Ahh the attack ad, or should I just say attack? We all saw tonight at the debate how intense and touchy such attacks can be. I wonder how much of an influence attacking an opposing candidate really has on the outcome of an election. I also wonder if the form of an attack has an influence as well, such as ads, speeches, articles, etc. This particular article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer is clearly involves an attack from the Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner on to Lt. Gov Lee Fisher. It goes on to explain how Fisher apparently accepted thousands of dollars in contributions to his U.S. Senate campaign. The money was tied to banks and financial institutions, which contradicts his pledge to clean up Wall Street if he is elected to Congress. Brunner attacks by saying that accepting these contributions compromises Fisher's ability to reform the financial industry and "guts trust in our government officials." Yes, these are just comments made or heard and used by a reporter, but how much influence do they really have? There has to be a point where the words and actions that are taken to attack another candidates go from just being a way to retaliate to actually doing some damage.
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I agree the debate was very interesting and a lot of attacks were being made. To answer some of the questions you ask i do think that attacks have a lot of influence on the opposing candidates. Attacks bring out peoples flaws and show the true colors of the person, this is not always a bad thing. It lets the audience know the candidate personally and what flaws they have as a person. I also think the form of attacking has an influence as well. The way the candidate attacks the other also shows a little bit of their true colors, the way people go about things can also show what kind of person they are. This just shows how attack ads are so important within an election.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this article and analyzing the debates we had in class on wednesday. It is obvious that attacking the other party is very important to the process. It is important that the audience know, everything about a potential party, candidate or industry. This helps to keep the audience well informed, as possible. As shown in our recent debate it gives the audience a good idea of who exactly the other person are party is. However, although the debate and attack was entertaining, I believe there is a right way and a wrong way to go about attacking the opposition.
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