# McCain's negative strategy: Will it work? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 31, 2008, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357 "2008-07-31T14:49:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/41 "2008-07-31T19:32:41Z")
[QUOTE=RTFirefly] And comparing him to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton was a perfectly reasonable way of doing it. Gotcha. I assume you won’t object if some lefty 527 runs ads comparing McCain to some street crazy who has shouted conversations with invisible beings on street corners. [/QUOTE] I wasn’t talking about any specific ad. I haven’t seen any of the McCain ads, since I don’t watch ads on TV. I record everything I want to watch on my DVR and skip the ads. I was making a general point. ---
**Author:** ![Airblairxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Airblairxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airblairxxx)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/42 "2008-07-31T19:34:30Z")
I’m going to disagree with the majority of people here and say that yes, I think this going negative stuff is working. I bring numbers for your perusal. [Quinnipiac polls](http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x2882.xml?ReleaseID=1196) in Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania that were released today show that the race could be tightening, when if anything Obama should be getting some kind of bounce from his foreign trip. A [PPP poll](http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2008/07/michigan-presidentsenate.html) of Michigan released yesterday shows that Obama’s lead went from 9 in June to 3. As to why, I suggest that the point of McCain’s going negative is to give his base something to hate. Republicans seem to thrive on that. From the PPP site: > [@](#): > > PPP’s June Michigan poll showed 19% of self identified Republican voters crossing over to support Obama, but that figure has now been reduced to 9%. Obama also now trails 50-40 among white voters after holding a two point lead with them last month. It really is amazing. Obama’s the one with less experience, but McCain simply can’t be bothered to tell voters why to vote for him. And it’s working. This is looking like 2004 all over again. Sigh . . . ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/43 "2008-07-31T19:37:47Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Tell us what you’re going to do, McCain [/QUOTE] Sure, as soon as he figures out how to do so in a way that will offend neither the voters who want to repair the damage done by the Bush Administration or the voters who still think Dubya is the greatest thing since no-bid contracts. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/44 "2008-07-31T19:38:17Z")
[QUOTE=Sam Stone] I wasn’t talking about any specific ad. I haven’t seen any of the McCain ads, since I don’t watch ads on TV. I record everything I want to watch on my DVR and skip the ads. I was making a general point. [/QUOTE] I don’t watch ads on TV either, since I’m hard-pressed to remember the last time I watched TV at all. But there’s these things called the Intertubes or something. (Rumor has it that we couldn’t be having this discussion without 'em. :)) You can see ads on them. [Here’s the Britney/Paris ad](http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/07/new_mccain_ad_attacks_obama_as.php). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/45 "2008-07-31T19:45:41Z")
[QUOTE=Frostillicus] I don’t know about you guys, but when I hear Barack Obama speak in front of hundreds of thousands of people, I immediately think of a couple of dumb blonde sluts. Either that or Adolf Hitler. [/QUOTE] Or [both at once.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussian_Blue_%28duo%29) ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/46 "2008-07-31T19:46:46Z")
[QUOTE=duality72] Like many of his so-called beliefs, running a respectable campaign went out the window as soon as he saw it was a loser for him. [/QUOTE] I have a mental image of the Spirits of McCain Past (when he was actually something of a maverick, willing to forthrightly challenge the cancers on the GOP), McCain Present (making an ass of himself with this circus show), and McCain Yet To Come (doing commercials for skin care products). ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/47 "2008-07-31T19:49:33Z")
[QUOTE=Steve MB] McCain Yet To Come (doing commercials for skin care products). [/QUOTE] I’m picturing Zonker Harris doing the skin cancer PSAs in the late 80s in Doonesbury… ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/48 "2008-07-31T19:50:25Z")
I think that it is not so much the strategy, I think their only hope is to make Obama look bad, but the execution. These ads - celvity, oil prices, visiting the troops - are all so incredibly poor and misquided that they are simply not working and if anything they will probably work against McCain. ---
**Author:** ![holmes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e95f7d/32.png) [@holmes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/holmes)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/49 "2008-07-31T20:31:35Z")
[QUOTE=Airblairxxx] I’m going to disagree with the majority of people here and say that yes, I think this going negative stuff is working. \>\>snip\<\< As to why, I suggest that the point of McCain’s going negative is to give his base something to hate. Republicans seem to thrive on that. [/QUOTE] One of the talking heads on MSNBC was saying that McCain was targeting his campaign to the same group that Hillary was…the uneducated, working class whites, who simply aren’t ‘bright’, enough to be bothered to look past the ads and will just accept what they say because it’s what they want to believe about Obama. The other people on the panel were like, “No, no the American people are smarter than that…” He told them they were fooling themselves, that it will work within that subset of voters. I guess the question is, how many of them are there? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/50 "2008-07-31T20:39:04Z")
> [@](#): > > Their latest gambit is to paint Obama as a ‘celebrity’ like (quite specifically) Britney Spears or Paris Hilton. As long as Obama keeps his underwear on in public, he should be okay. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/51 "2008-07-31T21:25:35Z")
If they don’t work this time, it will be the first. He can narrow the gap by going negative, he can even take the lead. But the debates are going to be THE defining moments of the campaign, as they were in 1980. When people see them side by side and Obama can give reassurance to those that think he isn’t up to the job, then Obama wins in a walk. Plus, there is the not insignificant chance that McCain erupts during a debate or comes off like that poor sap that ran with Perot. ---
**Author:** ![ManiacMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b782af/32.png) [@ManiacMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ManiacMan)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/52 "2008-07-31T21:42:34Z")
> [@](#): > > To that end, McCain is helping frame a not-so-flattering portrait of Obama for voters. His ads have become increasingly tough; a third of his commercials portray Obama negatively, **a new study concluded**. What study, precisely? Funded by whom? > [@](#): > > For his part, Obama has managed to keep his hands cleaner on negative ads, though he has counter-punched. Instead, outside groups that support him have run commercials against McCain. Of course “his” hands are “clean”… other people are doing his dirty-work for him. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/53 "2008-07-31T21:57:19Z")
[QUOTE=Airblairxxx] I’m going to disagree with the majority of people here and say that yes, I think this going negative stuff is working. [/QUOTE] I think you’re right, considering Obama’s rebuttal ad, with the single-word and mere phrases said by God knows who since they scroll through too quickly to see who they’re atributed to, comes off little better than responding “Nuh Uh!”, “I know you are but what am I?”, “I’m rubber, you’re glue…” and “So’s your mom.” Seriously, we’re supposed to be swayed that McCain is wrong with someone declaring his statements as “not true” and “baloney”? Wow. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/54 "2008-07-31T21:59:50Z")
[QUOTE=ManiacMan] What study, precisely? Funded by whom? [/QUOTE] It’s quoted a few paragraphs down in the article. And was quoted in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![pingnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@pingnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pingnak)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/55 "2008-07-31T22:28:42Z")
Like it or not, the majority of Americans are as stupid as a bag of hammers. I’m serious. Draw your ‘bell curve’ almost any way you like, smart people are a tiny minority, and ‘average’ people, along with their below-average counterparts are the majority. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of ‘average’ people COULD be a LOT brighter, if they went back to school and exercised their minds a bit… but they mostly vegetate in front of the idiot box instead, watching Fox news between their ‘prime time’ shows, becoming measurably more slack-jawed and drooly by the hour. Instead of the lean-mean-thinking-machines they could be, they become the intellectually lazy mouth breathers they are, letting ‘authority’ figures spoon feed them whatever ‘truth’ they like to hear. They feel ‘entitled’ to have someone do the hard thinking for them, just as they feel ‘entitled’ to grab a Mexican by the Home Depot to do the heavy lifting. If you spend $30,000,000 on an ad campaign for personal cranial intrusion kits, ‘average’ people will buy and use them, and the sad fact of the matter is, it won’t much impact their ‘intelligence’ if they do use them. Politicians ‘go negative’ because it works. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/56 "2008-07-31T22:35:05Z")
[It isn’t much so far](http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/30/campaign.poll/index.html) > [@](#): > > The poll suggests that few of the McCain campaign’s criticisms of Obama’s trip have stuck, especially charges Obama was presumptuously acting as if he had already won the election and claims that he nixed a visit with injured troops because members of the media could not accompany him. > > Instead, more than two-thirds of voters surveyed said the trip was appropriate for a presidential candidate, and 72 percent said they think Obama cares about veterans and the troops in Iraq. > > A third of voters polled said they believe that Obama is arrogant, about the same number who said that of McCain. That result comes the same day the McCain campaign released a hard-hitting ad that declares Obama is the “biggest celebrity in the world.” > > “There is some danger for McCain in making these charges. Forty percent say he is attacking Obama unfairly, while only 22 percent say Obama is unfairly attacking McCain,” Holland said. “Nonetheless, both men have very high favorable ratings.” > > McCain falls behind Obama in every single economic and domestic issue tested by the poll, especially when it comes to jobs and health care. Obama polls ahead in both those categories by double-digit margins. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/57 "2008-07-31T23:29:34Z")
[QUOTE=Onomatopoeia] I could very well be wrong, but no, I don’t have the impression that McCain is running his own campaign. My feeling is he’s being handled, and yes, to a higher degree than politicians are normally handled. I imagine a bullpen session between McCain and his crew going something like this: **JM** : My friends, I know you’re all working hard, and want to win this thing as much as I do, believe me, but I think we need to start focusing on preparing for the debates, and getting Obama to commit to some dates here. **Crew** : John, we’re freaking dying here. Our ploy to denigrate Obama for not going to Iraq backfired… **JM** : …well, see, my friends, that’s what I m… **Crew** : …John! We have to up the ante here, okay? We want to run a series of ads promoting Obama’s negatives, you know, let the public know the real Obama, ratchet up the fear quotient… **JM** : …but… **Crew** : A subliminal reference to his race perhaps, even though that can get a little dicey for… **JM** : …What!? wait a minute… **Crew** : John, we’re not getting traction here. We need to go full bore now. The gloves need to come off. **JM** : My friends… **Crew** : John, we all respect you, you know that, but the public needs to know how great you really are. How best to do that than to knock Obama off his pedestal publicly? **JM** : Now listen, I said I wanted to run a campaign on the issues only… **Crew** : John, the issue is we’re losing. Now, one of the ideas is to run an ad ridiculing Obama’s popularity. We can include shots of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton to tie… **JM** : Brit who? And what does France have to do with this? **Crew** : John, just let us handle things, okay? We won’t let you down. **JM** : Uh… **Crew** : Oh, and it’s okay to use your approval recording for the ads, right? Thanks John! **JM** : Um… [/QUOTE] Another reason we don’t need him for this important job. ---
**Author:** ![ManiacMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b782af/32.png) [@ManiacMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ManiacMan)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/58 "2008-08-01T01:29:18Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] It’s quoted a few paragraphs down in the article. And was quoted in the OP. [/QUOTE] Ah the “Wisconsin Advertising Project”…missed it. Hmm let’s see…I think I get it. Because McCain’s campaign is supposedly more negative at this point in time than Osama’s Mr. McCain’s campaign tactics should be brought into question? Is that the gist of it? Give me a break… :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/59 "2008-08-01T02:46:58Z")
[QUOTE=ManiacMan] Ah the “Wisconsin Advertising Project”…missed it. Hmm let’s see…I think I get it. Because McCain’s campaign is supposedly more negative at this point in time than Osama’s Mr. McCain’s campaign tactics should be brought into question? Is that the gist of it? Give me a break… :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] Osama’s??? Tsk. Tsk… ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/60 "2008-08-01T02:49:10Z")
[QUOTE=Gangster Octopus] Osama’s??? Tsk. Tsk… [/QUOTE] Never mind. This isn’t the forum to post what I posted about **MM** … [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357.md?page=4)