Free Republic

Who is running the more negative campaign?By Mark Rhoads Sen. Barack Obama is being sold to the public as a paragon of virtue---until you read the fine print. Obama knows how to use statistics to misrepresent himself and he is master of subterfuge, demagoguery, and guile that puts even the triangulating Bill Clinton to shame. According to polls, most Americans now believe that Sen. John McCain, whose personal honor has been confirmed many times in his life, it the candidate who is running a more negative campaign. The New York Times, a newspaper that has endorsed Sen. Obama, reported a...

Watch this video from this morning. Goes through a study by the University of Wisconsin that shows this past weekend, Obama ran 1,342 negative ads against John McCain while McCain ran 8 (EIGHT!!!) against Obama in the same time period. Yet the MSM says McCain is running a negative campaign?

Alas, even when The One tries to get snarky and sarcastic about John McCain, he messes it up these days! In this video he is trying to attack John McCain for being too mean in his ads when he actually winds up saying that he wins the most negative ad contest "pretty handily!" . . . . (see video at link)

Obama Admits He Wins Contest of Publishing Negative and Irrelevant Ads ... "If we're going to ask questions about, you know, who has been promulgating negative ads that are completely unrelated to the issues at hand, I think I win that contest pretty handily," Obama said. ...

SPARKS, Nev. — In recent days Senator John McCain has charged that Senator Barack Obama “would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign,” tarred him as “Dr. No” on energy policy and run advertisements calling him responsible for high gas prices. The old happy warrior side of Mr. McCain has been eclipsed a bit lately by a much more aggressive, and more negative, Mr. McCain who hammers Mr. Obama repeatedly on policy differences, experience and trustworthiness. By doing so, Mr. McCain is clearly trying to sow doubts about his younger opponent, and bring him down a...

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama certainly did their homework before the 21st Democratic debate. Hillary Clinton knew what had been printed in the bulletin at Obama's church, and Obama knew the details of Bill Clinton's pardons. As Sen. Obama defended himself against elitism charges, he was clever enough to sneak in a reference to Hillary Clinton's famous 1992 line about how she didn't much bake cookies. This to prove that Yale-educated lawyers have just as much out-of-touch snob baggage as Harvard-educated lawyers do. Neither candidate had read up on the D.C. gun ban before the Supreme Court—because that way, they...

User Comments As the true Hillary is revealed, us here in the the Midwest aren't buying what she is selling! Posted by: Nick | Dec 1, 2007 6:36:57 PM All the dems are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. 75% of NY folks dont want drivers licenses for illegal aliens; so Hill had to back track on that. Same thing will happen in the general election. Fred Thompson is the only main stream pol who has come out for enforcement; not amnesty for illegal aliens. Watch how soon others follow. No candidate will be elected prez if...

One of the most daunting and widely repeated insights from recent social research holds, in essence, that your marriage is doomed if you and your spouse can’t muster up five positive interactions for every negative one... ...People don’t generally get pleasure from their central heating, for instance. But they notice when it doesn’t work. Or as Arthur Schopenhauer, the 19th-century German philosopher, put it, “We feel pain, but not painlessness....” ...It is, in fact, our biological nature to accentuate the negative, to dwell on the one cutting remark rather than the three or four sweet nothings. We differentiate between negative...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new survey shows Arab attitudes toward American people, products and culture grew increasingly negative last year, a finding that underscores the need for a change in U.S. Mideast policy, a leading expert on the region said on Thursday. James Zogby, the head of the Arab American Institute, said the annual survey of opinion in five Arab countries found that U.S. policy toward Iraq and the Palestinian conflict were the main issues driving deteriorating Arab opinion. "Our policies have not only had a worsening impact in terms of attitudes toward us but also in dampening confidence in...

WASHINGTON, April 5, 2006 – There is both good news and bad news coming out of Iraq, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said yesterday. The 2005 Iraqi elections were hopeful signs for the nation, Marine Gen. Peter Pace said at a meeting of the World Affairs Council at the Four Seasons Hotel here. Good news stories from the country include Iraq's election of a Transitional National Assembly in January 2005, the ratification in an October 2005 referendum of a constitution written by that body, and December national elections for representatives to the permanent parliament. He said the...

Here is a TV ad and a radio ad I made for the election. They won't be on TV or the radio, so feel free to send them around or host them on your own site if you have one.

Members of the services, are calling in to give their impressions of what's going on in Iraq...Every one i've heard, has accused the MSM of not telling the truth. Say they aren't telling about all the good stuff going on, and they don't understand why.

WASHINGTON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush asked Congress on Tuesday to consider giving him powers to use the military to enforce quarantines in case of an avian influenza epidemic. He said the military, and perhaps the National Guard, might be needed to take such a role if the feared H5N1 bird flu virus changes enough to cause widespread human infection. "If we had an outbreak somewhere in the United States, do we not then quarantine that part of the country? And how do you, then, enforce a quarantine?" Bush asked at a news conference. "It's one thing...

If you are one of the people that have Dish network and only subscribe to the top 60, you only have CNN. I watched CNN during the hurricane and was actually really impressed... Then came the cleanup... I have never seen such negativity. They focus only on the negative aspects. Every guest is prodded on the race question. Every scene is a person "down and out" on the street. Example: During a slow news section, Wolf Blitzer kept bringing up the apparent animosity between LA governor and the President. He kept bringing up the race issue. Etc. So I upgraded...

Native Hawaiians Seek Self-governing Body Sen. Akaka quote: Bill Could Mean Eventual Independence for Hawaiians By National Public Radio, 8/17/2005 8:22:38 AM Editor's Note: Here is the complete National Public Radio transcript from Aug. 16, 2005 with Anchor Steve Inskeep, Reporter Martin Kaste and various guests. This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep. Congress is considering legislation that would give native Hawaiians their own government. It would essentially grant them political status similar to that of Native American tribes. Here's NPR's Martin Kaste. (Soundbite of surf; birds) MARTIN KASTE reporting: You'll find no more potent symbol of...

A new public opinion poll indicates Americans are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the course of the war in Iraq. In a poll conducted by CNN, USA Today, and the Gallup organization, one-third of those surveyed said the United States should withdraw all troops from Iraq. That is the highest percentage calling for a full withdrawal since Gallup began asking the question in August 2003. The poll of 1004 adults, taken Friday through Sunday, also found that 57 percent of Americans feel the war has made them "less safe" from terrorism. Fifty-four percent of those surveyed said the United States made...

Success has many parents; failure is an orphan. That's the kind of fickle armchair opinions offered by some public figures and media commentators who are waffling supporters or critics of our mission in Iraq. Without embarrassment, their speeches and writings bounce around with the day's headlines. Who cares? They're just a bunch of talking heads anyway. And, with the expansion of choices in media, people are able to choose which ones reinforce their own dispositions. Surveys show that supporters tend to watch Fox, and opponents tend to watch CNN. The importance is two-fold. First, the larger middle is affected and...

First it was the Los Angeles Times who published the “Koran flushing story”, after the Newsweek story had been discredited. In an apparent attempt to help Newsweek find some of its lost credibility (and to take their own swipes at the US Military), now the rest of our leftist mainstream press has decided to print additional “Koran mishandling” stories. Hey! If a story is fake continue to print it, or other similar ones, so that maybe some of the uneducated will begin to believe them. Relying on a 2002 FBI report, notably one which merely referred to “allegations from detainees”,...

The headline-from Agence France Presse-says it all !

A bitter-sounding Sen. John Kerry dismissed the historic Iraqi election on Sunday, warning Americans not to "overhype" the watershed event. "No one in the United States should try to overhype this election," Kerry told NBC's "Meet the Press." The failed presidential candidate questioned the historic referendum's legitimacy, saying, "It's hard to say that something is legitimate when a whole portion of the country can't vote and doesn't vote." Kerry also pooh-poohed reports of a surprisingly high 72 percent turnout by Iraqi voters, insisting instead that the election has "gone as expected." Asked if he thought Iraq was now less of...

As Americans pick a president, one key criterion is how the war on terror is going. Is President Bush correct in his positive view or Senator Kerry in his negative one?This same debate, interestingly, is also taking place within conservative circles, where analysts sharing the same basic outlook - that Americans are fighting for their very existence - come to dramatically different conclusions. Consider the contrasting views of two important voices on the right, Mark Helprin and Tod Lindberg.Mr. Helprin, author of such powerful novels as A Soldier of the Great War and Winter's Tale, writes a despairing analysis in...

NEGATIVE campaigning works: People respond to it, because in most elections your most realistic bet is to vote not for a candidate who represents your every yearning but for the lesser of two evils. … Kerry-Edwards … is taking negative campaigning into uncharted territory. … the last six days … the Democratic campaign has hammered home: * Dick Cheney has a lesbian daughter, who is (says Kerry campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill) "fair game" for discussion. * President Bush is secretly planning to institute a draft. * Bush is deliberately going to destroy Social Security in order — why else?...

I just heard on the Malzberg show on WABC, Moore was thrown out of the RNC by the cops! the cops had to chuck him out at the request of the Associated Press. and apparently the cops were booing him. Does anyone else have any other info?

WASHINGTON - While politicians decry negative advertising and personal attacks, the bottom line is that such tactics often work. People may not quite recall the specific controversy, but negative campaigning can still raise a question mark in voters' minds about a candidate and prove hard to overcome. Attack campaigns, such as those by outside groups in the current presidential campaign, "are bad for the system," President Bush (news - web sites) said on Monday, including a television commercial questioning rival John Kerry (news - web sites)'s military service in Vietnam. No matter that Kerry and his supporters have claimed the...

ARLINGTON, VA -- Bush-Cheney '04 announced today the release of the campaign's newest television advertisement, "Intel."  The new advertisement highlights John Kerry's proposals to cut intelligence funding and his poor attendance record on the Senate Intelligence Committee. The advertisement will begin airing Monday on national cable and in select local markets.Script for "Intel"President Bush:I'm George W. Bush and I approve this message.Voice Over:John Kerry promises ... Graphic:John Kerry promises ...John Kerry:I will immediately reform the intelligence system.Voice Over:Oh really... As a member of the Intelligence Committee, Senator Kerry was absent for 76 percent of the Committee's hearings.Graphic:John Kerry...ABSENT76% of publicSenate...

You wanted campaign finance reform. You got campaign finance reform. McCain-Feingold promised to take the money out of politics. If you believed that, you deserve what you got. And what you got is an avalanche of money into politics this year as George Soros, Democratic big shots and, to a lesser extent, Republican moneymen (Republicans are slower on the uptake) get into the business of "independent" political expenditures. All that McCain-Feingold did was make it impossible to make huge personal contributions to political parties. But if you have far more money than you can ever hope to spend, what to...

(excerpted)...........A leading Georgia Democrat, a Democratic activist and others who spoke on condition that they not be identified said Kerry's campaign lieutenants have for months wanted the state party to launch a sustained counterattack against Miller. They said the campaign believes those who know Miller best would be most effective in undermining his credibility... ..After one Miller attack on Kerry a few months back, they said, the campaign came to Georgia Democrats armed with files full of positive things Miller had said within the last couple of years about the Democratic Party and many of its leaders, including Kerry.... ..But...

KERRY’S POSITIVE CAMPAIGN?“Goons” Taking America To “Hell”________________________________________________________________Before Convention, Kerry Pledged Positive CampaignBefore Convention, Kerry Said He Was Running Positive Campaign. “‘I’m running a positive and constructive campaign,’ Kerry said with a smile, ‘and it’s up to the American people to make their judgment about each of us.’” (Jill Zuckman and Jeff Zeleny, “Kerry Strives To Offer Voters ‘A Better Vision’ Of America,” Chattanooga Times Free Press, 7/25/04)But Right After, Kerry And Democrats Were At It AgainTeresa Heinz Kerry Likened Bush’s Four Years In White House To Four “Years Of Hell.” “Teresa Heinz Kerry, the candidate’s wife, provided her own rejoinder...

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - (KRT) - As John Kerry worked Sunday toward a late-day campaign appearance at a kids' softball game in Michigan, aides to him and President Bush began playing inside baseball with conflicting polls following the Democratic convention.One survey showed Kerry increasing a lead; another put Bush ahead.Kerry said polls don't matter, though he pointed out that a Newsweek one giving him a 7-point lead began interviewing people before his nomination acceptance speech Thursday."This will go up and down," Kerry said on "Fox News Sunday."Indeed, just a few hours later, Kerry aides learned that a new USA Today/CNN/...

BOSTONThe Democratic National Convention tried to steal Ronald Reagan's optimism. Behind the party's smiling masks, though, was the traditional Democratic cynicism that says people can't do much for themselves without the help of government.The "no Bush bashing" and the ban on talk about "gay marriage" messages went out early and are being (almost) enforced. There are references to President Bush's "dishonesty" and laments about the federal deficit, which never seemed to bother big-spending Democrats when they controlled the checkbook.But these are not your "San Francisco Democrats" now served up for the TV audience from this East Coast liberal city. These...

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (10:27 PM): "Between now and November, you, the American people, you can reject this tired old hateful negative politics of the past and instead you can embrace the politics of hope, the politics of what's possible, because this is America where everything is possible." (Sen. John Edwards, Remarks At The Democratic National Convention, Boston , MA, 7/28/04 )   AL SHARPTON (8:30 PM): "I suggest to you tonight that if George Bush had selected the court in ‘54, Clarence Thomas would have never got to law school." (Rev. Al Sharpton, Remarks At The Democratic National Convention, Boston...

Kerry, Edwards, Hollywood, and the Politics of Hate By Andrew L. Jaffee, July 13, 2004 Home   Search   Forum   Terms John Kerry and John Edwards both looked at the same intelligence presented to President Bush, and they voted for the Iraq war. Then both Kerry and Edwards voted against an $87 billion funding package for our troops in Iraq. How could they be both for and against the war? Kerry, the great flip-flopper, has even gone so far as stating, I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it. Several weeks before Kerry voted against the $87 billion bill,...

American Psychological Society Date: 2004-03-26 Report Shows 'Unequivocal Evidence' That Media Violence Has Significant Negative Impact On Children Research report provides 'A scientific assessment of research on the influence of violent television and films, video games, and music "reveals unequivocal evidence that media violence increases the likelihood of aggressive and violent behavior" in children and youth, according to a report published in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, a journal of the American Psychological Society. The report reviews the large body of research that has investigated the ways in which violent media influence behavior. Across all media genres, the authors...

President Bush unleashed the first negative ads of the general election campaign Thursday, accusing Democratic rival John Kerry of seeking to raise taxes by $900 billion and wanting to "delay defending America." "John Kerry: Wrong on taxes. Wrong on defense," says an announcer in a new 30-second ad that will begin airing in battleground states. Kerry's campaign, calling the $900 billion figure "completely made up," prepared a response ad titled, "Misleading America" that would accuse Bush by name of distorting the Democrat's record, officials said on condition of anonymity. A second Bush ad tells voters they face choices on the...

California GO, Lease Ratings Placed on CreditWatch Negative Due to Budget Uncertainty Analyst: David G Hitchcock, New York (1) 212-438-2022; Alexander M Fraser, Dallas (1) 214-871-1406 Publication date: 02-Jul-03, 12:46:50 EST Reprinted from RatingsDirect NEW YORK (Standard & Poor's) July 2, 2003--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today it placed its 'A' rating on California's $26.8 billion general fund-supported general obligation debt and $6.7 billion state general fund lease-supported debt on CreditWatch with negative implications, reflecting the state's lack of progress in adopting a fiscal 2004 budget and the diminishing prospects that meaningful structural budget reform will result from an...

why do insults once hurled at us stick inside our skull, sometimes for decades? Why do some people have to work extra hard to ward off depression? The answer is, for the same reason political smear campaigns outpull positive ones. Nastiness just makes a bigger impact on our brains. And that is due to the brain's "negativity bias": Your brain is simply built with a greater sensitivity to unpleasant news. The bias is so automatic that it can be detected at the earliest stage of the brain's information processing. Take, for example, the studies done by John Cacioppo, Ph.D., then...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 June 17 The Bubble Nebula from NOAO Credit: Brad Ehrhorn & Adam Block, NOAO, AURA, NSF Explanation: It's the bubble versus the cloud. NGC 7635, the Bubble Nebula, is being pushed out by the stellar wind of massive central star BD+602522. Next door, though, lives a giant molecular cloud, visible above to the lower right. At this place in space, an irresistible force meets an immovable object...

April 14, 2003 7:15 a.m.Our Western MobFrom the graveyard of Kabul to the quagmire of Iraq to the looting of Baghdad. The jubilation of liberating millions from fascism and removing the world’s most odious dictator apparently lasted about 12 hours. I was listening to a frustrated Mr. Rumsfeld last Friday in a news briefing as he tried to deal with a host of furious and crazy questions — a journalistic circus that was nevertheless predictable even before the war started.I thought immediately of the macabre aftermath to the battle of Arginusae in 406 B.C. After destroying a great part...

WASHINGTON (AP) - In the eyes of much of the world, this is America: an inconsiderate lone wolf that has really good entertainment but really bad values, that wants war with Iraq just to get oil but still should remain as the only superpower on Earth. In a broad international survey released Wednesday, the Pew Global Attitudes Project found that the United States is falling out of favor in 19 of 27 countries where a trend could be identified. The dislike was especially striking in Muslim countries. Seventy-five percent of those surveyed in Jordan had an unfavorable opinion of America,...

Support The DrudgeReport; Visit Our Advertisers DAY ONE: MONDALE GOES NEGATIVE Thu Oct 31 2002 17:32:31 ET A new negative radio ad against Minnesota Republican Senate candidate Norm Coleman was launched just hours after former Vice President Walter Mondalee agreed to run for Senate. Text of Ad, obtained by DRUDGE: It sent thousands of good paying Minnesota jobs to China and Mexico. Free trade has led to 36 bankruptcies in the steel industry alone. And where was Norm Coleman when 1200 jobs were lost at LTV steel mining in Aurora because of the illegal dumping of steel? And by...

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant has ruled that GOP candidate Bill Simon has done nothing illegal regarding financial dealings that have damaged his campaign. The earlier $78 million civil fraud verdict against Simon & Sons found Bill Simon gradually losing ground, after coming neck in neck with the incumbent Gray Davis, in the race for the California Governor’s office. But Judge Chalfant has found the previous ruling, that Simon’s business dealings were illegal, to be wrong. California is a liberal leaning state that voted strongly for Al Gore. The Republican Party in California is often described...

It was the kind of uranium that — if highly enriched — would, by some estimates, provide about half the material required for a crude nuclear device and more than enough for a so-called dirty bomb — a nightmare scenario for U.S. authorities. "I would say that the single largest, most urgent threat to Americans today is the threat of nuclear terrorism," said Graham Allison, an expert on nuclear terrorism. Allison is the director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and a former assistant secretary of defense. This suitcase's journey was...

<p>DEMOCRATS have a paradoxical problem that explains the downbeat assessments of their chances in this year's congressional elections: They are so close to controlling both houses that they are petrified of doing anything that might get in the way. But worrying too much about losing is not a strategy for winning.</p>