Political commercials

[blackhole123]

Lately, since the House elections are coming soon, there have been a lot of political ads on TV. And i mean a LOT. And so far in every single ad I've seen, all they do is bash the other guy. I have absolutly no clue what anyone stands for and not one candidate has made a commercial on their beliefs. I know why not to vote for everyone but no one will stop insulting the other guy and actually inform people of their views.

 

And then in a recent commercial I saw, again all it did was criticize the other guy, but this time at the end it said "no wonder he is leading a negative campaign"(refering to the other candidate). WHA???? I just watched 2 minutes of you bashing him and you say HE is leading a negative campaign?(well he is but so is the candidate that the commercial is for). Um hello, hypocrite alert!!!

 

I cant stand politicians.

 

/end rant

[ecoli]

Lately, since the House elections are coming soon, there have been a lot of political ads on TV. And i mean a LOT. And so far in every single ad I've seen, all they do is bash the other guy. I have absolutly no clue what anyone stands for and not one candidate has made a commercial on their beliefs. I know why not to vote for everyone but no one will stop insulting the other guy and actually inform people of their views.

 

And then in a recent commercial I saw, again all it did was criticize the other guy, but this time at the end it said "no wonder he is leading a negative campaign"(refering to the other candidate). WHA???? I just watched 2 minutes of you bashing him and you say HE is leading a negative campaign?(well he is but so is the candidate that the commercial is for). Um hello, hypocrite alert!!!

 

I cant stand politicians.

 

/end rant

 

All politicians can do these days is bash their opponents. After all, if people where aware of their real platforms, they probably wouldn't get elected. And let's face it, to be an informed voter these days takes a lot of effort.

 

Before election day, I actually have to do research to find out how these politicians really feel about certain issues. And it's not easy. They like to bury their opinions in layers of bs. It's a bit easier to find out what encumbants stand for (just look at what they did during the year). But, people running for office don't want people to know what they stand for, in case they don't agree.

 

And let's face it, these days people are really voting for the political party rather than the person.

[Edtharan]

If you don't make any election promises or state you position before the election, then when elected you can't be held to them. Simple. It is a campaign strategy that allows the politician to avoid locking themselves into particular policies.

[Sisyphus]

The fact is, one position disagreed with is more likely to cost a vote than one position agreed with is to gain one, so it's more effective to be as vague as possible on as many issues as possible, the more likely to offend fewer people than your opponent.

 

So what's left to fill ad space? Why, smear campaigns, of course. Which WORK. You might be disappointed in the candidate for running a negative campaign, but you can't help also thinking about the negative things said about the opponent, as well. Sadly, the "I'm the lesser evil" tactic works most of the time. Also, caricatures are easier to convey in soundbite form than arguments.