I’m in South Dakota for

I’m in South Dakota for a couple of days. Last night I had a beer with my brother. He flipped on the television and on came the political ads–one after another. I don’t think we ever saw a program, just political ads, and there are still more than five months to go before the election. There was one by John Thune, whose race against Tim Johnson is the key to the Republicans’ effort to reclaim the Senate, which starred his parents, saying how proud they are of John for Fighting to Save Social Security and Medicare. The general theme of most of the ads was Fighting For Seniors. Maybe I’m the only one who doesn’t get this, but I know lots of “seniors,” and few if any of them appear to be in need of Fighting For. I’m still looking for a candidate who is Fighting For Middle-Aged Taxpayers. Anyway, most of these ads were by conservatives–no one admits to being a liberal in South Dakota–but you wouldn’t know it from the ads. Watching them, you’d conclude that what the voters really want is socialism, but with lots of guns. It was all pretty dispiriting.