Because Hate is the greatest thing, especially when you share it.

Attack ads work the best. Who is kidding who....... Cut 1 nickel out of any government program and the other side can make you appear the same as the devil throwing grandma out of the nursing home and beating kids. Its too easy. Thats' why we are 17 trillion in debt and on our way to bankruptcy. Given enough money, I could turn sister theresa into a physchopathic 2 bit whore. Most americans live on 2 second sound bites cause that is all their brains can process. When half the population is dumber than a box of rocks. thats what you get. That's what this election is about.

The mainstream news media has become the master bully creating polarization and hate with biased stories, innuendo, and lies. 50% of the population has below average intelligence and lags the world because the US education system is well below world standards. Bullying works because ignorant people are influenced by an unethical and terrorist news media. Truth terrorists in the US media are more dangerous to the US than al Qaeda could hope for.

>but there are no traffic jams for beautiful flowers

Come to Texas during wildflower season.

Negative ads are ok if they tell the truth. The trouble is when we let them get away with lying in the ads. Real journalists need to point out the b.s. whenever they hear it. For instance there is a propaganda meme saying rich folks are job creators when they get tax breaks but the evidence is completely opposite. They only create speculative bubbles when they get extra cash. Jobs are created when there is a demand for products. That happens when the middle-class has money to spend.

why would negative ads be ok? if i would be talking to a human resource person about a new job, how far would i get by saying, "Hire me! The other guy is a jerk" - i would be shown the door in 2 seconds - the same for campaigning - the campaign is the candidates resume - should i get the job by lying, misrepresenting my credentials or taking credit for what i didn't do? should we elect anyone that does this to a high paying job that just happens to be the most powerful position in history? i don't think so

Negative ads work because because they appeal they appeal to the lowest common denominator: they reinforce the beliefs of the ignorant who want their irrationality supported even if by lies. Such ads enable them to maintain a view that has no factual base but is visceral and usually found in the undereducated and the "true believers." Joseph Goebbels would be pleased with the effectiveness of such ads as that is how the ignorant come to power.

Anyone who believes romney and his campaign manger (rove) has to have his head examined. Rove is the same man that got us into 2 wars (under bush) and outed a CIA agent and now he want to do the same thing with romney. Yeah, people, follow these people and we will be in another war we can't pay for. No thanks - I sticking with the human candidate.

OBAMA/BIDEN 2012! we got it straight in 08

The problem is not attack ads. The problem is they deal with distortions and outright falsehoods as facts. Repeated often enough and they become accepted as true. Yes, immediate response is important to counter this effect but, then, the response (good news) does not have the same weight as the original attack. So it comes down to who yells the loudest and most often. Then money, not real issues, not facts become the deciding factor in which side wins. My thanks again to the Supreme Court on the Citizens United decision for opening the floodgates of campaign financing to forces intent on transforming this country into a parody of democracy.

People who deliberately watch political ads of any kind are morons. Political ads are what the Mute button is for, and for bathroom breaks. If you make your political choices based on political ads, you should be disenfranchised.

Moreover, this article doesn't mention the classic Rove tactic, "Go negative early." By going negative early, you are putting out all the bad stuff you want to echo and resonate throughout the campaign. Then, when your opponent counters with negative ads, you can appear to be taking the "high road".

Not responding quickly to negative ads cost John Kerry the 2004 election, IMO. He thought no one would take the Swiftboaters seriously, since they had tried unsuccessfully to thwart his Senate campaigns earlier in his career. Instead of a fast response, the story dominated the campaign trail for a full month.

They work because too many people are unable to think for themselves. Slick political machines make bold lies seem so believable and dramatic. When you stop and ask the next question you can cut right through the bull see the truth being warped, but they count on knee-jerk reactions without brains being engaged.

Vicious slanderous political ads work for people who don't pay close attention to politics and some undecided voters. The big lie. They introduce an element of suspicion or doubt concerning a politican. It's a very dirty tactic Think Anti John Kerry Swiftboat ads. Just really gutter politics. And now we can thank our Activist RightWing supreme court for unlimited money attack ads. The rightwing Republicans are masters of this. For them the end ALWAYS justify the means. They have no scruples ZERO

75% of Americans are uneducated and uninformed and therefore ignorant. They get their information from media run by huge corporations that control the content of what they feed to the ignorant masses. Their ability to think is severely reduced by the mediocre education they receive. Therefore they believe negative ads. Which is exactly what wealthy conservatives want. When you have control the last thing in the world you want is an informed intelligent populace that just might realize how badly they're being conned.

Negative ads work for one reason: a large percentage of the voting population is stupid and gullible. Why do you think we get politicians like Palin, W, Santorum, Bachmann, O'Donnell? What other possible explanation for the success of Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Hannity?

They are much more effective in the United States than in Europe for two reasons. One, the restrictions on campaign spending there are much stricter. In Britain, (until recently?) individual campaign ads on TV were banned altogether. Secondly, Americans have been socialized to see all politicians in a negative light because of our predominantly pro-business/anti government popular culture. Our belief that our dog eat dog competition makes us stronger is largely a myth and especially leaves us open to more negativity. Gender matters too. Women are more likely to be turned off by excessive negativity than men.

How can our country withstand more debt? Are both Obama and Romney together capable of running our country while pointing fingers of blame? Get ready folks,we're domed either way our, we're going down more yet.

Cons calling libs stupid. Libs calling cons stupid.

Its not about stupidity. I've seen otherwise reasonably intelligent people (moderately above average intelligence according to IQ tests--my mother comes to mind) be swayed by emotional arguments and propaganda.

Why do you think we have so much product advertising? Because marketing works, and marketers are very good at what they do.

A candidate is just another product to be marketed and even intelligent people can abandon reason.

“Believe only half of what you see and nothing that you hear.”
― Edgar Allan Poe

It's political propaganda season !!!

They work because so FEW actually bother to check the facts.

When's the last time you got an email warning you about a new "virus" that will erase your hard drive etc? Millions of people fall for such nonsense. Even friends of mine who I have showed over and over how to go to Snopes and some of the other fact checking sites... it's like it's too much trouble for them to do any research at all and they continue to fall for every hoax that comes along.

So people who have an inner dislike for a candidate, will believe every lie that hits the news and it doesn't even cross their minds to check the story out on the internet because they already "know" that it's true. -boggle-

PS: I play an online game WoW. There are times the developers will post some news to their website detailing some upcoming programming work to the program or game updates. Players will then comment to the post and after a few pages of such comments, you start seeing players making up outright lies about the original developers story. Many other players will believe these new comments and never bother to check the first item... from the developers who started the thread, because they are too lazy? And the negative comments will build and build... as more and more worriers carry on at length and the lies carry more and more weight. Eventually the developers will "lock" the thread to stop people from adding posts because of all the absolute BS. To me this is similar to what happens with political stories.