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Nov. 23, 2009
JWisdom.com: Actually, it really is all about you with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff
Nov. 20, 2009
Rabbi David Aaron: How to make every second of your life come first
Caroline B. Glick: Whither American Jewry
Nov. 19, 2009
Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: Please Listen to this Godcast (5 minutes)
Jonathan Tobin: ADL Crosses the Line with Report Bashing Obama Critics
Nov. 18, 2009
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: What Judaism has to say about the secret of the Mona Lisa's smile
JWisdom.com: The (Jewish) Dating Game with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (8 minutes)
Nov. 17, 2009
Steven Emerson: How Does the 4th Amendment Impact Terror Finance Investigations?
JWisdom.com: If Frank Sinatra married Edith Piaf with Rabbi Y.Y. Rubinstein (2 minutes) Life lessons from what would be regarded as the most inappropriate lyrics ever sung
Nov. 16, 2009
The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir : When borrowing is stealing
JWisdom.com: Deconstructing faith with Rabbi Warren Goldstein (9 minutes)
Nov. 13, 2009
JWisdom.com Sarah's subjective reality with Rabbi Sroy Levitansky ( 6 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick: Obama's failure, Netanyahu's opportunity
Nov. 12, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet By Marialisa Calta : A sweet sweet potato treat
JWisdom.com Does God get tired? with Rabbi Harvey Belovski ( 5 minutes)
Nov. 11, 2009
Rabbi Avi Shafran: Jews and money: When anti-Semitism isn't
JWisdom.com Marriages are not made in Heaven with Rabbi Lawrence Hajioff (VERY fast 15 minutes)
Nov. 10, 2009
Michael Doyle: Author of book exposing CAIR ordered to remove supporting documents from Web
JWisdom.com If the creation so loudly shouts the existence of the Creator, why aren't more people believers? with Rabbi Naftali Brawer (9 minutes)
Nov. 9, 2009
Mark Steyn: Shooter exposes hole in U.S. terror strategy
JWisdom.com It's never too late to have a happy childhood with Sarah Chana Radcliffe (5 minutes)
Nov. 6, 2009
Rabbi Berel Wein: Choosing to hear
JWisdom.com Zero to 1/60th: How to Empower An Hour with Gavriel Aryeh Sande (7 minutes)
Caroline B. Glick The mullahs' big week
Suzanne Fields A Fallen Wall for Fallen Man
Nov. 5, 2009
The Kosher Gourmet: Three scrumptious -- but simple -- butternut squash dishes
JWisdom.com Hidden Hints: Unlocking Faith & Prayer with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz (10 minutes)
Nov. 4, 2009
Tom Hamburger and Kim Geiger: Should prayers be covered?
JWisdom.com When God played peacemaker With Rabbi Sroy Levitansky (5 minutes)
Nov. 3, 2009
Martin Peretz: Beware, Barack. Beware, Rahm. Beware, Axelrod
JWisdom.com Are you are closet idolater? With Sara Yoheved Rigler (10 minutes)
Nov. 2, 2009
Paul Greenberg: The Holocaust is now on Facebook
JWisdom.com Abraham's Strange Change With Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer (5 minutes)
Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review August 26, 2008 / 25 Menachem-Av 5768

The power of negative thinking

By Kathryn Lopez


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | The old saw, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" works as motherly advice or as a pithy rule of thumb to aid character formation. But it fails spectacularly as a guiding political strategy for a presidential campaign.


As Aaron Tippin sings in that most red, white and blue musical genre — country — "You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything. You've got to be your own man, not a puppet on a string."


According to a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, "Nearly three in 10 voters, 29 percent, pointed to McCain as the candidate running a negative campaign, compared to just 5 percent who said Obama is running a negative campaign." Prevailing wisdom would label this perception a minus for Big Mac. But it shouldn't. Consider this example from the recent past:


During the Republican presidential primary season earlier this year, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney weathered heavy criticism for daring to run ads that harshly contrasted his attributes with the perceived failings of a major opponent, Mike Huckabee. His first such ad, which ran in Iowa in December, described Romney and Huckabee as "two good family men," both pro-life and both in favor of keeping marriage between a man and a woman. But the similarities ended there. The ad continued: "Mitt Romney stood up and vetoed in-state tuition for illegal aliens, opposed driver's licenses for illegals. Mike Huckabee? Supported in-state tuition benefits for illegal immigrants. Huckabee even supported taxpayer-funded scholarships for illegal aliens."


What, pray tell, is wrong with an ad like that? It makes its point decently, by taking a hard look at the respective records — exactly how a candidate should clarify the differences between himself and an opponent.


Despite some initial dithering about scruples, Huckabee eventually fired back, running an ad that accused Romney of "dishonesty." Among other things, the ad aimed to present Romney as something other than a law-and-order executive. As the Annenberg Political Factcheck Web site pointed out, though, that portrayal was a bit misleading: "The ad says Romney's record as governor of Massachusetts includes 'no executions.' That's true, but the reason is that Massachusetts doesn't have a death penalty. Furthermore, Romney tried and failed to get the death penalty reinstated."


The fact of the matter is that Huckabee, in spite of his professed dislike of negative advertising, wanted to win, and knew the power that such ads command — although in this case, they stretched the truth. The pastor in him wanted to say (or thought he should say), "Negative is bad." But in his political heart, he knew what was right for his cause.


But it's more than that: Politics cannot always center on the quest for popular celebrity. Barack Obama is reminded of this whenever he's made to talk about real political issues. John McCain should make him do it more often. Calling attention to the many stark contrasts between himself and his opponent often brings out the best in the Republican presidential hopeful. I don't know whether involving Paris Hilton — as the McCain campaign recently did to the delight of late-night pundits everywhere — is always the answer, but if voters don't know what you support and oppose, and how you are different from your opponent, they've got no good reason to vote for you and against him. Without facts, both positive and negative, there is no true choice.


So McCain should continue to make ads about policy, about funding for troops, and taxing and spending. The McCain campaign should make clear the differences between the Arizona senator and Obama. (On abortion, specifically; Obama wouldn't oppose infanticide in the Illinois State Senate.) McCain should continue to use humor, to be a happy warrior, even as he forthrightly criticizes Obama. He should seek to drive home the biggest difference between the candidates: Their stances on the unpopular war in Iraq. The "maverick" McCain should be bold enough to go negative. And then voters will know the truth. And that's always a positive.

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