By Ray Hanania

Some candidates just think voters are too stupid to think for themselves. So, they craft these messages that are exaggerated and filled with hot-button issues that target the emotions of voters just to get their votes.

No wonder so many people hate to vote and vote numbers are always so low, when they are not stolen.

It’s the same across the board from national to local elections.

On the national level, Democrats are hoping to distract voters by pushing their exaggerated claims that there was an “insurrection” to topple the government on Jan. 6.

Was there a protest? Yes. More than 30,000 people who believed the vote had been rigged and stolen protested. Was there violence? Yes, more than 800 people have been charged, most with minor infractions like trespassing — apparently trespassing is only a crime these days if you are a Republican — and some causing physical violence and death.

Leading the charge of this biased, partisan witch hunt and kangaroo court is the daughter of one of America’s greatest war criminals, Liz Cheney. The Wyoming congressman was put into office by her father, Dick Cheney, who is responsible for the murder of more than a million Iraqi civilians while vice president.

The Cheneys use lies and exaggerations, like when papa Cheney claimed Iraq had “weapons of mass destruction” to justify an unjustified invasion that took the lives of more than 6,000 American soldiers. That doesn’t include 8,000 support personnel who were killed or the after-war impact. More than 30,000 Iraq veterans have committed suicide and tens of thousands more suffer from serious injuries, disabilities and mental trauma.

Cheney allied herself with Democrats to prevent former President Donald Trump — a man who had some great ideas but the morals of Bernie Madoff — from returning to office.

Cheney’s flip to the Democrats, along with another loser, Adam Kinzinger, doesn’t even balance against the benefits Republicans received when Tulsi Gabbard departed the Democratic Party to join the Republicans.

The Democrats got the garbage end of that swap!

Democrat concerns over Trump are fueled by disappointment in President Joe Biden, who continues to make embarrassing stumbles from simple things like saying he has “two words” for the public, “Made in America,” to more serious flaps like asking why a congresswoman who recently died wasn’t in the audience at one speech he made.

Worse is his public performance in office. He has held far fewer press conferences than most recent presidents, and yet makes public statements that worry our allies, especially in the Russian war against Ukraine.

Biden also has no problem protecting his controversial son, Hunter, who made millions using daddy’s clout in Ukraine and China, from being probed by the U.S. Justice Department.

Republicans have been pushing for an investigation into Hunter Biden’s suspicious conduct, the way the Democrats successfully pushed for a probe of Trump’s children.

Maybe all of them should be investigated, but the real issue that gets lost is the hypocrisy.

The national elections have a spillover in local elections, which also get blurred by exaggerations and lies promoted by reporters who pretend their news stories are objective and fair, and not reflections of their own personal opinions and biases.

Illinois has a governor, JB Pritzker, who is playing a shell game with taxes. Pritzker likes to take “delayed actions.” That’s when you implement a policy but you delay its impact until after an election.

He doubled the gasoline tax and raised other taxes and fees, and then claimed he was helping taxpayers by granting a gas tax reprieve until after the Nov. 8 elections, when the tax he increased slams us and the old tax returns. It will be a double whammy!

Pritzker attacks people by claiming they have no morals but pretends like he does, as in the case of his using the system to significantly reduce his property taxes in order to save hundreds of thousands of dollars on his properties.

Pritzker uses his billions to buy off the mainstream news media, compelling them to support his candidacy, and then complains when his critics create news publications he says are fake.

They are fake newspapers. But the issue again is Pritzker’s hypocrisy.

Pritzker’s administration is backed by powerful lobbyists that include the pharmaceutical and health industries, which are determined to continue squeezing every last dollar from the Social Security of our seniors.

By the way, can you tell me about any candidates who have made championing seniors their priority?

This election isn’t about Republicans or Democrats. It is about individual candidates. Which are bad? Which are better? No one is perfect and there is no 100%.

Check out Ray Hanania’s columns and political podcasts at hanania.com.