Campaign Ads: If Karl Rove thinks they’re too negative, they probably are.

Posted by Lindsay in US Election 2008.

I’m not the only one who has noticed that the campaign ads are taking a nasty turn.  Karl Rove told Fox News Sunday that he thought both campaigns have gone too far. Other media outlets seized upon his comments and finally this question can be posed to the candidates:  Why are you guys acting like you’re in junior high?  Okay, maybe that’s loose terminology, but people are finally starting to see—and point out—the pattern of negative campaigning and how little it has done for furthering campaign objectives.  For the love of Christmas Jesus, what are their stances on the issues?¹

Sites like factcheck.org look at the ads and demystify them.  But what about those who just let the ads permeate their minds?  With the television on in the background while I freelance, I’ve absorbed months of commercials through osmosis, learning only that both candidates are hacks (according to the other candidate).  Taking a look at the three most recent ads, and caring little for any facts that can’t be found by a quick Google search, I think Karl Rove was right.  (And how often can I say that?)  So here are some honest reactions from a media junkie and links, so you can view them and react yourself.

Barack Obama - “Honor”

This ad tries to point out that the McCain campaign has some ads that are completely shenanigans, but for me it’s almost as sleazy.  Quoting a bunch of newspapers out of context, especially when the quotes might be from opinion pieces, is not as effective as taking 30 seconds to dispute a lie straight up.  But instead, playing on John McCain’s honor is the campaign choice?

John McCain - “Disrespectful”

I honestly don’t even want to count this one because it basically takes quotes out of context and uses amusing pictures of Obama and Biden to accuse the Democrats of disrespecting Sarah Palin.  Yawn.  It’s kind of lame to open with the “celebrity” thing, and even more lame to claim that “his star is fading.”  I’m also not impressed by the narrator’s disdainful voice.

Barack Obama - “Still”

This ad opens with a disco ball and states, “1982: John McCain goes to Washington.”  The images go from a Rubik’s cube and an old-fashioned computer to present-day John McCain on a golf cart, then John McCain with George W. Bush.  While the ad includes a jab at McCain for his support of tax cuts for corporations, it also attacks him for not being able to use a computer or send email.  Why should I care about that?  If the President of the company I work for makes me write emails, don’t you think the President of the United States would have someone who could do that for him.  Proficient with Microsoft Outlook is not listed on the job requirements.

John McCain - “Fact Check”

I want to lump this one in the ineffective pile with “Disrespectful.”  This ad cites the Wall Street Journal’s statement that “Obama ‘air-dropped a mini-army of 30 lawyers, investigators and opposition researchers’ into Alaska to dig dirt on Governor Pail.” A) Obama kind of had to since no one knew anything about her and B) This would have been more effective if the McCain campaign hadn’t chosen wolves in a snowy forest as a metaphor for researchers.  We all know Ms. Palin likes to shoot these kinds of animals from helicopters.  Maybe that was the point?

Barrack Obama - “His Administration”

This ad introduces us to Bill Timmons, a Washington lobbyist hired to “plan [McCain's] administration.”  Again, we see McCain pictured with Bush.  The ad cites Time as the source for information regarding the hiring on Timmons, then goes on to note that Timmons lobbies for “oil companies, the credit card industry and corporate special interests rigging the system against hard-working Americans.”  The ad fails to mention that Timmons also lobbies for Freddie Mac, Anheuser-Busch and the American Medical Association.² The ad would have done better to plagiarize Time and point out that having someone who has worked in Washington since the 70’s and assisted all the Republican presidents in some respect does not play into McCain’s new “Let’s reform Washington the Sarah Palin way!” battle cry.  Unless you think Sarah Palin is full of it, then the move totally works.

John McCain - “Crisis”

As of September 15, this is the newest ad on McCain’s website and it’s featured on his splash page.  The ad claims that only proven reformers John McCain and Sarah Palin can fix our horrible economy through those much beloved tax cuts and offshore drilling.  The part that makes me cringe is this line:  “McCain/Palin. Leadership. Experience. For the change we need.”  Sarah Palin has so little experience that it’s not even funny anymore.  She was a small town mayor and the governor of a state that has less people than several major US cities.  Also, isn’t “change” the ideal that Obama based his campaign around?  Isn’t the promise of “change” how he beat Hillary Clinton?  Is McCain trying to borrow a cup of successful campaign from him?

* * *

The only thing I’m grateful for in this media circus is that these campaigns are ridiculous enough to have inspired Paris Hilton’s “campaign ad” and the Saturday Night Live opening with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as Palin and Clinton.  The media mockery almost makes suffering through the countless number of ads worth it. What’s frightening, is the most honesty I’ve seen is what was displayed on SNL.  I’m also curious to see if, after these comments from Rove, the ads will stop being so petty and juvenile.  I guess we can only hope for change—where have I heard that before?

1 http://blogs.reuters.com/trail08/2008/09/14/karl-rove-says-mccain-obama-have-gone-too-far/
2 http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1840722,00.html?imw=Y

John McCain’s TV ads
Barack Obama on YouTube (ads, speeches, interviews, etc.)

US Election 2008 |