Editorial: Fiorina's demon sheep ad destroys real debate

When Carly Fiorina tossed her corporate hat into the ring for Barbara Boxer's California Senate seat, we wondered about her lack of experience in civic life. But we had high expectations for her discourse. We'd get straight talk, we hoped, from an articulate, all-business woman — thoughtful discussion of complicated issues that career politicians, burdened with actual records in office, sometimes avoid. But the demon sheep?

Man, we did not see that coming.

Unless you spent the week on Mars, you've probably watched the ad trashing Tom Campbell, who jumped into the GOP race just last month and quickly became the front-runner. Most of the attention has been on the weirdness quotient: The amateurish production, with melodramatic music and apocalyptic, choppy narration, portrays conservatives as sheep and Campbell as an evil wolf in sheep's clothing with laser-red eyes — a faux fiscal conservative.

It certainly set off a buzz, with several hundred thousand hits on YouTube and commentary rife with hyperbole and puns. (Ewe don't want to know.)

Lost in the guffaws is the video's fundamental meanness. It is unfair and misleading. We're disappointed to see Fiorina sink to this level. What's the point of running as a political outsider if you're going to get down in the mud with the hacks?

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