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We all hate negative ads…

By: brand (Diary)  |  February 1st, 2012 at 01:41 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

But why do people respond to them so much?

Maybe it’s just me, as a political junky, who is actually paying attention, and I am rip-roaring mad about the negative ads. Maybe Florida voters are light weights, I don’t know. Perhaps, the early voting efforts by Mitt’s machine made the difference.

According to Kantor Media, 92% of the ads in Florida were negative. Jeez. Seriously guys?

From the referenced article:

The Romney campaign is already training its sights on Gingrich. Former congresswoman Barbara Vucanovich, who was a member of Gingrich’s House GOP leadership team, told Nevada reporters that the former House speaker is “very cocky, arrogant,unreliable.”

 

Great. So, another ______ congresscritter who doesn’t like Gingrich. Great! So, why does that make Romney the least bit more compelling. Suddenly, that four years as a liberal governor isn’t much of a story, so yeah, let’s destroy the other guy, regardless of who it is.

 

Why is the Republican establishment so misguided? Does living in NYC and DC blind you to what’s happening in the rest of the country? What am I stupid? Obviously, it does.

COMMENTS

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  • http://www.gmsplace.com/ civil truth

    We hate them much less when they’re against our guy’s opponents, for some strange reason.

    Same reason so many incumbents get reelected: 434 Representatives are bums, but our Representative is different…

    • brand

      Apparently, they appeal also to the drive bys.. not to use Rush’s exact term for that, but rather the people who don’t read political blogs every day. At least, apparently they appeal to them, since they seem to “work”.

      I wasn’t “for” Newt, I actually liked (and donated to) Perry. However, Romney’s negative ads, in my case, landed me squarely in the “anyone but” camp. Reagan’s 11th Commandment, and all that.

      And it’s not just that he ran (and his PAC) ran the ads. It’s that he did so with such relish. Yesterday I was listening to Hannity, and Romney was on, and when asked about the ads, he IMMEDIATELY switched gears and dodged the question, and Hannity let him go on it.

      And, FWIW, I consider negative ads to primarily be distortions of actual records. If a candidate says or does something, then fine, call them out on it. But Romney’s or his surrogates were out and out lying about Newt’s history, and being a history buff myself, I find that type of action particularly egregious.

      We should not become our enemy in order to defeat him. We’re supposed to be better than Alinski type politics and Left-wing style lies and distortions.

  • sulmak

    except on youtube. I don’t think most people hate negative ads, because most people either don’t pay attention to them or don’t see them.

    I think negative political ads have their greatest effect indirectly, when you hear something from someone who has seen the ad. They are basically rumor starters.