Tag Archives: negativity

national news, political news

You want negativity? Try this!

There’s negative — often fiery — political rhetoric, and then there’s this.

It comes from Pennsylvania Republican candidate for governor Scott Wagner and is aimed at Democratic incumbent Tom Wolf.

According to USA Today: “Governor Wolf, let me tell you, between now and November 6th, you better put a catcher’s mask on your face because I’m gonna stomp all over your face with golf spikes because I’m gonna win this for the state of Pennsylvania, and we’re throwing you out of office because you know what, I’m sick and tired of your negative ads,” Wagner said in a fiery salvo on Facebook Live. 

Wow, man! What in the name of World Wrestling Entertainment (which features a lot of this kind of jawing between pro rasslin’ “opponents) is Wagner saying here?

Let me declare that I don’t believe he actually intends to “stomp all over” Wolf’s face with golf spikes.

However, this kind of overheated, overblown and overhyped political rhetoric just feeds into the kind of crap we hear too often on campaign stumps already.

Stand up and take a bow, Donald John Trump. That means you, too, Mr. President of the United States. To be fair, I haven’t heard the president actually threaten to deliver bodily harm himself to a political foe. Still, at times his rhetoric does cross that line that separates sane and reasoned political discourse from inflammatory political demagoguery.

See the video here.

This unhinged rant from Scott Wagner? It defies description.

Sheesh!

political news

Negativity sells … big time!

I have lamented the extreme and sometimes harsh negativity I’ve been seeing of late along the 2018 midterm election trail.

However, I am no Pollyanna on this stuff. I know how it works. I know that negativity is a big draw to voters looking for ways to help them make up their minds on who gets their vote.

Human beings are drawn to negativity. It’s like the car wreck you see on the side of the road as you drive by: You don’t want to look at it, but you crane your neck anyway.

So it is with negative political advertising. I’ve also noted how state Sen. Kel Seliger is seeking to stay positive as he campaigns for re-election to the Texas Senate. I do wish him well in that effort and I hope he succeeds.

Let’s get real for just a minute.

I have a quick anecdote from my career in print journalism.

It was fairly routine for me to run into someone who would say something like this: “Hey, I really liked what you wrote the other day.” I would respond, “And what was that?” The person would say, “Oh, let me think. Dang! I can’t remember what it was. I’ll remember and get back to you.”

However, if someone would say, “You know, I didn’t like what you wrote.” I would ask, “What was it about?” The person then could quote the editorial or column back to me virtually verbatim, picking apart every sentence or paragraph and telling me why I was all wet or that I didn’t know what I was talking about.

That is the truth. So help me.

Yes, negativity sells. The marketplace of ideas thrives on people’s dander getting riled up.