# The "Ad" and the Coming Political Season **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 25, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ad-and-the-coming-political-season/215276 "2003-11-25T23:45:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ad-and-the-coming-political-season/215276/41 "2003-11-26T05:44:57Z")
Who? ---
**Author:** ![captainQwark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@captainQwark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/captainQwark)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ad-and-the-coming-political-season/215276/42 "2003-11-26T06:03:43Z")
huh? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ad-and-the-coming-political-season/215276/43 "2003-11-26T06:18:39Z")
Ho’s. ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ad-and-the-coming-political-season/215276/44 "2003-11-26T12:36:38Z")
too silly. too silly. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ad-and-the-coming-political-season/215276/45 "2003-11-26T12:49:50Z")
Lost bandwidth. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ad-and-the-coming-political-season/215276/46 "2003-11-26T13:15:51Z")
So what? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ad-and-the-coming-political-season/215276/47 "2003-11-26T14:13:19Z")
So… if the majority of people are stupid… and swayed by easily-discoverable lies… and we elect leaders by majority vote… then it seems clear to me that the Republicans’ tactics are correct, in that they will secure a majority of voters. What’s the problem? ---
**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:** [November 26, 2003, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ad-and-the-coming-political-season/215276/48 "2003-11-26T14:43:05Z")
The problem is that it drives many self-described intellectuals crazy. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ad-and-the-coming-political-season/215276/49 "2003-11-26T15:48:50Z")
Not quite sure who you mean, **John**. Can’t remember the last time I heard anyone describe himself as an “intellectual”. Would that be someone who knows the difference between Nietzche and a hole in the ground? (One is a paranoid German bachelor philosopher and the other is a localized absence of dirt.) Does that qualify? Don’t you really mean, like, “wimps”? “Girly-boys”? “Liberal pansies”? The kind of people who shrink from a virile, manly foreign policy and the virile, manly procedure of making folks dead. Is that what you’re getting at here? The kind of people who simply can’t understand that you can’t make an omelette (or even a quiche, for that matter) without breaking a few eggs. Well, I see the broken eggs, **John**. Kinda hard not too, they’re pretty much all over the place. But where’s the omelette, **John**? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ad-and-the-coming-political-season/215276/50 "2003-11-26T15:53:57Z")
Campaign worker to Adlai Stevenson: “Don’t worry, all the thinking people are on your side!” Adlai Stevenson: “That’s not enough - I need a majority.” Actually, the secret Republican campaign strategy is to run political ads with which (gasp!) _Democrats disagree!_ Then, driven mad by the horrors of such underhandedness, they will mistakenly mark their ballots for Pat Buchanan. Again. Or simply collapse with a fit of the vapors at the sheer perfidy of a political ad that points out that not all Democrats support Bush and his war on terror. It’s a lock on the White House, I’m telling ya. The thing is, the actual campaign is going to begin. Not just the Democratic candidates jockeying for position, but a campaign in which they will run opposed, against a candidate with a substantial war chest and a proven record of staying on message during a campaign. Isn’t it a little silly to expect either side to run their campaign ads by the other side for approval first? Of course, the simple fact that something as straightforward as this causes the looney Left to lose their dentures screamig is an indication of the hysteria on the other side. That this sort of thing is leftie rant fodder, while the presence of the egregious Sharpton in the field of Democratic candidates passes unmentioned, is evidence that blood pressure medication futures are a good bet to rise in the fever swamps of the party of the jackass. Get used to it - lots more to come. Lots and lots and lots. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ad-and-the-coming-political-season/215276/51 "2003-11-26T17:52:34Z")
“Isn’t it a little silly to expect either side to run their campaign ads by the other side for approval first?” DING DING DING! Now, if you think the ad’s the Greatest Lie since the snake in the Garden of Eden, say so to its face, so to speak, with editorials and in debates and with your own ads. All of which we Dems are doing. But demanding it be taken off the air? Uh uh. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ad-and-the-coming-political-season/215276/52 "2003-11-26T18:31:14Z")
Yeah, it’s not as if Bush is running a miniseries on Reagan or anything here. ---
**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:** [November 26, 2003, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ad-and-the-coming-political-season/215276/53 "2003-11-26T18:49:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Squink \* > \*\*Yeah, it’s not as if Bush is running a miniseries on Reagan or anything here. \*\* Hey, if you have a large enough constituency, complain to the TV stations and tell them you’ll boycott them. If you don’t, then I guess that’s just too bad, isn’t it?🙂 ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ad-and-the-coming-political-season/215276/54 "2003-11-26T20:45:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bricker \* > So… if the majority of people are stupid… and swayed by easily-discoverable lies… and we elect leaders by majority vote… then it seems clear to me that the Republicans’ tactics are correct, in that they will secure a majority of voters. What’s the problem? Nothing, if you don’t mind having a nation of idiots led by liars. Actually, I don’t think the majority of people are stupid – but they _are_ easily swayed when they don’t keep themselves informed of the facts. And that makes them vunerable to manipulation by the liars. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ad-and-the-coming-political-season/215276.md?page=2)