Negativity rears its ugly head in this election

Negativity begats more negativity. It doesn’t take rocket science to know that. Try being around someone who sees the glass half full all the time, and soon, you can’t see anything in the glass at all. It also is a way to play to people’s fears so the person using negativity can try to manipulate the process.

This campaign is no exception to manipulative negativity in political ads. In a recent commentary on negative campaign ads, Darrell West of the Brooking Institute notes:” Attack ads broadcast in recent months have twisted the truth, lied about personal background, taken statements out of context, and clearly sought to manipulate voter sentiments.”

But do these attacks on candidates also incite anger and racism? In a recent campaign visit, Governor Palin was speaking to a raucaus crowd about Obama and his so called connection to terrorists. Some one from the crowd screamed, “Kill him”. Palin did nothing.

At the recent debate, McCain used the term : that one, in referring to Senator Obama. The question is: without overtly playing the race card, is the McCain team playing on people’s fears and inciting what is still (unfortunately) present, racism? I ask this question because a friend of mine received this picture via her cell phone from an acquaintance of hers, asking….do you believe this? See picture and video, comment...join us here