So I get it. If you're a candidate who has sworn off corporate and billionaire Citizens United money, you have limited options to raise campaign funds, and pumping out texts and emails is one of those options. I don't mind so much with the emails (I've had a forever yahoo account that is typically filled with junk anyway). But recently both political parties seemed to have found my phone number, and the texts are just pouring in.
Not all "attack" ads are necessarily bad. I mean, those darkened Willie Horten-era looking ads with the scary doctored photos and tragic audio tracks — I could do without those.
But this week, the El-Sayed campaign came out with a pretty dang clever ad taking Mike Rogers to task. It features Michigander Tim Robinson, and a hilarious skit from his show, "I Think You Should Leave." In the skit, a car shaped like a hot dog (think Oscar Meyer wienermobile) crashes into a store. People in the store are in shock, and Robinson, dressed in a hot dog costume, begins to ask, "who could have done this?" It's obvious to everybody that it's the guy in the hot dog costume, but Robinson denies it and denies it.
Interspersed with that are clips of Mike Rogers claiming to be wanting to bring down drug and grocery prices, being against war with Iran, and making AI safety his top priority, when there is clear evidence that he has historically been working against all of these.
As a hat tip to Robinson and Sam Richardson and their "Detroiters" show, I took the opportunity to include a character wearing a "De2troit" t-shirt.
Editor's note: John Auchter is a freelance political cartoonist. His views are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Public, its management, or its license holder, the University of Michigan.
