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NYT: Conservatives mount air assault on Obama - politics - The New York Times - msnbc.com
Nearly a year before Election Day, Republican presidential candidates and conservative action groups are already spending heavily on television advertising aimed at casting Mr. Obama as a failure.
Their tactics, the aggressive and sometimes misleading kind not typically used until much further along in a campaign season, have led to a spat with Democrats in what is shaping up to be the most costly election advertising war yet.
But going negative so early also carries substantial risks. One is that many voters are not yet paying much attention to the campaign and will not do so until much closer to next November, meaning the advertising expenditures could be largely wasted. And negative messages now could alienate moderate and independent voters who blame excessive partisanship for Washingtons troubles in addressing the nations big problems.
Still, the Republican candidates seem eager to escalate the fight. Mr. Romney and Mr. Perry have both brushed off criticism that they deliberately distorted Mr. Obamas words in their most recent commercials controversies that only brought them additional attention.
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The media makes the mistake of assuming all "attack ads" are the same. When Republicans say, "Obama is destroying the economy", it's not backed up by facts. Republicans will say that statement compares to Democrats using Sharon Engle's statement that if you are raped and become pregnant, "Make lemonade out of lemons" or Mitt Romney's statement that "Corporations are people my friend". Even MSNBC equates the two statements.
This is another example of the "myth" of liberal bias in the media. Even much of the liberal media leans right. You only have to watch Morning Joe to know that. Media goes to where the audience is. Conservatives are a huge group of mostly older white people. Easy to target because they can't be missed and are so big.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
On one side you have, "Obama is a Marxist, Muslim, Fascist, man-child who is destroying the world and is the anti Christ and so on".
On the other side, you have "Let's turn Medicare into a voucher program, let him die, applauds executions, corporations are people my friend and so on".
What will be the difference? One side is making things up, the other side is using candidates own words against them.
Should be interesting.
Nearly a year before Election Day, Republican presidential candidates and conservative action groups are already spending heavily on television advertising aimed at casting Mr. Obama as a failure.
Their tactics, the aggressive and sometimes misleading kind not typically used until much further along in a campaign season, have led to a spat with Democrats in what is shaping up to be the most costly election advertising war yet.
But going negative so early also carries substantial risks. One is that many voters are not yet paying much attention to the campaign and will not do so until much closer to next November, meaning the advertising expenditures could be largely wasted. And negative messages now could alienate moderate and independent voters who blame excessive partisanship for Washingtons troubles in addressing the nations big problems.
Still, the Republican candidates seem eager to escalate the fight. Mr. Romney and Mr. Perry have both brushed off criticism that they deliberately distorted Mr. Obamas words in their most recent commercials controversies that only brought them additional attention.
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The media makes the mistake of assuming all "attack ads" are the same. When Republicans say, "Obama is destroying the economy", it's not backed up by facts. Republicans will say that statement compares to Democrats using Sharon Engle's statement that if you are raped and become pregnant, "Make lemonade out of lemons" or Mitt Romney's statement that "Corporations are people my friend". Even MSNBC equates the two statements.
This is another example of the "myth" of liberal bias in the media. Even much of the liberal media leans right. You only have to watch Morning Joe to know that. Media goes to where the audience is. Conservatives are a huge group of mostly older white people. Easy to target because they can't be missed and are so big.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
On one side you have, "Obama is a Marxist, Muslim, Fascist, man-child who is destroying the world and is the anti Christ and so on".
On the other side, you have "Let's turn Medicare into a voucher program, let him die, applauds executions, corporations are people my friend and so on".
What will be the difference? One side is making things up, the other side is using candidates own words against them.
Should be interesting.
