Florida's 2012 Senate election is shaping up to be as ridiculous as ever. Connie Mack IV, whom you might remember has been characterized by his Republican opponents as "the Charlie Sheen of Florida Politics," released a web ad today linking incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson to coked-up monkeys.
Yes, this is a true thing, and actually it's an old attack. Back in 2010, several Republican incumbents and challengers highlighted the fact that a tiny fraction of stimulus dollars given to the National Institutes of Health was used to fund a study investigating why humans get addicted to drugs. Of course, the scientists didn't want to carry out the research on humans, so they used monkeys instead.
Nelson has no link to the study other than the fact that he voted for the stimulus.
Let's not forget that politicians of all stripes do funny things when it comes to fighting the ol' War on Drugs and drug abuse. Let's not forget Rick Scott's controversial drug-testing-for-welfare law.
Anyway, we're not saying the stimulus shouldn't be discussed in a 2012 campaign, but many more pertinent facts have emerged since then. Plus, Mack IV might be a bit better off if he could come up with his own lines of attack and not recycle ones from two years ago.
We'd like to think a guy who promises to bring new ideas to the Senate can come up with original ideas for his own campaign.
