I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.
--Margaret Thatcher
If the former British Prime Minister was right then the
article by Hastings Wyman with the Southern Political Report pretty much sums up what the Dems have to offer the American public . . . gossip, mud and negativity.
Wyman reports that Democratic candidates have launched a full-scale assault of personal attacks on their Republican opponents. We Southerners will see more of it than the rest of the country.
With the policies of the Obama Administration and the Democratic congress offering them little in the way of campaign ammunition, the Democrats – mostly incumbents – are relying on an onslaught of politically damaging charges, mostly related to past business and financial dealings of the GOP standard bearers. The personal-attack strategy is present in Democratic congressional, senatorial and gubernatorial campaigns in virtually every Southern state. This, of course, is not a Southern strategy. Democratic personal attacks have dominated campaigns in California, Delaware, New York and elsewhere, but it is especially useful in Dixie, where the Obama Administration is so unpopular.
Hyman whittles the argument down to the current leadership not offering enough "campaign ammunition". But, if good policy is good politics then you have to connect it to the simple fact that folks don't like where things are headed. The article tries to make a purely political assesment, but it can't be disconnected from the reality of the situation. People aren't rejecting the lack of campaign hype, they're rejecting the redistributive effort and pandering. Voter's are smart enough to know that a flashy logo and an ad campaign doesn't put food on the table or reduce the amount of money they are forced to give to the government.
Hyman continues,
For some of the attacks, the Democrats themselves – either in Washington or on the state or district level – have done the necessary digging into the past activities of Republican candidates. In others, the news media – mostly newspapers – have done the negative research.
Wouldn't it be great if they did as much "digging" into the solutions that would alleviate the problems?
It is noteworthy that even in hotly contested Republican primaries, few of the political time-bombs were uncovered and defused, leaving the GOP with some nominees who are weaker than they were when they were nominated. Moreover, because most of the Democrats, especially the freshmen, anticipated a tough reelection battle and raised flush war chests, their campaigns – aided by Washington-based Democratic committees – have well-funded advertising budgets to make sure the negative message gets out there.
Sickening isn't it? Why build yourself and your constituents up, when you can knock others down to your level with the help of your DC committees?
The GOP is not responding in kind, but continues to hammer away at the policies of President Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. “Pretty much all of our candidates are running on the issues,” says National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Andy Sere. “There are plenty of negative ads, but all on the issues, on votes and quotes.” He adds, “Personal attacks are not relevant to unemployment.”
Running on the issues. What a novel concept. One we can only hope isn't drowned out by the negativity.
