Obama In His Own Words On Negative Campaigns

[Conan71]

"If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone to run from"

Mmmm hmmmm.  It's pretty hard to brag about 8% + unemployment as some sort of accomplishment.  It's a brilliant strategy really.  He's offering no positive accounts of his record nor his plans for the next four years.  It's simply keep holding up something shiny so the media will keep their eyes off a job performance which even makes Jimmy Carter look like a great president.

Please note that Carter was fired by voters with 7.5% unemployment even though job growth under Carter was somewhat admirable considering the rough economic times.

[nathanm]

Obama offers up things he thinks are positive. You, however, see his successes as epic failure, so you don't hear what he's saying.

[AquaMan]

"If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone to run from"

Mmmm hmmmm.  It's pretty hard to brag about 8% + unemployment as some sort of accomplishment.  It's a brilliant strategy really.  He's offering no positive accounts of his record nor his plans for the next four years.  It's simply keep holding up something shiny so the media will keep their eyes off a job performance which even makes Jimmy Carter look like a great president.

Please note that Carter was fired by voters with 7.5% unemployment even though job growth under Carter was somewhat admirable considering the rough economic times.

Carter didn't inherit what Obama did. Nor did he use a middle east hostage situation to crowbar his way into office.

[Conan71]

Obama offers up things he thinks are positive. You, however, see his successes as epic failure, so you don't hear what he's saying.

Weak tea boys.

If his record is so stellar, why is he resorting to the type of attacks he was deriding just four years ago?

Voters should heed his words.  They ring prophetic.

[Hoss]

Makes me wonder sometimes.

When Republicans get into the negative campaigning, the Republicans call it 'smart'.  Democrats typically howl about it.

When Democrats do the same, Republicans call it 'abhorrent'.

C, you act like both parties never do this.

And what's wrong with pointing out what his record is with Bain?  Is that what you're referring to as negative?

[Red Arrow]

And what's wrong with pointing out what his record is with Bain? 

An honest representation is fair game.  The question is whether the data is being presented honestly and in context.

[nathanm]

If his record is so stellar, why is he resorting to the type of attacks he was deriding just four years ago?

I don't think that examining the record Romney has stated he is running on is an attack any more than you harping on Obama's record is an attack. Disputing someone's version of events is not an attack. Calling them a bad person is an attack. Some people may have done that, but the President hasn't.

If you'd like, I could tell you about how much of Warren Buffett's wealth is the result of fraudulent conversions of non-profit insurers to for-profit entities. That wouldn't be an attack, either. Stating the facts is not ever an attack. It is a fact that some Bain entities were bankrupted by borrowing to pay management fees. Romney does in fact have somewhere around $100 million in one or more IRAs. Romney did in fact gift his son $100 million without paying gift tax. Sometimes the truth is uncomfortable, but it's not made that way by the person bringing it to light.

[Gaspar]

[Conan71]

I don't think that examining the record Romney has stated he is running on is an attack any more than you harping on Obama's record is an attack. Disputing someone's version of events is not an attack. Calling them a bad person is an attack. Some people may have done that, but the President hasn't.

If you'd like, I could tell you about how much of Warren Buffett's wealth is the result of fraudulent conversions of non-profit insurers to for-profit entities. That wouldn't be an attack, either. Stating the facts is not ever an attack. It is a fact that some Bain entities were bankrupted by borrowing to pay management fees. Romney does in fact have somewhere around $100 million in one or more IRAs. Romney did in fact gift his son $100 million without paying gift tax. Sometimes the truth is uncomfortable, but it's not made that way by the person bringing it to light.

Gas, I was thinking along these lines:

[Gaspar]

President Obama didn't run those attack ads, somebody else did.

[Conan71]

President Obama didn't run those attack ads, somebody else did.

Bush did it again?

[AquaMan]

I always figured Bush was like Bart Simpson as a kid, "I didn't do it! Nobody saw me do it! You can't prove a thing!"

[Gaspar]

I always figured Bush was like Bart Simpson as a kid, "I didn't do it! Nobody saw me do it! You can't prove a thing!"

President Obama seems to be like that as an adult.

[AquaMan]

It wasn't.

[Red Arrow]

It wasn't.

He was "hired" to fix it.  He hasn't.