There are less than 3 weeks before election day. I can't describe how appalled I am at the rampant ignorance in this country. Featured above is a video that my friend Elton posted on Facebook. As an African-American himself, it is almost embarrassing for me, as a White person, to claim even the slightest connection to the morons caught on camera in America's so-called Heartland.
Seriously? People in the United States still use the "N-word" that casually? Wow. I probably shouldn't be surprised, but what can I say? There it is.
During the recent and final Presidential Debate, both candidates were asked what they felt about the tone of their campaigns. From McCain, we heard about how he accuses Obama of spending a record-setting amount of money on negative ads. He carried on about some congressman whose words he took out of context, and some that were rather pointed and direct about the McCain/Palin ticket. Instead of apologizing for the ignorant people filled with hatred at his rallies, he spent time pointing out that there are plenty of good people there as well. He demanded an apology from Obama and repudiation of the remarks from the congressman by Obama.
Well, Obama's take was pretty much based on the fact that judging by the impressions Americans are making, it seems that 2/3 of the country considers McCain's advertisements negative. But to really capture the essence of this troubling question, read the following:
The McCain campaign has now shifted virtually 100 percent of his national ad spending into negative ads attacking Obama, a detailed breakdown of his ad buys reveals.
By contrast, the Obama campaign is devoting less than half of its overall ad spending to ads attacking McCain. More than half of its spending is going to a spot that doesn't once mention his foe.
I asked Evan Tracey -- who tracks national ad spending for the Campaign Media Analysis Group -- to detail the amounts each campaign is spending on specific different spots. The idea was to gauge the precise degree of the McCain campaign's shift into negative mode amid his slide in the polls, and determine whether the Obama camp was following suit.
The results were striking, and suggest a sharper turn into negative campaigning as time runs low. For one thing, Tracey says, Obama is now outspending McCain by nearly two to one on the air -- Obama is spending $2.4 million per week, and McCain is spending $1.3 million weekly. But on to the breakdowns.
As of October 1 -- three days ago -- the McCain campaign's $1.3 million weekly is being broken down as follows, according to Tracey, who stressed that he himself wasn't labeling the ads either "positive" or "negative":
* Nearly half a million weekly is funding the ad called "Dome," which attacks "Obama and his liberal allies" in Congress for favoring "massive government."
* A shade more than half a million is funding the ad called "Mum," which attacks "Obama and his liberal allies" as "mum on the market crisis."
* Much of the remaining McCain money is funding a spot called "Overseas," which says that "Barack Obama and his liberal allies are to blame" for jobs going overseas. A negligible amount of the remainder is going to a positive spot, the "Original Mavericks" ad.
This is a dramatic shift from the period before he suspended his campaign. At that time, Tracey says, McCain was spending in the neighborhood of half his ad money on the positive "Original Mavericks" ad, and around half on the negative "Dome" spot.
This week, by contrast, "Original Mavericks" ran on Monday only eight times, suggesting that this positive spot is "cycling out of the rotation," as Tracey puts it. "McCain took out the "Mavericks" spot and replaced it with "Mum," Tracey says.
Now let's look at Obama's spending breakdown.
Of his $2.4 million weekly, Tracey says, well over half -- $1.4 million -- is funding the spot called "Real Change," which criticizes the status quo but doesn't mention McCain once.
The remaining million per week is funding a smattering of ads that do attack McCain, on topics like Social Security, health care, and McCain's "fundamentals of the economy" line.
Pretty striking contrast.
It's too bad, isn't it? "Fiasco" John and "Railin" Palin seem desperate. They're losing (and tied maybe once or twice) in every battleground state. All that's left, I guess, is their sideshow routine about Obama's birth certificate (call the State Health & Records Dept and find that out); his association with so-called terrorists (badly misleading); and his affiliation with a voter registration group (taken WAY out of context). As Obama pointed out at that debate:
In fact, Mr. Ayers has become the centerpiece of Sen. McCain's campaign over the last two or three weeks. This has been their primary focus. So let's get the record straight. [...]
Let me tell you who I associate with. On economic policy, I associate with Warren Buffett and former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker. If I'm interested in figuring out my foreign policy, I associate myself with my running mate, Joe Biden or with Dick Lugar, the Republican ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, or General Jim Jones, the former supreme allied commander of NATO.
Those are the people, Democrats and Republicans, who have shaped my ideas and who will be surrounding me in the White House. And I think the fact that this has become such an important part of your campaign, Sen. McCain, says more about your campaign than it says about me.
BATTLEGROUND STATES
- NEVADA: Obama currently has a 50% to 45% lead.
- COLORADO: Obama currently has a 52% to 45% lead.
- OHIO: Tied.
- NORTH CAROLINA: Tied.
- FLORIDA: Obama currently leads 51% to 46%.
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