Washington File

politicians are only appealing to the biggest common denominator, but the media is facilitating the repetition of this meaningless trivia, mention it once and move on to more pertinent information, but that doesn't appeal to the public who want the latest gossip so it gets more viewers and listeners and since ratings make money, and the garbage collector gets elected. then once in power, people realize how ineffective the government is on one thing or another, and how did so and so ever get elected...DHA

today's politics is dumbing down voters, it appears no longer on what a politician can bring to the table, but what his opponents can't,...if you can show voters that the opponent has a lower IQ that make you look better even thought yours maybe only be a little more than average or that you got to where you are because you were able to buy your past influential positions, so I suggest that a law be pasted allowing a candidate to only tell voters what they would like to do, and only rebutt what your opponent claims that he will attempt to do. this way people can compare oranges with oranges and eliminate the political grenades, that don't have any intellectual value in running a country, and would weed out opportunist that have no real interest in governing other than the perks they can reward their financial backers, who in turn would be forced to chose people with more intellect and public charisma than most other deceitful methods of getting elected

stan,

You are a very angry man. Maybe you should consider therapy.

I have yet to find completely unbiased coverage in both private and public media. However international coverage and content is better with public media. I will stick to cbc.

Stan,

Go back to watching Fox news. They're the only news service that shares your complete lack of ability to discern facts from spin, and you'll never have to worry about anyone trying to break up your Republican love-fest.

If you'd bothered to read the above story, you'd notice that it's actually about the 'Vapour Ad' and its impact on the modern political landscape. The most famous example of this that Mr. Champ gave was Lyndon B. Johnson, a DEMOCRAT.

And if there are false allegations surrounding Sarah Pallin's kids that are influencing the path of the election, then maybe it's not the false allegations that are the news story, but their impact on the election. Every one of the Republican smears is repeated as well, as long as it has an impact on the election (and thereby legitimate news value).

Finally, if you've got a problem with Heather Mallick's opinion there's a simple, two-step solution: First, post a complaint on HER opinion page and second, stop reading her opinions (like I did).

Or, just keep doing what you're doing, whining about the big evil government-funded CBC and pretending that everything you don't like is yet another example of 'bias'.

GBA

Poor Henry is having a conniption, he realizes that Obama isn't going to win the election and isn't smart enough to understand that a government funded news outlet like the CBC should have reporters that keep their stories unbiased.
The CBC coverage of the US election has been a disgrace from their repeat of an already discredited smear about Sarah Palin's youngest child to Heather Mallick's sickening bile filled column on her.
The CBC's hatred of the Republicans is visceral.
Nice, a government funded news organization spewing hatred and lies about a young disabled child and a 17 year old girl.
Pathetic. I'd suggest you be ashamed of yourselves but you likely don't know the meaning of the word.
And I'm forced to pay your salaries.

I was in "shock and awe" watching the Republician Convention when Sarah Palin was introduced and gave her speech. The reaction from the audience amazed me. It made me think of a Hollywood production. It is no wonder advertising plays such an important rolli in politics. It all plays on the emotions rather than the intellect.

Republicans manipulate and distort, and Dems stand around shrugging their shoulders saying "Yes, but we're right!"

It's why Gore lost to Bush, and it'll be why Obama loses to McCain unless something changes. (Kerry didn't need anyone's help to sink his campaign...)

The Republicans have been masterful at moving the attention away from a candidate that should be a dead duck; choosing Palin was a stroke of genius (in spite of my post a few weeks back) and Biden is dead in the water in terms of helping the Obama campaign.

The Dems need to start praying, because it looks like Palin is the Teflon Veep... no matter how much it seemed at first like her selection was a transparent headline grab, her capacity to hold media attention looks like it's going to keep on hurting the Obama campaign.

It would be interesting to analyse the kinds of advertisements and the messages they contain that political parties have published in the last, say, 30 years and compare them to the advertising/propaganda techniques of the totalitarian states in Europe in the 30s and 40s.

We might be astonished at the similarities.

"Stand up Chuck" says Biden at a rally. But Chuck is in a wheelchair Joe. The guy is a one man blooper reel. Why oh why didn't he take Hillary? You can bet this question never leaves the minds of Obama and his handlers. And Henry the elephant is the symbol of the republican party and the donkey is the democrat.

thanks jerry,

it's hard to get good editing...h

Hold on now, why can’t we blame politicians for the style of the campaign they run? If we allow elections to become a Jerry Springer show then we are letting lunatics run the asylum. We will end up becoming just another 3rd world kleptocracy filling the street with dead bodies every time they pretend to ape the democratic process in what is really only an exercise in thugry. We should deliver a message through the ballot box that if you’re going to throw muck, it will come back to hit you in the face.

It is a modern day tragedy that the media has so much power and so few brains. The quality political commentary we used to expect was lost when the networks were bought up by the corporations who use them for their own advertising. The Proctor & Gambles of the world want people watching TV so their ads will be effective. They have no social or moral conscience about the effect their ridiculous pundits have on society.

Until I read this article,I didn't know what a "vapour ad" was. These ads are beneath contempt and the people who vote based on the emotional content have room temperature I.Q.s Obama talks about issues that require attention now but McCain and Co. don't seem able to acknowledge these problems let alone suggest any solutions.It looks like the saying"Bullshit baffles brains" may well be the guiding principle of this election to the detriment of us all.

So why, oh why, can't the Democrats EVER grasp this concept, and use it themselves. They are watching an election victory, which should have been a sure thing, slip away while they sit on the high road.
One of the things that so outraged the neo-cons in the U.S. about Bill Clinton is that he could play this game, which they see as their own, better than them. They never got over it.

I agree with the above post, why on earth is this being discussed at all?

I am an American (20 year old college student) who have friends who are very apathetic about the politcal ads, and media coverage.

At first I thought their grievance was unfounded, conformist "anti-establishment" thinking meant only to facilitate their continued waste of time in front of the video games and I-pods, but now I see where they may have something.

People fall too much for the sensationalist leanings of media coverage of useless tidbits (lipstick on a pig) and politicians both create and follow up on this on different instances.

They know what they are doing, very subtle very very indirect manipulation. However, the junkies are too busy debating over useless minutae and the rest of the populace ignores the issues until the last minute, often times being very uninformed.

It's our fault if we elect government officials who suck, cause we don't do enough questioning and don't ask the right questions when we need to.

Politicians do what works - period. If people are willing to decide who to vote for based upon a vapour ad then politicians will put out vapour ads.

People in a democracy should not blame politicians for what the politicians do, they should blame themselves for responding to such flummery.