Election commercials (Not political)

[cheesesteak]

It's election season around here. Based on the commercials that seem to pop up every five minutes, the "other guy" is the worst human being in the world. Not only did he vote to raise your taxes 153 times, but he eats babies and worships Satan. I like how the announcer is all doom and gloom when trashing the opponent and then switches to his cheerful, optimistic voice when describing the "good" candidate while the sun is shining, birds are chirping and little children are playing on a merry-go-round.

[Fish Man]

I especially like when it's ads for the primary and the candidates for the same party are bashing each other like that.

Then, when one wins all the other same-party candidates have to sing the praises of the winner who will be running against the candidate from the other party. This guy (or woman) who worshipped satan and ate babies suddenly makes the sun shine and the flowers grow! :rolleyes:

[trausch]

Time to lock this thread. Let's see how long it takes.


Democrats suck

W Rules

Fred Thompson is the new Reagan

[Fish Man]

Time to lock this thread. Let's see how long it takes.


Democrats suck

W Rules

Fred Thompson is the new Reagan

Where do you get off trying to get a thread locked?

There was absolutely no "lockable offense" in the thread until your post!

:confused: :mad:

[allan]

Where do you get off trying to get a thread locked?

There was absolutely no "lockable offense" in the thread until your post!

:confused: :mad:

He must be with the Other Party (tm). Which means he eats babies and worships Satan! ;) :D :D

[trnsfrguy]

It's election season around here. Based on the commercials that seem to pop up every five minutes, the "other guy" is the worst human being in the world. Not only did he vote to raise your taxes 153 times, but he eats babies and worships Satan. I like how the announcer is all doom and gloom when trashing the opponent and then switches to his cheerful, optimistic voice when describing the "good" candidate while the sun is shining, birds are chirping and little children are playing on a merry-go-round.


Sounds like an old Opie & Anthony bit........

[That Don Guy]

I especially like when it's ads for the primary and the candidates for the same party are bashing each other like that.

Then, when one wins all the other same-party candidates have to sing the praises of the winner who will be running against the candidate from the other party. This guy (or woman) who worshipped satan and ate babies suddenly makes the sun shine and the flowers grow! :rolleyes:
Don't make the assumption that all attack ads in a primary campaign are by the opponent of the candidate being attacked. In California, the Democrats are known for attacking a moderate Republican in, say, a primary election for governor, to get the far-right candidate nominated, knowing that the moderate Republican voters would vote for the Democrat.

However, the best ad for the Republicans so far this year wasn't an ad at all, but a scene in 30 Rock; Liz Lemon may come across as liberal, but in the end, all she really wants is the ability to do "that thing that rich people do where they turn money into more money." (Unfortunately for us, it's not as easy as that; I believe the saying is, "Turning $100 into $110 is work; turning $100 million into $110 million is inevitable.")

-- Don

[sieglinde]

I guess California is blessed. I only see ads for Presidential candidates on cable channels. I think I have only seen GOP which eats babies and worships Satan. I haven't seen any ads for the Democrats who worship Satan and eat babies.

:)

[JYoung]

I guess California is blessed. I only see ads for Presidential candidates on cable channels. I think I have only seen GOP which eats babies and worships Satan. I haven't seen any ads for the Democrats who worship Satan and eat babies.

:)

That's because our Primaries are still off a ways.

BTW guys,
I have this great thing called TiVo that allows me to skip commercials..... :p

[harrinpj]

I live in Rhode Island. I never see political ads. No one cares if they win this state I guess.

[Rolf]

I live in Rhode Island. I never see political ads. No one cares if they win this state I guess.

I think that the politicians have been scared away from Rhode Island by all those documenteries on Fox about that politically savvy and quick witted talking dog. What politician in his/her right mind would hold a town hall meeting in Rhode Island when they know that Brian Griffin might show up and ask the really tough questions?

[sieglinde]

:)

Actually our primary is on Super Tuesday, one of the earlier primaries. The candidates are coming here to do rallies but I think that is just to get our money.

[EVizzle]

i guess i should consider myself lucky, no political ads yet here... although i did see one for relish packets for congress. no need to explain, you will understand when you see it...

The only thing I hate more than political ads are when presidential speeches and debates interrupt my regularly scheduled programming. They should just make a politics network and only have debates, speeches and advertising.

[terpfan1980]

I live in Rhode Island. I never see political ads. No one cares if they win this state I guess.In the D.C. area you have the luck of being close enough to West Virginia to catch ads for races there, plus Northern Virginia, plus Maryland (D.C. areas) and oh, yeah, D.C. also.

Then there's the bonus of having radio and TV spots on issues that are intended to influence the currently serving pol's trying to get them to save the babies, the environment, somebody's pension, their health, the real estate market, or a batch of other things.

During election season that 30 second slip/skip on the DVR is priceless, as is having sat-radio (Sirius or XM) where you can escape the insanity.

I really wish that there wasn't so much money in the business though so that some of these stations would go outta business -- especially radio, where there are just too darned many FM stations. Trying to find channels that are open and/or weak enough to trounce over with the FM rebroadcast on the current sat-radio equipment is p-i-t-a. Get rid of about 6 - 8 on the current FM band, maybe I could find something with less interference. (You have to love how I'm looking out for what's best for me here...)

Seriously though, if there wasn't so much money in the political ads the bigger stations would have more room for car ads, beer ads, fast food ads, movie ads, and other stuff like that, and the little stations would suffer to get anyone to pay for spots on their air-waves. Come election season the stations around here all start lickin' their chops because they know there will be a sort of trickle down or unintended consequence effect where the big news station will fill their time with election spots and have little time available for the regular ads, so those move over to stations that also normally have a full slate of those same types of ads, and a bunch of ads for smaller things (funeral homes, church services, mom and pop businesses, etc.) slide down to the less busy stations and start shopping for customers there.

The ads themselves are just a riot though. The ones that Michael Steele (former candidate for U.S. Senate from Maryland, GOP side....) ran when he was trying to run for the seat opened by the retirement of Paul Sarbanes (Dem side) featured a rented puppy and promised that we were going to start seeing ads that said he hates puppies. At just the right moment the puppy would growl on cue.

Later his opponent pointed out that the puppy wasn't even his. SHOCK and HORROR!!! Not even his! Lieing puppy borrower. :D

[Worf]

It's more fun north of the border and you get to see all the election ads from a "we don't give a damn!" point of view.

Makes the US seem like a place that's full violence and guns and baby killers and other stuff. You guys really ought to temper down the ads when they're picked up here, you know. The ads certainly don't paint a nice rosy picture of the Land of the Free. Especially when there's no context to put those things in (local state news rarely makes it across the border).

Quite comical, really. Alas, our ads are starting to turn that way (no doubt helped by the fact our leader seems to worship the current POTUS), so you guys near the border will get to see a reflection of what we're experiencing in a few short years.

Someone should write a book or make a movie documentary about it. "The United States - As seen by the campaign ads".

[sieglinde]

ooooh, so much for the lamp held high shining the light of liberty to the world. :(

The cable channels show ads for folks not running where I live and the TV stations from LA also. So I get a bit of a dose of weird who the heck are these folks type of ads.

Between YouTube, internet broadcasts of news channels and shows, I wonder how much folks from outside the US see of our dirty laundry.

[doom1701]

I love how many of them use the same voice-over guy. One minute he's trashing Candidate X and singing the virtues of Candidate Y, and the next minute the exact same guy is saying how Candidate Y is the tool of the devil.

[terpfan1980]

I love how many of them use the same voice-over guy. One minute he's trashing Candidate X and singing the virtues of Candidate Y, and the next minute the exact same guy is saying how Candidate Y is the tool of the devil.
That and the same couple/family. Mrs. X and Mr. X tell you that they are very worried about issue Abc, then later on they seem to have had a big change of heart about that issue after they apparently received a big check from the other side.

Or issue ads with Mom and Daughter or Dad and Son where one minute they are for outlawing guns, but the next minute they want to protect the gun owners rights so that they go kill Bambi and feed the family deer steaks for months on end.

I give credit to whomever goes and gets the same actor/actress to pick apart their own apparent early conflicting position with the later ad. You'd think that whomever put the first ad together would include some non-compete clause that would keep their spokespersons from going off and recanting or advertising for the other side, but it seems that never happens or must not be possible to enforce (or perhaps is illegal entirely??)

[madscientist]

MA is so solidly one-party that no one of either party ever wastes a cent of advertising money here. Sometimes I get some spillover from New Hampshire, but usually the only time we see candidates is on the news when they're having a $500-a-plate lunch or whatever.

Honestly, it doesn't bother me one bit. I certainly don't need ads to tell my anything about candidates, and I wouldn't trust them (from either side) if they were on anyway.

[wmcbrine]

MA is so solidly one-party that no one of either party ever wastes a cent of advertising money here.Primaries, surely?

[sieglinde]

Have you ever voted in a primary for the party that never gets votes? It is a waste of time except for the President (and then depending on which state you live in, that can be a waste of time.)

I live in a totally Republican district (Congress, both houses of the state legislature). My sister lives in a totally Democratic district. The opposition party runs no one. Individuals who are remarkably not qualified run. We have had college students running for Congress in my district. There are some years no one runs from the opposition party.


If a Senator is up for election, it is worth your trouble. We also have initiatives so the election is usually worth voting in.

[cheesesteak]

The negative ads are in full force this morning, election day - especially in NJ. The "other guy" is corrupt, part of the machine, will raise your taxes, will put convicted sex offenders in your neighborhood, hired his cronies and worst of all - turn your town into another Camden.

[wmcbrine]

Have you ever voted in a primary for the party that never gets votes? It is a waste of time except for the President (and then depending on which state you live in, that can be a waste of time.)Yeah, I was assuming the other party (in terms of advertising). When you live in an area strongly dominated by one party, it seems to me that the primary takes on greater significance -- sometimes moreso than the general election. So the ads should still be there, just shifted more to the primary.

But maybe some local parties are too controlled by party machines to allow for really open primaries?

[Bill Reeves]

Yeah, I was assuming the other party (in terms of advertising). When you live in an area strongly dominated by one party, it seems to me that the primary takes on greater significance -- sometimes moreso than the general election. So the ads should still be there, just shifted more to the primary.

But maybe some local parties are too controlled by party machines to allow for really open primaries?

The primaries around here are rarely competitive. If the incumbent is running, the party generally rallies around him or her, so nobody can really mount a challenge.

It's only interesting if the incumbent is choosing not to run again. Or if the area is undergoing a demographic shift -- a couple of the House seats in Northern California were competitive in the last election because they are turning from red to blue. (CA-11 in the east bay and central valley, the Republican incumbent Pombo lost to a Democrat; CA-4 stretching from the Sacramento suburbs all the way up to the Oregon border, the Republican incumbent survived a very close challenge from the Democratic challenger, that district has not been close for a long time).

But that's not going to happen where I live (CA-12, not the bluest district in the state but it's pretty damn blue) or probably where sieglinde lives (is that CA-22? that one is pretty red.)

[wmcbrine]

If the incumbent is running, the party generally rallies around him or her, so nobody can really mount a challenge.You're right, I was forgetting that.

[madscientist]

Primaries, surely?Nope, not really. I guess MA doesn't have enough clout at the convention to make it worthwhile--it seems that advertising for the primaries is also about getting your name out for the general. A 2fer.

Of course, for MA congressional folks, and governor, etc. we do get a lot of advertising. But not presidential.

Now, the CA folks might have a different experience, but I can count on one hand the number of presidential candidate commercials I've seen this year. And not just because I never watch live TV!

[ToddNeedsTiVo]

Being in an early caucus state, we get an outrageous amount of advertising from the presidential candidates. It's been going on for months already and the caucuses are still two months away...not to mention that the election is one year away! Countless visits by the D & R candidates alike. I'm already beginning to see yard signs!

I'm ToddNeedsTiVo and I approve this message. :rolleyes: How dumb is it when they say that? Well, yeah, your campaign is airing the commercial, so I suppose you do approve the message.

[busyba]

I'm ToddNeedsTiVo and I approve this message. :rolleyes: How dumb is it when they say that? Well, yeah, your campaign is airing the commercial, so I suppose you do approve the message.
That's the result of a law that was passed a few years ago, the idea being that if the candidate was compelled to be visually accountable for his advertising (as opposed to hiding behind campaign organizations) then they would be less irresponsible with the content of the ads.



Clearly the desired goal was not achieved.

[sieglinde]

I recently saw a Mitt Romney commercial on MSNBC.

What is that? Name recognition? I am not registered GOP, so I don't have an opinion about Romney one way or another. Shouldn't I have a pretty good idea of who I am going to vote for in the primary by now? I pick my first, second, and third choices and wait and see who drops out before the primary.