Political ads . . .

[Deb in IA]

Does anyone else find these ads, ESPECIALLY the negative "attack" ads extremely irritating???


Here in Iowa, as a result of re-districting, we are in the midst of hotly contested races for Governor, US Senate, and US Representative. Every time I turn on the TV, I am bombarded by nothing but negative ads. I'd like to vote for any candidate that does NOT run negative ads, but I think they all do!!!

 

[caitycaity]

unfortunately, negative ads work, and that's why people use them.

 

[supercarrie]

i hate negative ads. the two people running for governor here in ca seem to only use smear campaigns. they both seem like such slimeballs, even worse than the normal politician. i am glad i can't vote, because i don't know who i would choose if i could.

 

[Bob O]

What is negative or positive is in the eye of the beholder.

 

[Kermit]

I would strongly prefer it if candidates ran ads about what they would do in office rather than all the awful stuff the other person has done. One of the local news stations here has been doing a series they call Truth Check. They analyze all of the negative ads and see which of the claims are fact. They are all grounded in fact, of course, but they're so twisted and distorted that you can't really believe them.

 

[nativetxn]

LOL, Deb. I was just thinking about this very same thing on our trip to Colorado. I saw so many negative ads for this one candidate, that I thought that if it was me, I'd just make a commercial that said, "The rain last Tuesday? My fault. That cold you caught last month? My fault. Those extra pounds you gained last Christmas---that was me."

 

[DocRafiki]

I was just thinking about posting about how stupid Jeb's ads are. I haven't seen any negative ones since the anti-McBride ones backfired. The current ones are so lame... it's sad to think that the "joe public" thinks it's a good use of a leader's time to be driving out to intersections to see if they need a traffic light, or answering some woman's e-mail about how she's not getting her unemployment checks. I don't think the lowest peon manager would last long at his job if he were this bad at delegating. "Oh, but it shows he cares." If it were true, which some have claimed it's not, it shows he's inefficient.

 

[Chuck S]

Too bad there isn't a stronger 3rd party or indepenent that would have an ad that says "Hi, my name is John or Jane Doe. I'm running for Governor. I won't sponsor or support any negative campaigning. We the people of (fill in your State) deserve better. Please vote for me for a change. "


I'd vote for this person in a heartbeat.

 

[Paperina]

There is an ad running on our stations about everything a candidate has voted "against" on education issues. In the list of things he voted "against" was abolishing the school board. Sounds like a terrible person who wants to eliminate a school board but in reality he wanted to keep the school board. Neither my husband or myself picked up this deception - my 15 year old son pointed it out!

Can't wait for the elections to be over!!!!!!

 

[Obi-Wan Pinobi]

There's an election this year???? You wouldn't know it in VA, at least in the Richmond area. I don't know about other areas of the state, but there's been a definite lack of political ads of any type on TV or the radio.

Of course, the highest office up this year is the US Senate seat held by John Warner, who's running unopposed. I've read that there are a few Congressional seats with no opposition as well. In our district, there was a debate on the radio the other day between the Democrat and the Republican incumbent, but I don't think there was any mud slinging.