The most informative attack ad in US presidential campaign history
18 Aug 2014 Leave a comment
in politics - USA Tags: Attack Ads
I forgot to vote once because I forgot there was an election on
11 May 2014 Leave a comment
in politics - Australia, Public Choice Tags: Attack Ads, electioneering, Tasmanian elections
Tasmania’s House of Assembly election in 1982 had no party campaigns, no TV or newspaper ads, no how to vote cards and all candidates could only solicit votes for themselves, not for others in their party or anyone else.
A late legal opinion was that any form of expenditure on co-ordinated campaigning and joint solicitation of votes would be added to each individual candidate spending limits of $1000 separately.
With no party campaigns, no TV or newspaper ads, no how to vote cards and all candidates could only solicited votes for themselves, the date of the election slipped my mind and I forgot to get a postal vote before going inter-state for a holiday.
The Liberal Party won in a landslide defeating the incumbent Labor Government.
The campaigning ban seemed to give an advantage to the party already leading because the party on the nose could not dig itself out of a hole in the campaign by pointing out that they may be bad, but, on closer inspection, the other side is worse.
I do not know of any studies of this unusual election.
Three cheers for rude political discourse
25 Mar 2014 Leave a comment
in law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism Tags: Attack Ads, hate speech, Jerry Falwell, Larry Flynt, political discourse
There is nothing unusual about ill-mannered political discourse. In the 1980s, a cartoonist went in search of Ronald Reagan’s brain.
A good discussion on political manners is in the Supreme Court judgment on the Larry Flynt, Jerry Falwell case, which included a 200-year history of American political cartoons.
The Court noted that the political cartoon is a weapon of attack, of scorn and ridicule and satire. It is usually as welcome as a bee sting and is always controversial to some and continuously goes beyond the bounds of good taste and conventional manners.
From the viewpoint of history, the Court held that it is clear that our political discourse would have been considerably poorer without them. The Court stated:
Debate on public issues will not be uninhibited if the speaker must run the risk that it will be proved in court that he spoke out of hatred; even if he did speak out of hatred, utterances honestly believed contribute to the free interchange of ideas and the ascertainment of truth.
Shrillness is commonplace in political discourse as is ignorance and ill manners. The Court held that:
The appeal of the political cartoon or caricature is often based on exploitation of unfortunate physical traits or politically embarrassing events – an exploitation often calculated to injure the feelings of the subject of the portrayal.
Everyone has the right to speak and all adults can vote, including those who disagree with you and even fill you with revulsion.
Politics and hatred of your opponents go hand in hand. Politics is a blood sport for driven people.
More than a few hate capitalism and speak in unflattering, even hateful, tones of the successful and other class enemies. Mises explained the youthful allure of socialism:
It promises a Paradise on earth, a Land of Heart’s Desire full of happiness and enjoyment, and—sweeter still to the losers in life’s game—humiliation of all who are stronger and better than the multitude…
Liberalism and capitalism address themselves to the cool, well-balanced mind. They proceed by strict logic, eliminating any appeal to the emotions.
Socialism, on the contrary, works on the emotions, tries to violate logical considerations by rousing a sense of personal interest and to stifle the voice of reason by awakening primitive instincts.
Every day spent pondering on the rudeness of your opponents is a day not spent showing the middle ground that the opposing viewpoint is wrong.
You play into their hands by taking your eyes off the prize. Back to that former union boss Ronald Reagan:
American politics is littered with, as George Will added eloquently, the bleached bones of those who under-estimated Ronald Reagan.
No more witty politicians
18 Mar 2014 Leave a comment
in politics - Australia, politics - New Zealand, Public Choice Tags: Attack Ads, David Lange, Gough Whitlam, manners, Michael Bassett, Paul Keating, political correctness, Robert Muldoon, social friction, wit
Did the crowd boo when Gough Whitlam was so ill-mannered as to refer to Kerr’s cur? Did the crowd at the steps of Parliament chant ‘manners, Gough, manners’ rather than ‘shame, Fraser, shame’?
When Gough was challenged by a voter for his view on the contentious issue of abortion, hoping to catch him out, Whitlam replied that he was for abortion and in the heckler’s case, he wished that abortion would be retrospective. Everyone laughed and Gough got off the hook.
30 years ago when public meetings in elections were raucous affairs rather than photo opportunities, being able to give as good as you get was a key political skill.
Public meetings were tests of a politician’s mantle and those that did not fight back were judged to be weak. Stand-up comics had easier initiations.
Wit has lost its place in public discourse.
Robert Muldoon pinged the famous insult “New Zealanders who emigrate to Australia raise the IQs of both countries”.
Consider David Lange:
- Micheal Bassett was a member of parliament and a cousin on my father’s side of the family. My father delivered him and it became plain in later days that he must have dropped him.
- To US Ambassador H. Monroe Browne, who owned a racehorse called Lacka Reason: “You are the only ambassador in the world to race a horse named after your country’s foreign policy”.
- And I’m going to give it to you if you hold your breath just for a moment…I can smell the uranium on it as you lean towards me.
- …a man whose life is so boring that if it flashed past he wouldn’t be in it.
Paul Keating’s contributions to Australian culture would be lost:
- He described his opponents as “mangy maggots”, “intellectual rust buskets”, “gutless spivs”, “foul-mouthed grubs” and “painted, perfumed gigolos”.
- Keating said of Howard: “From this day onwards, Howard will wear his leadership like a crown of thorns, and in the parliament I’ll do everything to crucify him”.
- On Andrew Peacock: “A soufflé doesn’t rise twice”.
- On Wilson Tuckey: “He’d be flat out counting past ten”.
Attack Ads uplift democracy
16 Mar 2014 1 Comment
in election campaigns, politics - USA, Public Choice Tags: Attack Ads, elections, political campaign
I love attack ads. About the only time you find out anything about the downside of opposing parties and rival candidates is through these attacks ads.
A favourite web site is the Attack Ads Hall of Fame where John Geer rightly argues that when candidates attack each other, raising doubts about their respective views and qualifications, we voters benefit. Positive ads are fluff.
Geer collected clips of the best, worse and boomerang attack ads in the post-war presidential elections from his Hall of Fame at his book site In Defense of Negativity Attack Ads in Presidential Campaigns
Both web sites are a must view for political junkies. Most of the Attack Ads are based on the truth and they are highly creative and focussed messaging.
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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