One of the lessons Brad Ellsworth learned in 25 years as a sheriff, he tells Indiana voters in a new ad, is when to recognize bull when he sees it.  Indiana voters will almost certainly recognize it when Ellsworth slings it.  The man who voted for both ObamaCare and TARP now argues that the folks in Washington spend too much money and don’t listen to their constituents while doing his best to keep them from recalling what Ellsworth’s been doing for the last four years:

But out in Washington, it’s like they live and breathe the stuff. They waste our money. They take care of special interests. And they don’t care if lobbyists write the laws.

“They”? What do you mean “they,” Congressman Ellsworth?  While representing IN-08 from January 2007 to now, Ellsworth supported the expansion of annual federal budgets from the $2.77 trillion in the budget that preceded Democratic control of Congress to the over $3.8 trillion of FY2010, an expansion of 37% in just three years.  He voted for the ObamaCare bill whose final version was written behind closed doors and pushed through Congress without giving any time for careful perusal or debate.  Ellsworth also backed TARP and Porkulus, the former of which ran off the rails and the latter of which managed to waste $800 billion more in off-budget dollars to deliver the worst civilian population participation in the workforce in over 10 years.

That’s quite a track record for a two-term Congressman representing a district that Cook rates as an R+8.  But if you read Ellsworth’s campaign biography, you’d think he hadn’t even had time to unpack his bags (emphasis mine):

Brad has represented the 8th Congressional District since 2007, and currently serves on the House Agriculture, Armed Services, and Small Business Committees. During his brief time in office, he has put his experiences as Sheriff to work solving problems, resolving disputes, and working to change the way Washington works.

Brief?  He’s coming up on four years, and now he wants six more as Evan Bayh’s replacement in the Senate.  Even according to Ellsworth himself in this ad, he hasn’t succeeded at all in “chang[ing] the way Washington works” after two terms in the House.  Why promote failure?