Whole lotta lyin’ goin’ on

So I guess Mitt Romney will finally manage to win one in Florida. But he’s had to do it the hard way: With several million dollars worth of ads comparing Newt Gingrich unfavorably to Lord Voldemort. Gingrich has been doing the same thing to Romney, of course, but then had the misfortune to appear mildly constipated during a couple of debates. The result: major poll slippage. On such small details do presidential campaigns rest.

As enjoyable as it’s been watching the feces fly here in Florida, it does make you wonder: How long can two candidates befoul each other before it seeps into the national consciousness that maybe both of them are as bad as they’ve been saying? How long until these guys are so tarnished that prison inmate Rod Blagojevich ends up with higher ratings than either? It’s like Gingrich said here on Monday: “Frankly if all that stuff were true I wouldn’t vote for myself.”

Truth, I’ve heard of it. But not during political campaigns, when there’s too much at stake. Both men accuse each other of lying and both are right. Big deal. Lies are the basis of all advertising, whether you’re selling a candidate or a car. At this point I just wish they’d lie more about what they’d do, rather than what the other guy has done. Those promissory lies are the kind people actually remember, and might have some small effect on policy.

I was thinking yesterday that this campaign seems more vicious than most. I thought mostly it was because I now live in an important primary state. But then I realized that the rise of the super PACs probably has a lot to do with it too. Never before has so much raw cash been available for the wholesale purchase of weaponized sewage. It’s going to a be long time until November.