Ryan Smith calls the ad featuring Acton's mother horrible and criticizes its defense
Ryan SmithFormer speaker of the Ohio House
Smith calls it ridiculous to defend a horrible ad and criticize people for whining. He tells the ad's defenders to stop normalizing bad behavior and embarrassing the party.
“It is beyond ridiculous to defend a horrible ad and criticize people for whining? What happened to human decency? Stop normalizing bad behavior and embarrassing the party. Ohio deserves better than this!”
Original post
Interview
Where this statement fits
Ramaswamy's campaign defends using Amy Acton's estranged mother in an attack ad
Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign produced an advertisement in which Amy Acton's estranged mother accuses her of lying. Acton says Ramaswamy took advantage of her mother, and the campaign defends its attack on Acton's credibility. Critics from both parties condemn the tactic, while Laura Loomer defends it.
Source and context
Original post
About this source
Smith adds his own criticism to a quoted post carrying video of Vance discussing Republican objections.
Interview
About this source
The original report quotes Paris criticizing the ad and predicting a backlash. Her election prediction is her assessment.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
Smith quoted Aaron Rupar's post of Vance answering a question about the ad.
After the quotation
The quoted post carries video of Vance telling a reporter that the ad's appropriateness was not his concern and that he was disgusted by Republicans whining about it.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
Smith explicitly calls the ad horrible and describes its defense as normalizing bad behavior.
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- Vivek Ramaswamy
More from this case
Read the full caseRamaswamy says the ad concerns lying rather than childhood abuse
“It had nothing to do with childhood abuse.”Read statement
Thomas calls the ad poor campaign strategy
“But the thing is, it's also just strategically poor. Vivek had much higher negatives relative to Acton before the polling started and when this ad came out. I can only imagine that's going to exacerbate, in a sense.”Read statement
Hajjar says Ohio voters deserve a policy debate instead
“They deserve a substantive policy debate, not -- I mean, this is the culmination of what has been, actually, a very nasty race in Ohio for a while now.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "Ryan Smith calls the ad featuring Acton's mother horrible and criticizes its defense". First published: 2026-10-22. Last updated: 2026-10-22. https://disputeindex.com/events/6528-smith-calls-it-ridiculous-to-defend-a-horrible