Do you space out during political debates?
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In late July 2008 presidential candidate John McCain,
behind in the polls, ran a 30-second TV ad attacking
Barack Obama. “He’s the biggest celebrity in the
world,” the narrator declared, as the camera moved
from Obama’s beaming face to a crowd shouting,
“Obama! Obama!” “But is he ready to lead?” the nar-
rator intoned, with a quick cut to glamour shots of
Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. Obama chafed at
being compared to pop stars: “You haven’t heard a
positive thing out of that campaign in a month.” But
he retaliated with an attack ad of his own: “John
McCain. Same old politics. Same failed policies.” By the
time the 2008 campaign was over, Obama had placed
553,629 television ads, McCain 287,090. The great
majority of these ads—64 percent according to a 2010
study—were negative.
Many pundits claimed that politics had devolved
into little more than name-calling. It had been different
150 years earlier, they said, when Abraham Lincoln
squared off against Stephen A. Douglas in a series of
debates that framed the national discussion over slavery.
In fact, though, Lincoln and Douglas tore into each
other. “Mr. Lincoln has not character enough for
integrity and truth,” Douglas declared in the first