Political Ads at Two am, or My Dog Ate My Homework

***I don't know what happened, but I thought I posted this a couple of days ago.  It didn't go through, but I figured why not.  I'm sorry, Professor, but my dog ate my homework.***

I'm quite possibly at my grouchiest at two am.  Well, that's not true.  I'm quite possibly my most indignant.  This election season I found myself watching a lot of television advertisements.  They made me feel old.  They made me feel like that old man who says, "In my day..."  You can finish the sentence however you like, but, in my day, it didn't seem like the political ads were this shameless.  There were so many ads that quoted out of context, that played upon the fears of the public, or outright lied. 

When your sleep deprived and waist deep in student papers, papers where you are trying to teach them about honest expression, ethical uses of quoted material, and the need to create trust between the reader and writer, these ads become a big deal.  At two am I'm considering letters to congressmen and candidates.  I'm outraged at undisclosed funding sources, of emotional arguments, of logical fallacies in professional argument.  I can smell the fertilizer you're hoping will bloom into an argument that sways me via pathos. 

I am a citizen, damn it, talk to me straight.  I have an education, common sense, a sense of fairness, a strong sense of family, community, and civic obligation, and an ability to judge character.  Your ads do not speak to any of these things.  Quit the pandering and let's have a fucking conversation already.