Chad Lee is a Republican running for U.S. Representative in Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional District, and he's incensed by the 2008 Emergency Economic Stabilization Act. "Congress gave $700 billion of our tax dollars to Wall Street while they allowed 90,000 small businesses to go bankrupt!" intones the narrator for his ad "Time for a Change in Washington." Two evil, small-business-hating faces flash on the screen: that of Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Lee's Democratic opponent, Tammy Baldwin.
A few faces are missing, though: that of Republican president George W. Bush, Republican presidential candidate John McCain, Republican House minority leader John Boehner, and the many other prominent members of Lee's own party who voted for the bailout. Lee portrays it as a Democratic scam when, in fact, it was a bipartisan effort to stave off financial disaster.
How exactly would Lee have averted a Great Depression in 2008 if he so hates the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act? No word. Instead, he poses amid sun-dappled trees in an awesomely pressed blue dress shirt. Clearly, he was too busy ironing to come up with an alternative plan for the financial collapse.In the ad's last image Lee strides through a wooded area, holding hands with some woman and smiling ecstatically. If 90,000 small businesses have indeed gone bankrupt, what's he so darn happy about?
Isthmus TV critic Dean Robbins will assess candidate commercials throughout the 2010 fall elections. Read more reviews of political campaign spots.
