernatorial debate when GOP hopeful Daniel Cameron said the election boiled down to "crazy versus normal"?Of course the attorney general meant Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear was nuts. But a new anti-Beshear ad, doubtless approved by Team Cameron, suggests it's the other way around.
Blending bigotry and bonkers
The online ad, from the far-right-wing, rabidly homo/transphobic American Principles Project Political Action Committee, blends bigotry and bonkers.
The Louisville Courier-Journal’s Joseph Gerth skewered the ad as “laughable if it wasn’t so infuriating.” The spot is aimed at foes of LGBTQ rights and electric vehicles.
In the ad, “Jerry,” “who had been born with all the markings of a girl,” has come out as trans and has just bought an electric car. “It’s supposed to be Kentucky in a post-Andy Beshear world,” Gerth proposed.
“As the mother tries to tell the teenager that no, they are not a boy, a short-haired woman — undoubtedly she’s supposed to be a lesbian because there’s not a stereotype that groups like [American Principles] don’t love — appears at the kitchen table and announces that the mother isn’t allowed to say that.”
And why not? “Democrats passed a law banning this type of discussion,” the “lesbian” lies.
“The next thing you know, two people wearing FBI jackets are sweeping in to remove the teenager from the home,” wrote Gerth.
He panned the ad as “completely devoid of any truthfulness and is instead 100% horse manure.”
I can't imagine such equine excrement winning Cameron many hearts and minds among persuadable Democrats, independents, swing voters, or Republican Never Trumpers. But the ad fits the attorney general’s campaign strategy: pander, non-stop, to the MAGA faithful and never miss a chance to link Beshear to President Joe Biden.
Most polls hint that the strategy might not be working.
So with election time looming, one might think the attorney general would start moderating his message, or at least pay lip service to such a notion.
But it looks like Cameron will stay all MAGA all the time.
More bonkers
The “ANDY BESHEAR JOE BIDEN’S PUPPET” mailer is plain old bonkers. It features old-west Sheriff Woody from the Toy Story animated movie.
It shows cowboy-hatted Woody (with the governor’s face superimposed over Woody’s) lying flat on the floor, as if his puppet strings had been snipped.
You’ve got to wonder if the ad makers even watched the film.
Here we go, by the numbers: Woody is an action figure, not a puppet. Andy is the kid in the movie. Woody is Andy’s favorite toy and the movie’s hero.
According to the Charactour website, Woody is proud to be top toy, but he doesn’t let that status “affect how he treats his fellow toys. ... Woody takes to leadership well and does everything in his power to ensure his fellow toys’ safety and happiness.”
Woody, too, is “responsible, competent, and level-headed. Deeply devoted to his friends, Woody is the leader of Andy’s toys for good reason. While [“snazzy new action figure”] Buzz Lightyear’s sudden popularity may try Woody’s patience, it never causes him to abandon his sense of duty, and Woody will not hesitate to jump to a fellow toy’s defense.”
Wouldn’t Woody make a great governor?
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