The Los Angeles Times today has THIS PIECE that notes that:
- Political campaigns are nastier than ever.
- This year’s political ads are nastier than ever.
- It appears as if the greatest number of mega nasty ads are coming from the Republican side.
- But the Democrats are not exempt from low blows in some ads.
- Campaigns go nasty because negative campaigns work.
- There’s almost no line left to cross (which leads us to the question so WHAT IS NEXT?).
An excerpt:
“We’ve reached the point where negative ads have become more important than positive campaigns, and there’s almost no line left to cross,” said University of Pennsylvania political scientist Don Kettl. “If it’s there to be found, the highly paid opposition researchers will find it. And if they find it, they’ll use it.”
Looking at it from a campaign strategist’s point of view, Carl Forti, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said: “Negative ads work, which is why you see so many of them.”
The focus on the conduct of candidates comes against the backdrop of a sex scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) that has added to GOP jitters about their ability to hold on to control of Congress.
“High stakes can mean low tactics,” said Jack Pitney Jr., a political professor at Claremont McKenna College. “When a great deal is riding on an election, partisans may feel justified in doing things that might otherwise seem out of bounds.”
Conservative commentator Tamar Jacoby, who recently called for dialogue between Democrats and Republicans, said the ascendancy of personal attacks reflected a “fundamental mistrust” between political parties in a polarized nation.
“When you think that somebody is fundamentally different from you, and doesn’t share your goals for the country, it gets easier and easier to say mean things about them,” said Jacoby, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute think tank. “It’s like what often happens when countries are preparing for war against one another. They start to say really mean things, so it dehumanizes [the opponent] and allows you to go to war.”
MSNBC‘s Chris Matthews bluntly has labeled the ads “racist ads” that cross the line. He calls them “the last tactics of a losing campaign… Here you have the Republican ad men ripping the scab off the old racial problems in our country” and calls the ads “awful for America” — and predicts more are in the pipeline. He also notes Rush Limbaugh going after Michael J. Fox:
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.