<p>Well, I saw Obama being compared to Hitler on CC just today!</p>
<p>I would be extremely surprised if everyone in the military supported Obama. But not supporting him is NO excuse for circulating falsehoods. Oh, and McCain’s newest anti-Obama ad has been described as disgusting. Doesn’t McCain have ads that actually tell us what HIS plans are instead of attacking Obama?</p>
<p>How so, Mari-tay? (a cool name btw)</p>
<p>p2n:</p>
<p>Here is a link:
[Talking</a> Points Memo](<a href=“http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/]Talking”>http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/)</p>
<p>Look at the ad, look at pictures of Obama visiting troops released by the military, not his campaign, and then decide for yourself.</p>
<p>I really take no pleasure in criticizing McCain whom I used to admire a great deal even though I disagreed with many of his policies. I still disagree with his policies, but my respect is eroding.</p>
<p>PS: Maritay is the correct pronunciation (there should be an accent aigu over the e).</p>
<p>Understood. I remember enough of my French classes to get that. 
</p>
<p>Ok, I saw the ad - (did you know that site loads you up with cookies? At least 11). Yep, welcome to high stakes campaigning. Obama opened himself to such attacks and McCain is no dummy. Obama will come back with something similar or he’ll lose. Negative ads work.</p>
<p>But you knew that already. ;)</p>
<p>As an aside, I once underwent an intensive immersion language training course. Compared to what I had in college (called the “Dartmouth” method back then) the college material was easy. By the end of the exhausting period of training I used to respond to questions in one language with another language - not the desired one. The instructor missed the the correct response, albeit in the wrong language. I guess I was tired…but it was interesting.</p>
<p>That is a disgusting ad. Rove at work. </p>
<p>The Pentagon told Obama he couldn’t visit those troops, not because of cameras but because the 2nd part of his trip was being paid for by the campaign versus the 1st part, which was an official Senate fact-finding trip, with Senators from both sides of the aisle. </p>
<p>What was Obama supposed to do? Ignore the Pentagon? THAT would have been a great McCain ad.</p>
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<p>This is so sad. I actually believed McCain a few months back when he promised that he would NOT run a negative campaign. Now, that’s all you see on his end–attack ads against Obama, nasty remarks about Obama, etc. So far, Obama is the only one upholding the pledge to stay positive and on-issue.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the negative ads work so well–which is why they continue to be used. The ads will try to confuse the electorate, and a confused electorate will vote for what the guy who has been around forever (or so it’s hoped). </p>
<p>I had hoped that with Rove out of the picture (he is, isn’t he?), the tenor of this presidential campaign would be better than the one 4 years ago. 4 years ago was terrible!</p>
<p>Nope, Rove is very much in the picture. See: [McCain</a> Orders Shake-Up of His Campaign - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/us/politics/03manage.html?ex=1372824000&en=e4df6854417b9483&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink]McCain”>http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/03/us/politics/03manage.html?ex=1372824000&en=e4df6854417b9483&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink)</p>
<p>Are you kidding? Do you suggest that negative ads were developed by Karl Rove? Surely you don’t think this.</p>
<p>Consider: [Negative</a> campaigning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_campaigning]Negative”>Negative campaigning - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>Negative ads work. Including false ones, unfortunately.</p>
<p>The classic “false” negative ad is the one run by Lyndon Johnson (Democrat) against Republican Barry Goldwater in 1964: [Daisy</a> (television advertisement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisy_(television_advertisement]Daisy">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisy_(television_advertisement))</p>
<p>Karl Rove was a teenager in 1964. 
(Maybe he was tainted by the ad? Hmmm)</p>
<p>Wasn’t that only run once (during the '64 campaign)? Yeah, that was a classic. I’ve probably seen it a hundred times over the years and it’s still scary.</p>
<p>p2n:</p>
<p>You’re right. The thing, though, I don’t think this particular McCain ad will work. There just are too many pictures of Obama with the troops, playing basketball, having breakfast, and so on, courtesy of the military press that so discomfited Andrea Mitchell for the ad to really stick.
A bit like the one blaming Obama for the high price of gas.</p>
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<p>Elected office is the only job I know of where you get the job by badmouthing the other candidates. Can you imagine how quickly a job applicant at company would shown the door if he spent most of the interview trashing the other applicants instead of discussing his own skills and qualifications.</p>
<p>^ very true. The problem is that if I were to believe all the negative stuff, I’d want to stay home; it would not make me want to vote for the negative campaigner. But wait, it appears that McCain’s supporters are somewhat less enthusiastic than Obama’s. Could be because McCain is not really giving them something to be enthusiastic about.</p>
<p>Dang Obama is simply too smart!</p>
<p>Karen Tumulty: "Was there anything that you saw on this trip that changed your mind? John McCain, as you know, is saying, “Well, he already knew what he was going to think before he got there.”</p>
<p>Barack Obama: “Well, I thought John also suggested that I’m always changing my mind, so he’s got to make up his mind about what he says about my mind.”</p>
<p>[Obama:</a> ‘We Have a Daunting Task’ - TIME](<a href=“http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1825738,00.html?xid=rss-politics-cnn]Obama:”>http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1825738,00.html?xid=rss-politics-cnn)</p>
<p>Compare and contrast, courtesy of the Jerusalem Post</p>
<p>
[Obama</a> on Iran, Syria, and Jerusalem | Columnists | Jerusalem Post](<a href=“Satellite News and latest stories | The Jerusalem Post”>Satellite News and latest stories | The Jerusalem Post)</p>
<p>This is what the author referred to, from a May 20, 2008 article:</p>
<p>
[Diplomacy:</a> ‘The nature of the enemy is hydra-headed’ | Front Lines - the week that was | Jerusalem Post](<a href=“Satellite News and latest stories | The Jerusalem Post”>Satellite News and latest stories | The Jerusalem Post)</p>
<p>And about the negative ad about Obama going to the gym instead of visiting the troops? The shot of Obama at the “gym” was actually Obama shooting hoops with the troops in Kuwait, courtesy of the military. Now, Obama could not visit the troops in Germany because he was in campaign mode, that leg of his trip being paid by his campaign. But the ad is clearly paid by the McCain campaign, and is used for his campaign, and it makes use of military footage to tell a whopping lie, and do so in an incredibly stupid way since people have been able to identify that particular scene. Stupid and dishonorable and against Pentagon and State Dept. rules.</p>
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<p>Not developed by Rove, but he is a master of negative ads and negative campaigning. On the plus side, he refined the art of targeting his constituency and motivating them to come out to vote.</p>