OPINION
May 13, 2012 | Doyle McManus
The television commercial is designed to spark outrage. "Billions of taxpayer dollars spent on green energy went to jobs in foreign countries," it intones. "The Obama administration admitted the truth - that $2.3 billion of tax credits went overseas, while millions of Americans can't find a job…. American taxpayers are paying to send their own jobs to foreign countries. " But the widely broadcast anti-Obama ad, paid for by a conservative group called Americans for Prosperity, is highly misleading - a slick pastiche of untruths, half-truths and exaggerations.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
June 2, 2010 | Steve Lopez
If you have children of an impressionable age, and you haven't already taken this precaution, I'm advising that you immediately take your television outside and smash it with a sledgehammer before the next political ad is aired. Children should not see this stuff. It's toxic, it will arrest development and is guaranteed to corrupt all sense of civility. Adults shouldn't see them either, but after years of exposure, we're already damaged for life. The basic formula in running for governor of California — and to establish yourself as a trustworthy leader — is to misrepresent who you are, to accuse your opponents of torturing toddlers and small pets, and to address voters as if they were no smarter than soft-boiled eggs.
OPINION
May 24, 1998 | Steve Scott, Steve Scott is managing editor of California Journal, an independent monthly magazine that covers state government and politics
It sometimes seems that just about everyone except Kenneth W. Starr, Latrell Sprewell and Col. Tom Parker have had a share of the lead in this year's gubernatorial race. At the beginning of the year, statewide polling gave the edge among Democrats to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, already a well-known political figure. When she dropped out, poll respondents shuffled over to airline mega-millionaire Al Checchi, who already had spent enough on TV commercials to ease the Indonesian financial crisis.
NEWS
March 4, 2000 | GREG JOHNSON, TIMES STAFF WRITER
California's decision to fold its primary election into the Super Tuesday political sweepstakes has helped quintuple prices for some spot advertising on local television stations. The cost of a last-minute 30-second spot purchased during a local late-night news show has mushroomed recently to $25,000, up from $5,000 on Jan. 1, according to Initiative Media, a Los Angeles-based media-buying company.
NEWS
October 28, 1988 | THOMAS B. ROSENSTIEL, Times Staff Writer
Take a drive in rural parts of Texas and California, turn on the radio, and hear this: "If you own a firearm, listen to what Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis says about you." Then the same voice continues: "I don't believe in people owning guns--only the police and military." That ad produced by the National Rifle Assn. won't be heard nationally. Nor were they officially sanctioned by the George Bush campaign.
OPINION
May 5, 2011
Offering specious arguments about free speech and intimidation, Republicans are trying to derail an executive order by the Obama administration that would shed light on the political activities of government contractors. The order would require them to disclose any contributions they make to organizations that engage in political advertising, including the Chamber of Commerce and the shadowy groups known as 501c(4)s. In that way voters would know who was behind advertisements by groups with vague or innocuous names.