Mass. Gubernatorial Race
Massachusetts is in the middle of a gubernatorial race featuring the Republican candidate, current Lietuenant Governor Kerry Healey; an Independent, Christy Mihos; and three Democrats: current Attorney General Tom Reilly, Deval Patrick and Chris Gabrieli. I have some pretty strong opinions on some candidates, and am looking into the others to form new opinions. Suffice it to say that I’m not overly impressed with any of them. My focus today, however, is on Chris Gabrieli, if for no other reason that his television ads piss off.
There are a lot of ads from Gabrieli out there, and you can check them out on his site in the gallery section. His first ads were so vague and smarmy that I wrote him off as a candidate almost immediately. More recent ads have served to clarify some of his positions, though he’s still awfully vague. But what finally put me over the edge on this candidate was his most recent ad where he pimps his kids.
That’s right, he committed the cardinal sin of advertising: pimping your kids in order to make your ad “cute” or to push across your “family man”, “regular guy” image. Gabrieli shot for all three in this ad. Every time I see a local company pimping their generally-annoying and oftentimes disturbing children while advertising their carpet cleaning service, their furniture stores or their auto body shops I immediately make the decision never to do business with them. The same holds true for candidates who use their kids to further their political aspirations. Putting your kids in your ads just proves that you are at the mercy of the marketing lackeys gauging the general public’s opinion and crafting ads based on that data.
Even my disgust with the general structure of the ad is not the worst part. What’s most infuriating and insulting is that Gabrieli is responding to questions from his kids about his plan for public education. Why is this so cheap and scuzzy? Gabrieli sends his kids to PRIVATE SCHOOLS (along with almost all the other candidates, except for Reilly…but don’t worry, Reilly’s a political scumbag on so many levels that this fact does nothing to redeem him). So when those ugly ducklings are attempting to cute-it-up (and failing) on TV about longer school hours and more homework, don’t feel bad for them because it won’t affect them. Mommy and Daddy only want the best for their kids, which doesn’t include the public school system. If only all of us could afford $20,000 a year per kid for school, none of us would ever have to worry about public schools again!
So do the voting public a favor: don’t parade your kids about in order to pimp your public schooling plan when you won’t even send your kids to those public schools. We don’t need your condescension or your attempts at “regular guy” schtick. I personally don’t want a “regular guy” as Governor, as much as I don’t want a “regular guy” as President. I want the best of us to be in leadership positions so that the best of us can use their intelligence and wit to solve tough problems. I know this is more of my “pie in the sky” shit, but it’s what I want and, in this government at least, I can voice that opinion and work to try and see it realized. You should too.
