Campaign Ads

[Vita Curator]

Well there is hope in PA.  Five weeks to go and Casey is still leading Santorum in the polls despite all of Santorum's sleazy, skanky, (yes, he is a skank) tricks.  He calls Casey "Bobby" in all of his ads in an attempt to belittle him.  It was in the paper though that it appears (through polling) that all of his negative attack ads have backfired on him, that the ads are actually turning people against Santorum.

So, after his campaign team realized that the negative ads were backfiring on them, they pull out the 9/11 card.  This week they have Rudy Giuliani supposedly talking to a room of first responders (police, fire, EMT's, etc.) telling them that Santorum is THE leader in the war against terrorism and a stalwart defender of first responders.  The funny thing about this ad though (and I hope my fellow Pennsylvanians are savvy enough to see it) is that it appears that he might be talking to an empty room, and that the video of the crowd of first responders is edited in.

I would be interested in hearing about the campaign ads in the state that you live in.  What type of ads are the Republicans running?  Are the negative ads particularly vicious where you live?  Are any other Republican candidates playing the 9/11 card?  Are they distancing themselves from Bush the way Santorum is trying to?  I say trying because Casey keeps playing video from the past of Santorum and Bush together.

PS:  Interestingly enough the spell check tool kept trying to change Santorum to Sanitarium. 

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

For good or ill, here in Oklahoma, we rarely see national political ads.  Plenty of local stuff and so on, but as we are seen as a "gimmie" red state, they do not bother to spend their $ on us.

Thats good and bad, in my opinion ... I think that negative ads often DO backfire, if they are started early enough and run long enough.

OTOH, I try to avoid the "Big 3" channels, CBS, ABC and NBC as a matter of routine.  I have 200+ channels on my cable, and among those, I can usually find something more edifying than the latest reality-bites "show".

But, since you asked, I'll try to surf those channels in the next few weeks, to see if I can spot anything interesting.

[Sibling Chatty]

We're poor Monastery Toadfishies, and don't have TV at all. (Without cable, you can get fuzz, snow, snowy fuzz and fuzzy snow, unless you put up at least a 75 foot antenna.) so, here in the 'It's a red State" of Texas...who knows.

I did read today about good ol' Bob Perry (funder of the Swift Boat Veterans for telling lots of scurrilous lies) anh the new fund he set up and put to work. Seems like the Repub. Indiana Attorney General is gonna take 'em to court...

Some people are tired of the sleaze. Hallelujah, and pass the butter, there might be some sanity left after all.

[Duke]

Well, we haven't any Republicans in Marin (we ran them all out  ), and they are few and far between in Hawaii. However, we do have moderates. The senate primary race in Hawaii (Akaka vs. Case) was pretty civil, and not that exciting. I've seen a few smear campaigns flying around in California primarys, but it was all pretty mundane. This is good, I suppose.


Duke

[Teripie]

We get ads that mostly accuse the dem candidate as being "liberal" and hinting at lack of values. This is always spoken in a sneering type voice, almost as if they are mocking the candidate for daring to run for office. The "family values" term pops up in almost every ad. Remember, dems have no values. Guess they are all good Pastafarians with flimsy moral standards!

As much as we'd all like to think that mud slinging ads don't work, they really do. They always manage to slip into the subconscious. Polls indicate that they work.

I subscribe to FactCheck.org, a great little non-partisan web site that sends out bulletins pointing out untruths in campaign ads. They cover the entire country so it's easy to keep tabs on who is telling lies in their ads and where. In some cases the dems have been as dirty as the repugs, but as a rule the repugs transgressions are more numerous. Their findings are always well documented. I highly recommend their service.

[Vita Curator]

We get ads that mostly accuse the dem candidate as being "liberal" and hinting at lack of values. This is always spoken in a sneering type voice, almost as if they are mocking the candidate for daring to run for office. The "family values" term pops up in almost every ad. Remember, dems have no values. Guess they are all good Pastafarians with flimsy moral standards!

As much as we'd all like to think that mud slinging ads don't work, they really do. They always manage to slip into the subconscious. Polls indicate that they work.

I subscribe to FactCheck.org, a great little non-partisan web site that sends out bulletins pointing out untruths in campaign ads. They cover the entire country so it's easy to keep tabs on who is telling lies in their ads and where. In some cases the dems have been as dirty as the repugs, but as a rule the repugs transgressions are more numerous. Their findings are always well documented. I highly recommend their service.

Thanks Teripie, I think that FactCheck.org will come in handy over these next several weeks, I'm going to pass the link on to as many people as I can.

You are in Florida right?  I saw in today's paper that another Repub. congressman (from Florida) bit the dust.  Also, what kind of ads is that creepy Katherine Harris running?  There is no chance that she will be elected is there?

[Sibling Chatty]

Heh...Florida Congressman hitting on a teenage page. Boy??

Fine family values...the Re-smuglicans really have 'em.

[Vita Curator]

Heh...Florida Congressman hitting on a teenage page. Boy??

Fine family values...the Re-smuglicans really have 'em.

Ah yes, fine, upstanding Repugnant Family Values, soliciting a teenage boy.

[Aphos]

I love FactCheck.Org.  The first time I heard of them was on NOW during the run-up to the 2004 election.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I always liked what a short-lived local talk-show several years ago, called "You're On, with Sam Jones".

Mr Jones, a former journalist on one of the local 'nets, back when TV news was still "In the public interest", and had real reporters, real editors and was ... well, news, really.

Mr. Jones quit the local news station, when it shifted to the modern "for fun and profit" info-tainment "psueo-news" that is the norm these days.  With talking-heads, zero integrity and sound-byte style of presentation*.

Anyway, back to my point;  Sam Jones started a short-lived late-night show, with call-in option called "You're On, with Sam Jones".   It was a moderate show, definitely not leftist.

But, it dared to question the extremists at either end, and the right-wing nut-jobs got him off the air -- too soon.

I suppose it was because Mr Jones was quite fond of taking the spin out of pithy campaign slogans.

His favorite was:  "Family Values?   Who's family?  And WHAT values?  How about Charlie Manson's family values?"

In retrospect, I miss that show ... 





_________________________________________________
* in that NO news-bit may be longer than 30 seconds.  Try it for yourself:  get a stopwatch, or a clock with a second-hand, and each time a new bit begins, it will either be OVER by 30 seconds, or the scene will have shifted by 30 seconds or both.

It seems that the generation of 30-second-cartoon-heads has grown up, and is now in control of our media ... my grandmother was right:  TV DOES rot your brain ... 

[Vita Curator]

ARGHHH!  As his poll numbers continue to drop Santorum has begun to show ads with Casey's picture, followed by a mushroom cloud whilst saying "Our nation's security is at risk".

I cannot stand that sleazeball!

[Sibling Spoffish]

Compared with your election ads, ours sound positively tame!  At the moment in Victoria we're having a state election, and the main ad I've seen is, at least, true. It shows a black and white picture of the right-wing leader, Ted Baillieu, with a voice over saying 'the man who backed the nurse cuts, the education cuts, the bla bla bla bla' - and then has a recording of his voice saying 'I think the liberal party's record is second to none' - quite clever, really... atm the labour party's in power, and it looks like it will stay that way.

[Teripie]

The smear advertising seems to be right up the media's alley as they seem to cover that topic so much. The ads are getting played on every network and cable news channel over and over. Makes me think if I were a campaign manager with a small budget, the way to get a lot of attention is to run one cheap smear ad, then sit back and watch it go nationwide in play time.

Tonight I got an email form FactCheck.org comparing the two parties in their race to become the sleaziest. The poor dems are trying but they are running a poor second. Article here:
http://www.factcheck.org/article460.html

[Sibling Spoffish]

Great article. I like the fact that the Reps are accusing Arcuri of calling a 'fantasy hotline' - when in reality, only one minute after he called their number he dialled another that was identical but for area code... the NY State department of Criminal Justice Services.

Funny stuff...

[DISCO GODZILLAJESUSZ]

I don't usually watch TV around this season if I can help it. It's just too gross.

Am I the only one that feels dirty after watching any of these ads? Like I need to take a bath?