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As Democrats hope to regain a majority in Congress it's very telling to see what their strategy is... or rather what it isn't. Instead of proposing an agenda, they are launching a Bush-bashing ad blitz.
A week before voters decide which party will control Congress, Democrats have unleashed a pricey and far-reaching ad campaign meant to directly link Republican candidates to President Bush's Iraq policy.This is far from a winning strategy.The ad, criticizing GOP candidates who have followed the president's lead, are set to air in Connecticut, New Mexico, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Iowa and other areas this week.
In my state of Massachusetts, the gubernatorial election is being dubbed one of the nastiness in history. Why? Because Republican Kerry Healey ran several ads that highlighted the fact that Democrat Deval Patrick had tried to free a convicted rapist while working in Clinton justice Department. Deval Patrick's campaign moaned and groaned (as did the pundits, and started to campaign against negative ads, and many pundits and Patrick supporters "predicted" such negative ads would backfire on Healey (you can read all about it at Hub Politics). If the latest polls are to be believed, then one might reach that conclusion, but for the moment, let's just say that Democrat posturing against negative/attack ads (which they rally against whenever they are the victims of them) is rooted in hypocrisy. This ad blitz by Democrats can only be described as attack ads. They don't highlight the qualities, qualifications or goals of the Democrat, they attack President Bush and the Republican candidate being targeted.
After listening to Democrats in my home state go on and on criticizing attack ads and negative campaigning for weeks now, I have to use their argument against them here, and suggest that these attack ads will backfire.
Democrats were furious over attack ads against John Kerry in 2004, but they seem perfectly okay with attack ads that target Republicans. It's amazing how Democrats can run on a self-righteous anti-negative campaign theme one election cycle, and then base their entire campaign on negative campaigning in the following cycle. Worse yet, no one in the media ever calls them on it.
Posted by Matt at October 31, 2006 07:27 AM


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Attack ads by GOP = mean spirited lies, desperation by the GOP candidate.
Attack ads by Dems = virtous telling of the truth.
It has been clear since early in 2006 that the Dems had no agenda except to bash Bush to gain seats in the Senate and House. With a strong economy this shouldn't work. However, with the various GOP gaffes and constant MSM drumbeat against Bush and the GOP it might work.
oh COME ON matt! are we to sit here, in an environment poisoned by some of the nastiest ads the GOP has ever produced and take it sitting down? so when the dems finally learn how to fight fire with fire, your going to cry "not fair!"? and when bush and cheney march around the nation saying a vote for the democrats is a vote for the terrorists, the dems are supposed to turn their backs to this demonstrably vicious rhetoric? COME ON matt - really.
no, i think when it comes to hate, spite, and vengeful discourse, bush's very own speechwriter, paul burgess, tops the cake with this gem of a letter written to a virginia newspaper:
does anyone know this guy's address, i'd be happy to mail him a trailer load of broken glass.
orangealert,
Do you have a link? Otherwise, we're apt to call: "BS".
a-10 - i posted the link three times but typekey is telling me i am not signed-in for some strnage reason...(even though i clearly am)
....It has been clear since early in 2006 that the Dems had no agenda except to bash Bush to gain seats in the Senate and House.....
Posted by: AWW at October 31, 2006 08:35 AM
And, it looks like it's gonna work !
btw, does the name 'Monica Lewinski' mean anything to ya ?
ok - this is ridiculous. everytime i try to post the link, i get to the moderator's page telling me i am not signed-in.... so go to fredericksburg.com to find the letter.
"Both political parties are functioning in the 2006 House races as factories for attack ads, but the National Republican Campaign Committee's work stands out this year for the sheer volume of assaults on the personal character of Democratic House challengers.
The ads being aired by both the NRCC and its rival, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, are overwhelmingly negative. However, the DCCC ads generally attack Republican candidates on policy issues or their performance in office – accusing them of casting votes favorable to drug or oil companies, or of supporting President Bush's unpopular policies in Iraq or on Social Security. We've recently criticized factual inaccuracies we've seen in some of those, and we'll have more to say in a later article. Here we focus on the NRCC's ads, which are much more likely to demean an opponent's character. That's the very definition of political mudslinging.
The Republican ads variously accuse Democratic candidates of such things as charging an "adult fantasy" phone call to taxpayers, of being a "hypocrite," of being a "greedy trial lawyer," of being a "millionaire know-it-all," or of failing to pay local business taxes on time. One ad describes a Democrat's "ethical judgments" as "bad to bizarre" and claims he favored use of 50,000-volt Taser weapons on seven-year-olds.
A derogatory ad can be accurate, and when supported by facts can give voters information about a candidate that they may well find relevant. For example, one NRCC ad correctly states that a Democratic candidate wrote a letter asking a judge to go easy when sentencing a felon convicted of bank fraud in a scandal that bilked hundreds of homeowners. However, several of the NRCC's ads are smears that twist facts or ignore them. A sheriff running for the House is accused of having "fixed" a speeding ticket for his daughter, for example, when in fact the ticket was paid and the daughter got no special treatment. We found repeated examples of this sort of thing, and we detail them here."
Read the rest here(Can't post links either):
www(dot)factcheck(dot)org(slash)article460(dot)html