Chuck Grassley’s hilarious campaign ad with Ben Stein re-visiting his role in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off might now have to take a back seat to what is assuredly the most prescient, and perhaps the funniest, political commercial of this election cycle.
The ad opens with a text conversation involving Katie McGinty asking Hillary Clinton how to “get rid of emails quick.” At that point, Anthony Weiner breaks into their conversation to ask for the same help.
The ad, paid for by the Associated Builders and Contractors, attacks McGinty, who’s running to unseat Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa. It was funny and effective before the FBI decided to reopen their investigation into Hillary Clinton, but Friday the ad became a work of political art. The FBI reopened the investigation after finding evidence in an unrelated investigation into sexts sent by Weiner.
I can imagine the creators of the McGinty attack ad celebrating their foresight when the news of the October Surprise broke on Friday.
Before Friday, most people knew about Clinton’s email problems, and most people knew about Weiner’s texting issues. The ad cleverly linked these two known commodities to what was a lesser-known, but embarrassing issue for McGinty. Before launching her Senate run, McGinty was chief of staff to Gov. Tom Wolf, D-Pa. Now she and the governor’s office are attempting to have the emails she sent kept secret despite Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know laws and the decision of the state’s Office of Open Records.
Charles Sauer is a contributer to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is president of the Market Institute and previously worked on Capitol Hill, for a governor and for an academic think tank. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
