Matt Lewis takes me to task for my vow to “condemn negative ads, regardless of who runs them.” It warrants a brief response.

Let me begin by saying that while I don’t like negative ads, I am adamantly opposed to censoring or regulating them. As I made clear in my post yesterday, I strongly believe that negative ads caused serious damage to the campaigns of Republicans Ray Meier and Bob Corker. Those ads were run by party committees without the consultation or input from the campaigns, which is illegal thanks to campaign-finance law.

Lewis writes:

First, there needs to be a distinction drawn between “good” negative ads and “bad” ones. It’s just too easy to say: “It’s wrong to say anything bad about anyone…

I agree. I thought I made it quite clear what I meant by negative ads — the kind that do nothing to further political discourse and are better labeled as trash. I don’t consider an ad pointing out differences on taxes or the Iraq War to be a negative ad. I see that as a policy debate.

Did I paint with too broad a brush? I’ll let you be the judge of that.