• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Democrats Getting Desperate- going Ad Hominem

easycruise

Muse
Joined
Nov 1, 2004
Messages
725
Pretty sad that they are reducing themselves to personal attacks.

""A recent study by the Wesleyan Media Project actually quantifies this. They looked at 900,000 airing of political ads this year and concluded: "Democrats are using personal attacks at much higher rates than Republicans and a much higher rate than Democrats in 2008."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/vote...g-argument-personal-attacks/story?id=11996410

""In one typical example, Democratic ads have transformed Kentucky Republican House candidate Andy Barr into "a convicted criminal" -- complete with images yellow police tape and fuzzy video of crime scenes. Not mentioned is his crime: As a college student 19 years ago, he was caught using a fake ID during spring break.""

Pathetic. Can't wait until they are out of power.
 
Meh. Easy to go negative when the GOPers can't find anybody but a bunch of whiney babies, religious whackadoodles, corporatist oligarchs, perverts and assorted nuts and flakes to run for office.
 
Meh. Easy to go negative when de GOPews can't find anybody but a bunch of whiney babies, wewigious whackadoodwes, cowpowatist owigawchs, pewvewts and assowted nuts and fwakes to wun fow office.


Seems to me that the second post in this thread does a fairly good job of demonstrating the point of the first post.
 
As you watch this year's ads -- and I've been watching all too many lately -- you'll notice a striking difference between Democratic and Republican attack ads: Democrats are attacking over personal issues, Republicans are attacking over policy.

There are, of course, many exceptions, but the overall trend is clear. Democrats are hitting their Republican opponents over past legal transgressions, shady business deals and even speeding tickets. Republicans are hammering Democrats over "Obamacare," Nancy Pelosi and the economy.

This has been very noticeable to me. The Demorats must be getting very, very desperate. The Republicans have some very solid issues on which to run, centered on the outrageously wasteful and irresponsible way that the Democrats have managed the taxpayer's money. In response, the Democrats have nothing. They've been caught—the whole foul lying thieving bunch of them—with their hands in the till, defrauding and stealing from the American people. Their only hope is to portray their Republican rivals as being at least as sleazy as themselves.
 
Of course the uncited part of the study shows that the figures were reversed in 2008 with the Republicans showing significantly more attack ads than Democrats. I suppose it is possible that the percentage swings back and forth and neither party is more evil than the other.
 
Democrats are attacking over personal issues, Republicans are attacking over policy....

They've been caught—the whole foul lying thieving bunch of them—with their hands in the till, defrauding and stealing from the American people. Their only hope is to portray their Republican rivals as being at least as sleazy as themselves.

:)
 
Of course the uncited part of the study shows that the figures were reversed in 2008 with the Republicans showing significantly more attack ads than Democrats. I suppose it is possible that the percentage swings back and forth and neither party is more evil than the other.

Yup... meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
 
As you watch this year's ads -- and I've been watching all too many lately -- you'll notice a striking difference between Democratic and Republican attack ads: Democrats are attacking over personal issues, Republicans are attacking over policy.


Meh. Republican policies put our ecconomy in the toilet and half of their candidates are nutbars, and a few are perverts. Looks to me like they are being attacked on both sides of that equation.

About the business deals, that is valid, because a shady business man is liokely to skew law in his own favor at the cost of the general public. Valid attack point.
 
Of course the uncited part of the study shows that the figures were reversed in 2008 with the Republicans showing significantly more attack ads than Democrats.

Your math skills need improvement.

Type of Negative Attacks by Party
(Candidate Ads Only)

2008 Dem 21.31% GOP 22.76%

2010 Dem 29.48% GOP 20.10%
 
Last edited:
I don't see the problem. What's wrong with "ad hominem" attacks on a candidate for public office?

Character has always been an issue in such campaigns, because the public is being asked to trust that person's integrity, honesty, judgment, intelligence, etc.

If Candidate X is a convicted criminal who has embezzled public funds, tortured small children, and lied about it under oath, and I point that out, are you really going to cry "no fair! Ad hominem! Ad hominem! Personal attack!"

You would have a point if an election was a referendum on a particular issue: if X was simply a spokesperson for the "Repeal the Death Penalty" ballot proposition, then pointing out X's character flaws would be a logical fallacy because they don't bear on the appropriateness of having a death penalty.

Of course, if the charges are false, that's another story -- but then the problem is not the nature of the charges, but their falsity. It would be just as bad to lie about the merits of a candidate's policy positions.

And we have varying degrees of consensus that certain personal issues are "off limits" because they aren't sufficiently relevant to a candidate's fitness for office -- but again, that just means that certain attacks are considered inappropriate.
 
showing the extreme views and nonsense that the TP candidates haver is not a personal attack.
 
Perhaps easy would prefer the following...

Christine O'Donnell....Wonderful Oxford grad with a taste for "alternative" religious views, a family values candidate who believes that sexual gratification of ANY kind is best left for after marriage. Well read in...books and stuff.

Joe Miller....Lawyer, War hero, who believes that a woman must carry the product of incestuous rape to term. He is just your average joe, who wants gay issues dealt with at the state level, but wants the federal government to ban gay marriage.

Rand Paul....Doctor, healer of the sick. Believes that a store shop owner should have the right to turn away blacks and hispanics, but you can bet your bottom dollar he won't turn them away if der eyes needs a fixin'.

TAM:D
 
Pretty sad that they are reducing themselves to personal attacks.

""A recent study by the Wesleyan Media Project actually quantifies this. They looked at 900,000 airing of political ads this year and concluded: "Democrats are using personal attacks at much higher rates than Republicans and a much higher rate than Democrats in 2008."

You could have fooled me. Given that the Republicans are outspending them by several times, I see more Republican ads than Democrat ones, and if there is anything I see mostly, it is negative. If it's not negative personally, it is to negate anything done in the past two years; but what really takes the cake is the suggestion that this recession started with Obama.

People are stupid.
 
I'm not sure this is an accurate statement. I was under the impression that the Democrats were outspending the Republicans. I could be wrong, but it would be interesting to see some real numbers on this.

I am sure the numbers are there. I've heard them mentioned often enough, for what that is worth. The Supreme Court didn't help when they categorized businesses as persons as far as political donations go.

I do know I get junk mail daily sponsored by everything EXCEPT the Democrats or Republicans. Who the hell they are I don't have time to research, and they can all be sure they are treated as junk here.
 

Of course our right leaning friends, as usual, conveniently ignore fact and reality. That
these numbers based on party spending where all moneys have to be accounted for.

So while Dems are "showing" spending more money from registered legal sources, the Reps are taking advantage of the sleaze ball rule the SCOTUS allowed.

"The Center for Public Integrity found that Republican-allied groups are likely to outspend their Democratic-oriented rivals by 3 to 2, and maybe even by 2 to 1. The center is a respected nonprofit, nonpartisan source of investigative journalism devoted to making institutional power transparent and accountable.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/10/04/101589/tidal-wave-of-outside-money-swamping.html#ixzz13naw82QZ

So it's easy for the repugnicans to tip toe through the tulips when they have unnamed, unaccounted for sleazebags doing their dirty work. Along with repugnican politicians bought and paid for by groups like ALEC
 
Pretty sad that they are reducing themselves to personal attacks.

""A recent study by the Wesleyan Media Project actually quantifies this. They looked at 900,000 airing of political ads this year and concluded: "Democrats are using personal attacks at much higher rates than Republicans and a much higher rate than Democrats in 2008."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/vote...g-argument-personal-attacks/story?id=11996410

""In one typical example, Democratic ads have transformed Kentucky Republican House candidate Andy Barr into "a convicted criminal" -- complete with images yellow police tape and fuzzy video of crime scenes. Not mentioned is his crime: As a college student 19 years ago, he was caught using a fake ID during spring break.""

Pathetic. Can't wait until they are out of power.
If memory serves correctly, Republicans have used Ad Hominems since about '96...that's when I arrived in this country.
 
I hate how those Democrats use personal attacks all the time!

Just yesterday, I was telling my friend about how Obama is a Muslim, black liberation theology loving, fascist, socialist, Kenyan anti-colonialist, whose father might be Malcolm X, who doesn't love his country, pals around with terrorists, uses the terrorist fist jab, isn't really a citizen, has a real name of Barry Soetoro, bows and scrapes, lies, isn't really black but also has a deep seated hatred of white culture and white people, and went to a madrassa as a child, and all he could respond with were personal attacks!

Democrats, sheesh!
 

Back
Top Bottom