Cringeworthy indeed. The ad, which I’d seen online, came on Fox last night as my 14-year-old daughter and I were watching the night’s polemics. Watching her face as she got the joke was illuminating. The eyes went wide. “Oh. My. God. Mom. Look! Can you belieeeeve that? Sex is the same as voting? That is so . . .” dissolve into laughter — at the Obama campaign. No dignity.
“Wait. Why would Obama run that ad? Romney’s the handsome one.”
No need to point out that the Romney campaign probably never considered conflating voting with sex, as, really, who has until now? (Answer: Bill Clinton. But even he wouldn’t have gone and run an explicit ad making that case.)