Welcome to 2016, where “run, Jimmy, run!” is an actual line from a real-life, non-satirical campaign ad.
This week, the political arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched a new offensive against Pennsylvania Senate hopeful Kathleen McGinty, who is the Democratic nominee. The group, which is backing Republican incumbent Pat Toomey in the Senate race, blasted McGinty’s climate record in the inventive ad.
It features two mothers worrying McGinty will show up to zap their kids’ energetic playtime. “I can’t believe how much energy they have,” says one mom of the children. “Shhh … don’t say that,” says the other, adding, “Have you seen how Katie McGinty tries to tax energy?”
A child is seen running away by the end of the ad, leaving viewers baffled.
All this plays on old-school fears of cap and trade and a carbon tax in a state that has a pretty significant coal and gas industry. McGinty, former secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and a past chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality under Bill Clinton, is endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters and will go head-to-head against Toomey this November.
If this really is a preview of the new conservative attack line on climate, then we suggest running far, far away.
