With great trepidation...

[Frog]

I post another political thread. PLEASE keep it on the topic of politics and do not attack the posters.
How can we understand another's point of view, otherwise.

That being said, here is what Mr. McCain says about attack ads.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHW-RO1_WN0

Personally I am very sad that a man that I once had some respect for has come so low.

[Didache]

frog - as someone from over the pond, I can confirm that negative politics is not just an American phenomenon. We get it too, although not nearly as intensely as you. I remember reading an editorial once (can't recall whether it was about the UK or the US) - the gist of it was that politicians can only really appeal to one of two emotions: hope and fear. At their best, politicians appeal to the hopes and dreams of people, but even the best of them will realise that some people are more motivated by fear: fear of terrorism, fear of people who are "different", fear of the psycho next-door-neighbour, fear that their pensions will be worthless, and so on. this does not excuse vicious negative campaigning (much less the peddling of untruths) but it does explain why it can be effective and why politicians often resort to it.

What I find less excusable though is when campaigning is not aimed merely at people's genuine fears, but when those fears are invented or magnified for political gain. We saw a lot of that in both our countries in the aftermath of 9/11 when politicians (I think) deliberately played upon the fears that people had and elevated them to ridiculous levels.

Please understand that this post is not aimed at any party or candidate in the US election (I don't have a vote) - but it simply an attempt to understand that one feature of it.

Cheers
Mike

[mjs1973]

It seems that within the last 48 hours, both camps have stepped up the attack adds. McCain/Plain with the "palling around with terrorists" ad, and Obama with the "Keating 5" ad.

Up until this point in the campaign, I think McCain is the clear winner in the negative campaign category. I truly expected a cleaner campaign this time around, but again, I'm disappointed by politicians. McCain's negative ads, and deception have caused me to loose a lot of respect for him. Obama isn't perfect either, but I feel that he has run the cleaner of the two campaigns so far. It will be interesting to see what happens in tonight's debate. Will they step up the attacks, or stick to their talking points?

From CNN.com

Sen. John McCain: I pledge again a respectful campaign. A respectful campaign based on the issues and based on the stark differences we have on the vision for the future of America.

Sen. Barack Obama: I said I was looking forward to a civil substantive debate on the issues and he agreed.

McCain: I've pledged to conduct a respectful campaign and I urge, time after time, various entities within the Republican party to also do that.

Obama: We don't need John McCain and I to be demonizing each other. You won't get that from my campaign.

Obama said, "I don't think there is any doubt that John McCain's public record about issues that he's apologized for and written about is not germane to the presidency."

At a campaign event in Denver, Colorado, last week, a voter asked McCain when he was going to "let the gloves come off and go after" Obama.

McCain's response: "How about Tuesday night?"

[adina]

Ack! Frog! Here I thought I was going to get some work done!

[Anbesol]

With the fun the Bush campaign had with Kerry in 04, this sort of thing is not the least bit surprising. I remember the video of the wolves, they being the personification of 'terrorism' and 'evil', and they drew the illustration that Bush was the only one who could handle those wolves. I found it ironic considering how terribly he had been handling those "wolves". Then people I guess were surprised at his continued downward spiral foreign policy?

Its just slightly more overt this time around, I guess if its disguised under a wall of rhetoric and distortion, then its not quite as shocking I guess. I'm much more concerned that he said he always aspires to be a dictator than this negative campaign.