Hypocrisy from the left and the right and abounds during the 2026 campaign season — everyone wants that merit badge
It’s mid-October in Maine. The days are getting noticeably shorter and much cooler.
We’re also now less than three weeks away from Election Day — and despite all of our differing cultural, political and religious perspectives – there is one topic on which almost everyone agrees.
Enough with all the political ads!
Those ads are everywhere – television, radio, lawn signs — every click on the internet — and a swarm of annoying text messages.
Unless you choose to live in a remote cabin like Ted Kazyinski, you cannot avoid the relentless deluge of political messaging.
Beyond bemoaning the onslaught of campaign ads, many people also complain about how much money is being spent on various campaigns, especially with the federal (and even global) attention now being paid to Maine’s U.S. Senate race between Susan Collins and Troy Jackson.
DISCLOSURE ALERT: I cannot – in good conscience – complain about campaign spending, especially since I often work as a paid campaign consultant. (None of my clients are in Biddeford, where I operate a digital news organization with a hyper-focus on that one community.)
The escalating Collins-Jackson battle has sucked most of the oxygen from the room for all of us, leaving comparatively little room for discussion about Maine’s three-way gubernatorial race, various county races, and the 186 races for all the seats in the Maine House of Representatives and the Maine Senate.
But when it comes to the final stretch of campaign season, I have it worse than most of you.
Why? Because I am a professional cynic. Because I have a professional obligation to watch and study these various campaigns. I do not have the luxury of just tuning out. I am quite literally forced to pay attention.
I can handle the roadsides being littered with campaign signs. I can tolerate the television and internet ads. I even admire the candidates and their proxies who are willing to knock on my front door.
But what drives me almost insane are some of the insipid, vapid and grotesquely obnoxious talking points used by various candidates — as if no one watching or listening can do math or has an IQ above room temperature — or even the ability to remember things beyond last weekend.
And before we get started, allow me to emphatically state that both political parties proudly wear hypocrisy like it’s a merit badge of accomplishment.
Both political parties
proudly wear hypocrisy
like it’s a merit badge
of accomplishment
Democrats weren’t squawking much about high gasoline prices two years ago, but Republicans then used those high prices as a campaign rallying cry and laid the blame squarely at the feet of the president.
Today, those roles are reversed.
If you are stupid enough to believe that the President – Democrat or Republican – is primarily responsible for skyrocketing gas prices then you may be interested in bidding for mining rights to a gold reservoir I discovered in my back yard.
Why are gas prices high?
Check the Dow Jones, the S&P or NASDAQ. The world’s largest oil refineries are posting record profits. You wanna blame the president? Go ahead, but your wasted time would be better spent building sand castles during low tide.
Let’s be independent together
But perhaps one of the vapidest examples of political hypocrisy can be found this year in a slew of ads from the Jackson camp, attacking Republican Susan Collins for voting (gasp) in alignment with a Republican president. Shocker! Oh, the humanity!
Look, I get it. Sort of.
Maine has a well-defined (and often abused) culture of political independence. Ultimately, Maine voters want their candidates to choose common sense over party allegiance.
Today, Collins tries (rather unsuccessfully) to paint herself with a streak of independence, maybe hoping someday that the ghost of Margaret Chase Smith will forgive her for her confirmation vote of Brett Kavanaugh.
Democrats don’t want to give Collins her “independent” merit badge, and for very good reason.
In a very tight race, both campaigns understand the critical importance of currying favor with voters who actually are independent – the voters who sometimes choose Democrats and sometimes choose Republicans.
This dynamic is often lost on far-left progressives and far-right conservative purists – both of whom claim the moral high ground and completely miss the entire objective of a campaign: winning.
Political purists always
forget the main point
of a campaign: winning
But here’s the hypocrisy. Democrats scream about the virtue of political independence but only when it serves their own interests.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, the “independent” from Vermont recently visited Biddeford to support Troy Jackson and to finally see if Pizza by Alex is as good as everyone claims.
How often does Sanders vote with the Republicans? Go ahead. Google it. I’ll wait.
Democrats scream about
the virtue of independence
but only when it serves
their own interests.
Does Sanders really pass the independent straight-face test? Is he abusing the sanctity of the “independent” label?
What about Maine’s junior senator – the celebrated independent? How often does Angus King vote with Democrats? Look it up. It’s basically the same percentage that Collins votes with her own party.
Democrats say they like and admire an independent streak — right up until one of their own decides to think for themselves.
Just ask Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) or maybe former Democrat Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.
Sinema drew outrage from Democratic Party loyalists, when she left the party to become an independent in 2022. So much for diversity and inclusion.
Toe the party line, or else – comrade.
And don’t expect to find Democratic senators such as John Fetterman or Joe Manchin sipping gin and tonics with the Obamas at their Martha’s Vineyard summer home.
Here’s the point. Everyone loves an independent — so long as the independent isn’t too independent.
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