As Alabamians vote in the primary runoff elections, some are taking note of the number of false and negative campaign ads that played across the state this election cycle.
Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Hoover) joined WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program” to discuss how false ads were becoming a problem and what Congress could possibly do about them.
“I think it’s one thing for an opponent to accuse another opponent of something,” Palmer said, “but it’s totally different when you have outside groups running ads that are totally disingenuous, taking things out of context, and misrepresenting the candidate.”
The congressman said the amount of untruthful and negative ads were resulting in people not showing up to vote.
“I think the hyper-negative ads drive people away,” he said, “it’s just you get to the point where your choices are someone you dislike less than the other instead of actually knowing what the person stands for, what their ideas are moving the country forward, or whatever office they’re in. I think it’s becoming a huge problem.”
Palmer said there had to be a way to fix this broken system.
“You know, if a manufacturer mislabeled a product, individuals would have the right to sue,” he explained, “it could be something that causes minimal damage or no damage at all, it’s just false advertising. There are laws against that, and I think something as serious as electing the people that are going to determine, at least in the short term, the future of the country, the advertising ought to be held to a higher standard.”
He also argued that Congress would need to address the issue in the near future.
“I do think that this is something that we need to take up at some point,” he continued, “because, like I say, it’s not about whether we win or lose, it’s about whether the American people believe what they’re hearing about the candidates, and you and I both know we’ve got serious issues with public confidence in our elections already without compounding that with these disingenuous ads.”
“I think it’s a disservice to the American people to have ads run like this,” Palmer lamented.
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
