In my opinion, these commercials are ridiculous. In an ideal world people would be able to learn the truth, and thus would be unaffected by these commercials. However that is not how it is. People are influenced by these commercials, so lying into them is unforgivable. Particularly Obama, who's ads have "taken a decidedly negative tone in the past few weeks" (2). This is coming from someone who is supposedly above politics. Joe Trippi, a longtime Democratic strategist calls it "an eye for an eye"(3). This is outrageous. Because McCain, his opponent is doing it, that makes it ok for Obama to do it? One is supposed to stay above sinking to the enemies level. Fortunately there are some great resources I have found online likePolitifact that help people see who is lying and when. I feel bad for our nation when I see politicians lying, but I feel even worse when I see that it is an effective strategy.
Rutenberg, Jim. "Dubious Claims in Obama’s Ads Against McCain, Despite Vow of Truth." New York Times. 25 Sept. 2008. 9 Oct. 2008
4 comments:
I agree with you. The commercials for candidates can get ridiculous. Quotes get misinterpreted and lies are told in an effort to win the election. I think when people are competing for posts in government the facts should be given not lies.
I thought that everyone was smart enough not to be swayed by these commercials. Shouldn't they be able to know that these ads only tell lies about the candidates? Maybe the government could regulate or even ban political commercials; they should be smart enough to know that they aren't telling the truth, right? And if one wants to know which candidate to support, they should watch the debates or conventions because that is when the politicians can't tell lies.
I completely agree with you. It is completely heinous that politicians can get away with putting complete lies in commercials. For example, the lies put forward last election by the "Swift Boat Veterans" may have cost John Kerry and that should never happen again.
I also agree that lying to voters in political commercials is a terrible policy for politicians to have. However, I don't necessarily blame one candidate or the other; once the cycle of false attack-ads is started by one candidate, it seems like the opposing candidate needs to follow suit to even stay in the running of the race. I disagree with Brenden that debates and conventions are the best places to get information about candidates, though; candidates can just as easily lie about themselves or their opponents in these settings as they can in political ads.
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