(Yawn) Santorum Offers Up More Lies in First Ad

It's a good thing that this country doesn't have any substantive issues to deal with -- after all, there's no national debate on the appropriate extent of government snooping, no war to talk about, no threat of unstable despots developing nuclear weapons, no disputes over tax cuts for the wealthy, no genocide in Darfur, and no division in the country over stem cell research, abortion, discrimination against gays, gun control -- because, if there were substantive issues to deal with, then Rick Santorum's first ad of the campaign would have to address at least one of those things, right?

Sadly, no.

As The Hotline tells us, Rick Santorum's first radio advertisement after the primary deals with none of those issues. Instead, he goes negative, repeating the pac 'o lies he and his boy-campaign-manager have been chanting over the last week or so:

Announcer: Primary election night, in front of cheering supporters in Pittsburgh, Rick Santorum challenged Bobby Casey to ten debates, and Casey responded with a loud, "No," saying voters didn't care about issues and that campaigns are a contact sport. Now we know what Casey meant. According to a KDKA investigative report, a Casey operative admitted to trespassing at the Santorums' home in Penn Hills, peering into the windows, looking for campaign dirt. But we shouldn't be surprised. Casey has a long history of slinging mud. The Philadelphia Daily News has called Casey's tactics "slash and trash and little else." The chairman of the Democratic Party said Casey took negative campaigning to a new height. And one Philadelphia paper called Casey's campaign "dishonest and nasty." Apparently, that's what we can expect from Bobby Casey again. Santorum: I'm Rick Santorum, candidate for the U.S. Senate, and I approve this message. Announcer: Paid for and authorized by Santorum 2006.

While I wouldn't want to pimp out my own stuff, the Slob has already detailed the Santorum campaign lies in this matter. First on May 19 in "And it Starts -- Santorum Campaign Scores Nixonian Trifecta with False Release", and then more the next day in "Santorum Backs Up Galko Lies with Lies of His Own".

Casey has apparently issued at least one Press Release denying that the individuals involved -- who have been fighting with Santorum over his residency claims for longer than Bob Casey was a Senate candidate -- are part of his campaign, trespassed, etc. Quoting Hotline, quoting from the releases (the Casey campaign doesn't have the Slob on their list, imagine that!):

Casey spokesman Larry Smar: "Santorum has skipped out on two forums where he could have discussed the issues with Bob. In case we needed more proof, this seals it that Santorum was using this debate on debates as a political ploy."

And the Casey campaign, in a release, finds the mention of the KDKA investigation "bizarre." Per the release: "The people who challenged Santorum's residency -- who aren't Casey operatives -- said they haven't been on the property and offered to take a lie detector test to prove it."

Rick needs to grow up. He is fighting for his job and you'd think hope that his first attack ad would have something to do with that job. Guess not. But remember folks, Rick went negative first.