Ellen Weaver's Commercial

Trying to decipher her campaign for SC Superintendent of Education

The pretty font was a nice touch. (This and other images from a TV advertisement, also posted to social media, paid for by Ellen for Education.)

Today, in a poor decision for my mental health, I sought out Ellen Weaver’s television ad supporting her campaign for South Carolina Superintendent of Education. I thought I had written more than enough about Weaver, but felt compelled to respond to the ad because it so perfectly encapsulates not only what is destructive about Weaver’s platform (such as it is), but also why Weaver is the ultimate establishment candidate for a state whose leaders actively seem to want to diminish and defund public education as much as it takes to push a well-funded pro-voucher agenda. (I may also just already miss teaching and this is the kind of rhetorical analysis I would encourage my students to do with any advertisement.)

I’m going to break those campaign ideas down in the order they’re presented in the TV spot. You can find a version that allows comments h…