Tully Mars

What do you think of ads like this?

Do you think it helps rally the base only or does it play to independents/swings as well?

Personally I'm tired of this "let's try to scare the crap out of everyone" tactic and I think it's the sign of a campaign in desperation.

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Derwood

Looks like they're asking for a defamation suit from Obama

ottopilot

And then we find upstanding political marketing like this...




It runs the spectrum on both sides.

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dc_dux

Otto...the difference is one is the Republican Party and other are individuals.

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filtherton

Yep everybody does it. Does it matter at all to you otto that the instance in the op is coming from official party representatives? Or that they advocate torture? How would you feel about a shirt that implied we should send McCain back to Vietnam?

Tully Mars

Hmm, calling someone a cunt and encouraging someone to be tortured and equate them with a terrorist. Not exactly equal to me.

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Willravel

I take solace in the fact that in the end, liberals are always right.

dc_dux

For the record, McCain is reported to have called his wife a cunt in a public outburst

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Willravel

He actually said trollop? Is he like 300 years old?

Baraka_Guru

I think that ad is funny.

Obama doesn't have kidney disease.

Idiots.

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Derwood

for what it's worth, I just checked out the Sacramento Republican Party website and couldn't find that image. they must have taken it down already

Rekna

Yeah the California GOP asked them to take it down.


Also there is a big difference between the party saying something and some yahoo off the street.

Derwood

the Hamas and Bitter Michelle images are still there though

dc_dux

Jeff Frederick, the Republican party chairman of Virginia recently compared Obama to Osama:

"Obama and bin Laden "both have friends that bombed the Pentagon."

If you look at the videos on the Virgina (swing state) GOP web site (scroll down the page) ....they are all about Obama...NOTHING positive about what McCain would do for the country.

A microcosm of the McCain campaign in general.....NOTHING POSITIVE.

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Glory's Sun

I don't think this really has any effect on normal voters or the independents. Most people are educated enough and have seen enough from both sides now to realize both of those images are just shock images. However, it is a bit disturbing for an actual Party website actually endorses such things. It reeks of insecurity and desperation. If they really wanted to make a move they would just quit focusing on Obama and focus on themselves.

Cynosure

Depends on what you consider to be "normal" voters.

Oh?

Actual comments I've heard about Obama (in person or on the telephone, not on TV, mind you)...

"Well, I'm voting for the white side of Obama."

"My church says Obama is a Muslim and has ties with terrorists."

"Obama may be the anti-Christ."

"I didn't trust Hillary, but I trust Obama even less."

"Obama bin Laden, you know!"

"If Obama wins, the terrorists have won too."

mrklixx

Yes

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Rekna

Listen to this if you want to feel disgusted at hatred and ignorance.

Glory's Sun

normal voters are people who I would consider to view more than one source for their information.

Sure this kind of tactic has an effect on some people.. but really who is it having an effect on?? People who wouldn't have voted for him anyway because of a race issue or some other fundamental issue?? People who are in the conservative base?? These type of ads really only appeal to the bases of the parties. Some might be swayed from the independent side because of these but I'm sure they are so few and far between that it really won't have an impact on the final outcome.

The thing about this election is that Obama ads are about 1,000 - 8 or so. So, what that means is that for every 8 negative ads that John McCain can afford and stupidly waste his money on, Obama has 1,000 ads spinning that are positive. Now, if the ads were close to 50-50, then yes this would have a more damaging effect, but I say in this election it doesn't.

Cynosure

I'm sad to say, this is representative of an awful lot of Americans. (Representative of the mindset of an awful lot of people in general, really, and not just Americans.) And we may not realize how many people there are like this, out there, because those of us at message boards like this one tend to be college educated, white collar workers, and free, pluralistic thinkers.

Baraka_Guru

No wonder the nation is so polarized.

I guess this is the price of a large and diverse population.

Scary.

__________________
Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

Lasereth

In case there was a misunderstanding: yes, the average voter in my area believes email forwards and ads like these. My wife's mother forwarded her an email saying flat out that Obama was a terrorist. Some high school friends I grew up with talk on the Internet about how it's sickening that Americans can vote for someone whose name sounds like Osama. I overheard a trio of old white guys in Wendy's a few months ago talking in an extremely hateful manner about politics. "That Obama...that boy better watch out...if he takes the nomination, HE MIGHT WIND UP SHOT." As if given the opportunity, maybe THEY would do it themselves on behalf of whities......

People are swayed by this bullshit. People are swayed by email forwards and political commercials on TV. I hate to say it but TFP is an extremely bad example of the real world and of real voters. REAL voters vote based on what they grew up hearing which is Republicans will never take your guns and Democrats will. REAL voters vote based on what they heard about Terrorist Obama at their family reunion. Anyone who thinks otherwise is giving too much credit to the stupidity of the US.