NYT: Going Negative: When It Works ("voters respond to attack ads")

[DeepModem Mom]

ACCUSERS ALL
Going Negative: When It Works
By JIM RUTENBERG and KATE ZERNIKE

Published: August 22, 2004


THIS was supposed to be the positive campaign. Late last fall, Democrats and Republicans alike predicted that a new campaign rule requiring candidates to appear in their own advertisements and take credit for them would discourage them from making negative ads.

Yet it's not even Labor Day and President Bush has spent the majority of the more than $100 million he has spent on television advertisements attacking his Democratic opponent, Senator John Kerry. Mr. Kerry and the other Democratic primary contenders seemed to spend the fall and early winter in a contest to see who could jibe Mr. Bush the most.

A host of outside liberal groups have spent more than $60 million bashing Mr. Bush on his march to war, his economic stewardship and his health care policies. And in the latest volley, a group calling itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is pledging to spend $1.1 million by the end of the month on advertisements that scorch Mr. Kerry's service in Vietnam and his statements about the war after he returned home.

Every campaign cycle, in fact, seems to begin with the promise of an uplifting, mutually respectful debate of the issues, only to devolve into character attacks and distortions, and for good reason: negative ads work. Voters may say they want candidates to stay positive, but in truth, they respond more readily, more viscerally, to attack ads.

"People like a fight," said Roger Stone, a Republican strategist. "Put up an ad about the intricacies of the federal budget and people will turn the channel. Put up an ad like the Swift boat one, that creates an indelible image in the voter's mind."...


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/22/weekinreview/22zern2.html

[Nimrod]

1. As vile as it is

There are some valid points there.

"People like a fight," said Roger Stone, a Republican strategist. "Put up an ad about the intricacies of the federal budget and people will turn the channel. Put up an ad like the Swift boat one, that creates an indelible image in the voter's mind."...

To me, this is saying "Americans are f^ckin' stupid". I sincerely wish I could put up a more vehement argument against that notion.

[thebigidea]

2. wha?

"Mr. Kerry and the other Democratic primary contenders seemed to spend the fall and early winter in a contest to see who could jibe Mr. Bush the most."

What? In ads? I don't remember that at all. Kerry's ads in particularly have been almost all positive, much to my dismay. With so much material Bush has given them, you'd think merely telling the truth would be enough.

Yet the Bushies have been pulling the LBJ-PIGFUCK gambit from day one...

I hate this kind of "oh, they're all the same so we shouldn't complain" stuff... just like whenever Swift Boat Vets ads are mentioned, pundits are contractually obligated to mention MoveOn.org

[Dover]

3. Cheney Speaks To The Reptile Brain.........a great article

Cheney Speaks to the Reptile Brain
by Thom Hartmann

"I am not unaware of the effect of the ridicule cast on this instrument of defence by those who wished for engines of offence."
- Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Madison referencing damage done to morale by jokes about the US Navy, May 21, 1813

It's Willie Horton all over again. The Bush family is subjecting Americans to psychological operations, only the level of sophistication and deception is an order of magnitude higher than it was in 1988. And it could turn the election, if not used effectively in rebuttal.

Here's how it works, and how Dick Cheney just used it masterfully: CHENEY.


We humans, being the product of a long evolutionary process, really have three brains. And, as the Bush psy-ops folks know, politicians who win campaigns do so because they speak to all three of those brains.....cont'd

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0817-13.htm

[Catfight]

4. This is going to back fire on the Smear Campaign of Bush!

A pResident who doesn't accept responsibility for his team and he's the leader of the Mean Team, will take the fall for his pack of liars.