This Column Is Crooked, Sleazy & Sick

CBS' Dick Meyer On Negative Ads And The Degradation Of Politics

(CBS)  This commentary was written by CBSNews.com's Dick Meyer.

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How big will the Democratic wave be?

Professional, non-partisan prognosticators see plenty of signs of a Democratic tidal wave in the House races. But their predictions are somewhat cautious, generally in the range of a Democratic pickup of 25-35 seats.

To put that number in perspective: the Republicans gained 52 seats in the 1994 midterm elections and the Democrats picked up 49 in 1974.

So if the forecast says tsunami, why are the forecasters' numbers relatively small and the predictions cautious?

Part of the answer is that with each election, incumbents become wilier at protecting themselves, especially through the gerrymandering of safe districts exempt from partisan competition.

But another important dynamic is that the political water table has been drained so low by the high volume of parasitic slime in campaigns and in government that it's simply harder for those big waves to form.

"We have become so skilled at making people unpopular that it's hard for anyone to get very involved or invested with candidates," says Harrison Hickman, a Democratic pollster. The main vehicle for making candidates unattractive, of course, is the negative television commercial.

Hickman has the numbers to back up the slow demise of positive feelings about candidates. He tabulated the final, pre-election favorability ratings in all the statewide races he has worked on since 1986, in non-presidential years.

Year	Winner	Loser
1986	56.2	35.4
1990	54.4	31.4
1994	54.3	42.3
1998	51.2	41.3
2002	50.1	43.0

Year	Winner	Loser
1986	25.6	31.0
1990	25.1	33.1
1994	31.0	35.3
1998	28.0	35.3
2002	34.1	37.9

Year	Winner	Loser
1986	30.6	4.4
1990	29.3	-1.8
1994	23.3	7.0
1998	23.2	6.0
2002	16.0	5.1

In one election after another, candidates – both winners and losers — have gone into Election Day with steadily less support and popularity. No wonder the Founding Fathers didn't want America to have political parties.

Now, an important question: how culpable are negative ads in generating this growing distaste for politics and candidates? Academics are actually divided; some say negative ads foster apathy and disgust, others have found they get voters motivated (negatively) and convey important political information to an otherwise tuned out electorate.

Candidates and consultants aren't in such a pickle. They have no doubt that negative ads work and they use them promiscuously, irresponsibly and viciously.

In this election, official party committees have spent $160 million on negative ads and just $17 million on conventional, positive ads. Negative wins by a 10 to 1 margin.

Don't be misled; there will be much more than $160 million spent assassinating characters this year; that's just the party money and doesn't include the cash laid out by the candidates themselves and various independent groups.

I have probably screened 60 negative ads this year and it's clear to me that this year's crop is the most scurrilous ever. The race-baiting ad run against Harold Ford in Tennessee is the most infamous example, but it is no sleazier than a dozen others I have seen.

One skuzzy ad accuses Democratic House candidate Michael Arcuri in New York of using taxpayer dollars to call a phone sex line. It turns out someone misdialed the state Division of Criminal Justice, which has an almost identical number. Ads run against Bob Casey in Pennsylvania misleadingly use actors to portray people who are supposedly Casey's cronies.

It seems there's very little that desperate candidates can't get away with anymore. And I mean that: this year's ads are simply full of lies and creepy insinuations. A good place to get a feel for the sleaze out there is at factcheck.org, a non-partisan group that monitors political ads for - get this - accuracy. By the way, factcheck.org found that while both parties have behaved poorly, the Republicans have been more outrageous. No surprise there, since they're the ones who are running behind.

Can you imagine blatantly and publicly lying about a rival at work, a nasty Little League coach, a teacher in your kid's school or someone running against you for the school board? Think about what it takes to do something like that. It takes a person who doesn't feel shame or embarrassment.

When it comes to running for high office, there's no shortage of such individuals. So no matter how big the popular wave is that's about to hit Congress, it will be propelled, understandably, more by a desire to wash out the old than a desire to usher in the new.

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Dick Meyer is the editorial director of CBSNews.com, based in Washington.

E-mail questions, comments, complaints, arguments and ideas to
Against the Grain. We will publish some of the interesting (and civil) ones, sometimes in edited form.

Yes, our political ads have deteriorated back to the good old days, as has our government. We have lost the consensus of manners, mores, and public decency of those who endured the Depression as children and World War II as adults.

But take heart. In the 19th Century your job would have been one of writing the scurrilous copy rather than reporting on it. Surely this is an improvement over what has actually been the American norm.

[roach9703]

Political candidates today have no sense of duty to the system provided by our constitution. Sometimes a negative ad is useful only if it is the truth and relevant to the qualifications for office.
Candidates only work from a formula or a script. Everything is preplanned in a calculated way to manipulate the electorate. Few have the courage to be themselves. Does any candidate ever think that the most important goal in an election is not totally about them, but about protecting the political traditions started by our Founding Fathers? The rewards of the current tactics is ennui and cynicism, and dictatorship by the experts.

[roach9703]

Political candidates today have no sense of duty to the system provided by our constitution. Sometimes a negative ad is useful only if it is the truth and relevant to the qualifications for office.
Candidates only work from a formula or a script. Everything is preplanned in a calculated way to manipulate the electorate. Few have the courage to be themselves. Does any candidate ever think that the most important goal in an election is not totally about them, but about protecting the political traditions started by our Founding Fathers? The rewards of the current tactics is ennui and cynicism, and dictatorship by the experts.

[balto_babs]

The video associated with this story implying that Michael Steele has taken the high road and stopped negative ads is BOGUS!! I live in Maryland and have watched as Steele's ads have become more misleading and nastier over the last few weeks.

It would be refreshing if Steele would speak to the issues, but all he has said so far is that if elected he will make his own decisions. Really??

Steele has supported the Bush administration policies and has recieved $$$$$ fron the Republican party. He has never been elected to public office on his own before (he is our Lt. Gov which is not a separate elected position), but he wants us to believe that he won't be loyal to the folks funding his campaign.

GET REAL MISTER STEELE.

[bluestardad]

Dictators is that a Washington Dish that Republican Mark Foley was covertly serving the Congressional pages, Or Is that a Texas Style potato dish that the Bush administration has been feeding the American people for the last few years? Served with a side order of Stay the Course.

[onesoldier1]

To all those writing obsessively hateful comments about Kerry (on this site and others)
Remember this:

1) Kerry didn't send U.S. men and women to war on false pretenses.

2) Kerry didn't cut veterans' benefits.

3) Kerry didn't shrug when asked about lack of proper armor and equipment.

4) Kerry's a combat war veteran for godsakes!

5) Bush never saw combat, would never send his own children to combat, and makes no apologies for ANY of his mistakes and callousness.

So who REALLY hates the troops.

Honest to God, republicans. What the hell's wrong with you? Why would you respect a former cheerleader and an AWOL frat boy over a combat veteran?

[shingles1]

Singme2080 said "As of John Kerry why has the fact he was pardoned by Jimmy Carter never been mentioned? Does anyone remember what he was pardoned for???"

No one remembers because it never happened.

The rumor comes from a website called rumormillnews.com. Sounds pretty reliable.
And as the author of this rumor admits, its all just a theory. A theory that rests upon the idea that 1) Kerry was dishonorably discharged (which is untrue) and that 2) Carter's pardon of draft dodgers would also cover those who were dishonorably discharged. Item 1 plus item 2 equals the rumor.

The magic of google.

[onesoldier1]

One_American:

What's the PLAN from the Democrat's?

Tell you what buddy, I'll be happy to lay out their plan in detail if you tell me WHAT IS CHIMP JR'S PLAN!!!

The "war on terror's" in Afghanistan, not Iraq.
Ignoring Korea the last SIX YEARS led to the bomb. Domestic needs in America are being neglected and/or TOTALLY ignored.

What's Bush's plan? Oh yeah, it's top secret.

[ibcrazybones]

I think our political system is broken beyond repair. Really, does anyone out there have a realistic way to fix it? Very depressing...

[singme2080]

I have watched so many negative ads I have decided I can't decide which crook I want to pick my pocket for the next 2 years. I am 76 and for the first time since I have been old enough I will not vote. They all make me sick.

As of John Kerry why has the fact he was pardoned by Jimmy Carter never been mentioned? Does anyone remember what he was pardoned for???

[bob_burd]

Hmmm....Senator Kerry seems to have fallen off the map in the past 24 hours. Or is he in surgery, having his foot removed from his mouth? The moron has a classic case of sour grapes that he'll never get rid of. While he was supposedly campaigning for Phil Angelides, he just couldn't resist with his broken-record harping which has simply carried over from the 2004 election.

This pantywaist coward, who was released from duty in the Nam after giving himself a self-inflicted "wound", couldn't carry the shorts of any man or woman serving in the US military. He's a negative fool with no platform or solutions to any problems, and is obviously going to be nothing more than a malingerer for the remainder of his "distinguished" political career. What a sack of ***.

Selah

[huskerarmy]

It's the General's fault:

%u201CLet's not blame what's happening in Iraq on Rumsfeld... Secretary Rumsfeld is the best thing that has happened to the military in 25 years... The management of the war in Iraq is being handled by the generals on the ground.%u201D

House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH)

[tibu987]

Ho hum, wake me up Wednesday when the elections are over.
That the average, issues uneducated voter fall for this sort of trash is exactly what the politicians expect of them.
Many people vote but most are unaware of the issues. Scary.

[rbird8728]

This entire mess was intentionally started with the series of lies about Weapons of Mass Destruction which the White House knew was untrue. The next step is to build on a sense of fear, "They're comming to get you!" Those poor morons who flew into the World Trade Center were Bush's best friends...that enabled him to be a home made hot air hero. He said that Bin Laden could run but he couldn't hide....well, he's done a fine job of it for five years!

[arthurcl1]

Emperor Bush at it again slinging mud on Kerry for a bad joke. Kerry has Purple Hearts, how many does Bush, Cheyne or Rumsfield have? How did Bush serve in the mililtary? He didn't do much because he was from a rich family and they helped get him out of going to Vietnam. But look at what Bush has done for us, what he won't talk about like spending billions on a failed policy in Irag. Going over the UN to go it alone! Recently millions of dollars of our taxpayer money for weapons for their armed forces was ripped off from under our noses? No reconstruction going on for the people, civil war, and the Cleric is back to controlling Sadar City? They told us to get out! Our National Debt is at 4 TRILLION! Left for our grandchildren to try to pay? What a mess Bush has us in. It's another Vietnam. We will never be able to get out of there thanks to these guys!
That was what Kerry was trying to say!

[bsmithe]

OMG, the Harold Ford ad is hilarious! I don't know if I'd call it notorious but notable. I only wish Harold Ford had thought of it first. What is the name of the Advertising firm?

I think the Democrats should do whatever it takes to get elected, including impeaching Bush.

[lorettal2020]

We will soon be homeless if something dosen't chage fast. United Steel Workers are on stirke and my husband is not working. I was fired for being sick and then slandered by the company to the Unemployment Bureau. Congress has tons of money to slander each other but no one will help us pay a few bills. How much money are they spending on campaign ads? One of those ads could have paid our bills for months. No one wants to help you if you do not have children. I have been disqualified for assistance from the government time after time because I do not have children. So I was careful not to bring an unwanted child into the world and I am continually being punished for it. No assistance for childless women has got to stop. I am being punished for being responsible in my life. I am thrown around by corporate america like a useless piece of trash. Being terminated from employment again and again for falling ill and needing an operation that would stop my suffering and on top of it being slandered to a government agency so that I can never find employment again. I need help. If someone dosen't help us we are going to pitch a tent in front of the State Building and live on their lawn. If they arrest me, good, at least I will have a roof over my head and food to eat. This isn't fair. When is someone going to stand up and help women with no children?

[bluestardad]

Where is Mark Foley? Why is he not in Jail? He solicited underage children for fornication. Why has he not been charged? Why is he permitted to roam free after his 30 days in Rehab? Is there a different standard for child predators if they are from Congress? If he were on Dateline NBC he would have been arrested. Please let us know and take action, the American People are watching.

[egresor]

sort of reminds one of the novel 1984....doesn't it frankly6?

"Let's try the AMERICAN FASCISM going on today.

Our NEWS is PROPOGANDA.

We are in CONSTANT WAR.

We have FRAUDULENT ELECTION.

The RICH/CORPORATIONS run AMERICA.

We are nearly a POLICE STATE."

[gmond]

politician, not politican, doh.