Negative Campaign Ads Drive America Totally Loony!

It's that season again when no one dares to turn on their television because they will be inundated with negative campaign ads. I simply don't understand this. The only winners are the local channels who must make tons of money from the campaign treasuries.

I'm sure we aren't the only ones who are sick of this. It must be the same in every household in America. Well, it proves one thing - politicians do not listen to us - at all!

The channel we watch for news has a "Talkback" segment where people call in or e-mail their complaints (mostly) or compliments (a few) about the channel's programming and news. All year people call in to complain about someone's haircut, or that they only air bad news, or that the morning weatherman is a complete idiot, or to congratulate one of them on the birth of a child. Now most of those calls are overrun by complaints about negative campaign ads, and quite a few of those callers have concluded that since all of the candidates are apparently crooks, they just won't vote at all. This is especially true in a county south of ours where a widespread corruption scandal involving comissioners, judges, etc. has been in the news for the past year.

So far only one candidate in northeast Pennsylvania has a positive commercial in which he thanks the people who voted for him in the primary, thanks his primary opponents for now supporting him, and saying what he would stand for if elected in November. He has only that one ad. Good for him! If only the others would follow suit rather than slinging mud.

I'm not condemning any party or any candidate here. Both parties and all candidates are equally guilty. We seem to have reverted to the supposedly "good old days" of our early history when mud slinging like this was very common. It isn't new at all, but why candidates and their staff people think this type of thing is effective is beyond my powers of understanding. I will vote because I think it's my privilege and my duty as a citizen, but I won't have that good feeling I used to have when leaving the polling place. I'll just be relieved to leave the stink behind.