# 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:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**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, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/61 "2008-08-01T02:56:50Z")
Oops…a typo. Sorry! ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/62 "2008-08-01T04:22:41Z")
I’m on the Obama mail list, and, hafta say, they really jumped on this last McCain “Celebrity” ad with aplomb: well worded counterpoint, and running Obama’s response ad in a window with the page you could donate. I did, counting that donation as a spike “vote” against the negative ads. That’s a new technique, but an important one . ---
**Author:** ![garius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e19b73/32.png) [@garius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garius)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/63 "2008-08-01T08:33:53Z")
[QUOTE=ManiacMan] Oops…a typo. Sorry! [/QUOTE] Finally! A kindred spirit! Long have I yearned to meet someone else who has a keyboard where the ‘S’ and ‘B’ keys are close enough together to render typos possible. [Maltron keyboard users for McCain Unite!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maltron_keyboard) ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/64 "2008-08-01T12:18:33Z")
[QUOTE=ManiacMan] Oops…a typo. Sorry! [/QUOTE] A typo are you sure? It appears more like a Freudian slip to me and I suspect others. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/65 "2008-08-01T13:15:56Z")
[QUOTE=garius] Long have I yearned to meet someone else who has a keyboard where the ‘S’ and ‘B’ keys are close enough together to render typos possible. [/QUOTE] There are many people who post their opinions on the Web whose B and S keys are practically Siamese twins. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/66 "2008-08-01T13:29:33Z")
[QUOTE=ManiacMan] 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] Well sure. Why not? I think people here are more against the tactic of attack such that the message matters less than the accusation. Nevermind if the attack is blatantly inaccurate or false. Just smear your opponent and hope something sticks. That it has proven in the past to be an effective tactic does not alter our collective distaste for it. So yeah, we’ll call bullshit when we see it. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/67 "2008-08-01T18:19:40Z")
[QUOTE=Onomatopoeia] Unlike some of my political brethren, I honestly believe McCain wants to run a respectable and positive campaign. The GOP/RNC and their associates, however, have little to no concern about respectability and simply want to win by the tried and true methods in their arsenal, hence a conflict, and one McCain may not be able to resolve. [/QUOTE] If there was any merit to the “compare how they’re organizing and commanding their campaigns” argument that popped up during the Obama/Clinton primary, it seems similarly applicable here. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/68 "2008-08-01T20:48:04Z")
[QUOTE=ManiacMan] Oops…a typo. Sorry! [/QUOTE] Say… You don’t happen to work at Fox News by any chance? ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2008, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/69 "2008-08-01T23:09:54Z")
By the time November comes around, gas prices will be down, the housing market will be rebounding, and people will have time to be concerned about the black terrorist about to take over their country again. The McCain ads will work. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/70 "2008-08-02T02:13:08Z")
Well, Obama’s campaign is reporting that they had 100,000 contributions made on Thursday, a third of which came from new donors. The average donation in June was $68 (the month of Obama’s donation drought) but that’d still be $6.8mil taken in yesterday largely on the strength of McCain’s ads. So I guess McCain’s strategy worked for something. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/71 "2008-08-02T03:07:51Z")
After learning that the average June donation was $68, I made a few donations in July of $68.08. When I find out the average donation amount for July, I’ll adjust the dollars accordingly. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/72 "2008-08-02T03:40:04Z")
My mistake above. May was Obama’s dry month. In June he was back up over $50mil. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/73 "2008-08-02T18:52:45Z")
I recommend the linked article “The Low-Road Warrior” by John Heilman in New York Magazine. He’s got some very cogent points here, and its not real long, or anything. > **[Is Mudslinging the Only Way John McCain Can Win? -- New York Magazine - Nymag](https://nymag.com/news/politics/powergrid/48928/)** > > On the morning in March when Barack Obama was preparing to give his speech on race in Philadelphia to try to contain the fallout from the Jeremiah Wright imbroglio, I was having breakfast in Washington with a member of John McCain’s inner circl \[...\] ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2008, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/74 "2008-08-02T18:54:45Z")
[QUOTE=Mosier] By the time November comes around, gas prices will be down, the housing market will be rebounding, and people will have time to be concerned about the black terrorist about to take over their country again. The McCain ads will work. [/QUOTE] I agree that they may work better if the economy picks up. Big if, though. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2008, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/75 "2008-08-03T03:39:16Z")
Man, if you can’t get your own mother behind ya… > [@Huffinton Post](#): > > Sen. John McCain may be “proud” of the Paris Hilton/Britney Spears ad released this week, but his feisty 96-year-old mother apparently [disagrees](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/01/roberta-mccain-chimes-in_n_116387.html). > > Roberta McCain was a featured guest at a McCain campaign event on Thursday afternoon at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington DC. The Huffington Post obtained some audio of an exchange after the event where Mrs. McCain is asked about the Paris Hilton ad. > > “Oh, well, I didn’t see it – I think it’s kinda stupid,” she says. “I’m just too old-hat for it. In fact, the other two, I didn’t even know who they were. I knew who Paris Hilton was, but then there were other two young girls…” (Someone informed Mrs. McCain that there were only two women in the ad, and that the other was Britney Spears.) Maybe she can pinch his ear and get that boy back in line 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/76 "2008-08-04T01:53:42Z")
[McCain’s attack strategy paying dividends.](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/mccain_obama_poll) > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON - Intensified attacks by Republican John McCain on the character of his Democratic opponent have coincided with Barack Obama losing a nine percentage point advantage in a national poll, which showed the candidates running dead even over the weekend. In every election there is an outcry over negative campaigning. It is juvenile and dishonest, and yet it almost always works. I want to meet a voter that changed his mind because of the Britney ad, just so I can kick him in the nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2008, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357/77 "2008-08-04T02:26:46Z")
> [@Lakai](#): > > I want to meet a voter that changed his mind because of the Britney ad, just so I can kick him in the nuts. Oh man, am I glad you don’t have my job. I meet those voters every day. It takes some willpower, let me tell ya. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mccains-negative-strategy-will-it-work/458357.md?page=3)