Not just another day trapped inside by the so far disappointing Hurricane Sandy (while I understand it’s pretty freakishly bad – or soon will be – in the place where Chris Christie uses tax dollars to pay an intern to videotape him screaming at kindergarten teachers, formerly known was New Jersey; but here in Washington, DC… well, in Florida, we’d still be on beach drinking). Though that is not what I’m talking about.

Some ridiculous front group, probably set up by the NRSC to pass through money for IEs on behalf of George Allen, are running this attack ad on Tim Kaine. And it’s terrible. I’m not being self-righteous here. I’m not commenting on the misleading nature of the ads. Meh. That’s business. And ’cause, oh no, another Republican group is lying. Somebody call H.L. Mencken and pretend like this is even news anymore.

No. The ad itself is just… awful. Embarrassing. If you’re going to be spending six figures in the pricey, pricey DC media market, then spend it on something that doesn’t suck. It’s a 1998 vision of what ‘high tech’ looks like. Frankly, it looks like some kid just got the latest version of Windows Moviemaker or some other program and is just having a blast with it. The result is an ad that is visually cluttered and irritating and doesn’t have a clean line or visual in the whole damn thirty seconds.