How likely would you be to.............

Vote for a candidate who says and sticks by this:

I will not use negative adds, I will not put out adds telling you about what the other candidate will do and why it is bad.

I will talk only about my positions, what I will do, how I will do it.

If my apponent attacks me I will not retaliate, I will only answer those attacks which are false, I will explain why they are false but will not counter with an attack on him.

Think it would work? Think it could be done?

discuss.

 

I think it's a stupid reason to make a decision based on that, but if you're trolling for responses.......here you go.

 

I guess maybe I don't mean solely on that. I mean if you were really on the fence between two canditates. Is that something or the type of thing that could sway you to one side?

 

Honestly, it's not possible since both sides made essentially the same promise and broke it. Maybe I'll vote for Nader, that would make my concience clear.

 

Couldnt happen. I personally might vote for them if I thought their stance was better, but the average american seems to be more interested in drama so I dont think that candidate would do that well.

 

I think obama was stupid to even begin to promise that--now the republican smear machine is gearing up to max and he can't retaliate. add to that that that he's (kinda) black, and the 'angry black man' thing has never played well anywhere but detroit, and again I wonder what the democrats were thinking when they nominated him.

so he's going to have to take it. or turn biden (really) loose. there's plenty of meat there, but there's probably no point--anyone still undecided is probably not legally allowed to vote, and you're either preaching to the choir or annoying the enemy. might as well take the high road and hope palin shoots herself in the foot or mccain pops off at a small child.

but yes, in your poorly disguised hypothetical, in a race of two identical twins I'd be more inclined to vote for the one that said that, if that were the only difference.

 

Biden is loose. (stand up charley) hahaha
but if ur on the fence u may already have bigger issues.

 

Mr. cynical, why do you say "poorly diguised"? I wasn't diguising anything.

It was legitimate B/C I have a family member who told me that they are not sure who they believe so they don't know yet who they will vote for. She specifically said that if one of the candidates would shut up with all the attacks and just say what he is going to do, that is probably the person she would trust.

 

we should go back to poll tests. and one of the first questions ought to be: "do you watch campaign ads for anything other than entertainment value/do you derive any of your information about for whom you'll vote from campaign ads?"

if the answer is yes, you're barred from voting. we've got to quit letting the stupid pick the people that make the policy that I live with.

 

Psssssst Scott. It's kind of hard to hold the voters to a higher standard than we do the elected.

Did you get your pool info?

 

So she'd vote for a candidate she trusts instead of deciding whether he is right or wrong?

I see your point but when it comes to politics there's no avoiding politics.

 

I'll admit that I definitely look at the ads and use them to direct my research. But I certainly don't expect more than about 10% of what I hear & see in any add to be anything more than pure spin or outright lies.

 

man, I have been in town for a grand total of like a week since then, and I was sick for that. the pool looks like a pond right now. thanks for reminding me, I'll call him this week. my wife has a stack of magazines on the living room table with pictures. I'm screwed.

 

I think your question is a good one. In a perfect world I certainly would have more confidence in a candidate that was totally honest with the American people, and refused to join in with the attack ads. Of course, the candidate would be slaughtered. There are far too many people who vote that actually take those attack ads at face value.

For example, when McCain made the joke about where middle class income started, and even laughed, and commented how what he said would be used against him, it wasn't two days until we started seeing Obama ads trying to convince people that McCain actually thinks middle class is at 5 million dollars. When the candidates, all of them, get into those kind of tactics it's really demeaning. It makes them all look like 10 year old kids.

Like Robert said, "when it comes to politics, there's no avoiding politics."

 

fixed it for you.

 

I think the bigger problem is that very few, or none, of the candidates actually ever do what they promise. They promise what will get them votes. You need to look deeper at who they are and the principles they seem to support over time, and decide if you agree with those ideals.

No one knows what they'll specifically do once in office.

 

Gee thanks. You're wrong though. The Swift Boat stuff was written on the third page of the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was dictated by Jesus so it must be true.

 

You're absolutely correct. Fortunately, most of the candidates ideas and promises are blown away when Congress gets their hands on them.

 

Anyone who wouldn't use a negative ad if it were the difference between winning and losing is too stupid and too weak to be in politics, how did they even manage to run for President in the first place? I would never vote for such a moron. You have to actually win before you put all of your wonderful widdle policies in place. We need ruthlessness at the top, otherwise we end up with pieces of dog shit like Carter. America deserves whatever it gets if it puts another such person in office. I'd take a bastard like Nixon any day over someone like that.

 

Like Robert said, "when it comes to politics, there's no avoiding politics." So lets let the Republicans trash as much as they can and deride the Democrats for the same. After what good are principles, anyway?

Of course, Democrats always run a clean campaign and never attack candidates like Sarah Palin was attacked.
Oh, never mind.