Latest / Commentary - TJ Meadows / Why Aren’t Candidates Speaking Up?

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Why Aren’t Candidates Speaking Up? · Commentary - TJ Meadows

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  Speaker 1: Sometimes we come close, dangerously close to crossing over to
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the dark side. On talk line, David H. McKinley, chairman
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: of Mountaineer Freedom Alliance, spoke of the title wave of
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  Speaker 1: out of state pack money pouring into West Virginia. Some
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  Speaker 1: of it transparent, some of it hidden behind names that
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  Speaker 1: sound familiar but reveal very little, and some of it
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  Speaker 1: pays for campaign messages with only a passing acquaintance with
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  Speaker 1: the truth. McKinley made an important point. Independent expenditure committees
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  Speaker 1: cannot legally coordinate with candidates. Candidates cannot direct them. These
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  Speaker 1: ads are created outside the campaign, whether praising one side
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  Speaker 1: or punishing the other. Now, in an age of artificial intelligence,
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  Speaker 1: fake images, manipulated mailers, and truth like ice cream easily melted,
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  Speaker 1: it's tempting to say, pass a law, stop it, ban it,
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  Speaker 1: make them speak truth. That is the dark side, no
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  Speaker 1: matter how bad it gets. The idea of government policing
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  Speaker 1: speech should come with a warning light flashing bright red. No,
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  Speaker 1: the answer is not censorship. The answer is accountability. If
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  Speaker 1: a dishonest ad helps a candidate, let that candidate denounce
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: it publicly, clearly, without hesitation. Yet, look around, how often
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  Speaker 1: does that happen rarely. Remember when Senator John McCain stopped
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  Speaker 1: a supporter from smearing Barack Obama he's an AIRB. He
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  Speaker 1: is not.
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  Speaker 2: No, no, ma'am, no ma'am. He's a decent family man,
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  Speaker 2: citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on
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  Speaker 2: fundamental issues. And that's what this campaign is all about.
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  Speaker 2: He's not.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, statesman first, politician second. That moment still matters.
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  Speaker 1: So study the spending reports, read who paid for what,
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  Speaker 1: examine the claims, and ask one simple question. If a
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  Speaker 1: candidate will not take the high road before office, why
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  Speaker 1: trust them to find it after they get there.