CAN'T IMAGINE WHY DEMOCRATIC MEANIES HAVE TO POISON OUR OTHERWISE DELIGHTFUL POLITICAL ATMOSPHERE

The Wall Street Journal's Gerald Seib tells us that the advertising in this year's Senate races is nasty, and it's primarily because of Democrats:

... Analyses of Senate ads over most of September by the Wesleyan Media Project show that negative ads are far outweighing positive ads, and airing at a higher rate than in recent elections.

And Democratic groups, fighting to defend more Senate seats and keep control of the chamber, have been more negative than their Republican counterparts, that independent analysis shows.

... relatively more negative ads are flowing out of all Democratic sources, not just outside groups, the analyses show. In that early September period, for example, 70.5% of ads run on behalf of Democrats from all sources were rated as negative, while 39.3% of those run on behalf of Republicans were negative. Among outside groups, 91.4% of ads backing Democrats were negative, while the figure was 77.9% among groups backing Republicans....

Why do those awful Democrats have to be so mean and unpleasant?

Well, please note that as I type this, the front page of the Drudge Report has this:



More from Ben Shapiro's Truth Revolt:

... President Obama [was] on the minds of many Southern California drivers as bumper stickers began appearing on area cars featuring the word Ebola with the Obama logo replacing the letter "o."

... at least some Southland drivers seem convinced that the President's policy on stopping the virus to-date have not inspired confidence.

Democrats are launching negative attacks in this campaign, but Republicans launch negative attacks like this all the time, whether it's campaign season or not, whether or not they're referring to a candidate who's currently on the ballot. They do it on the air and they do it off the air. Negativity toward Democrats is the air conservatives breathe. It's not just an occasional topic of discussion at politically charged moments , it's a lifestyle. Right-wingers wake up, turn on Fox and/or talk radio, and never turn them off until bedtime. This is true when an election's coming up and it's true when the next election is a year away.

Democrats aren't exceeding Republicans in negativity -- it just seems that way if you limit your analysis to on-air campaign ads. The right-wing conversation is one long negative ad -- and that conversation has gone on for years without interruption.

The Democratic Party and outside Democratic groups have to reach a public that doesn't think about politics incessantly, so the negativity is concentrated in ads. The Republican Party and its groups don't have that problem. For Republican voters, anger at Democrats is a permanent condition.

There's a huge anger gap in American politics. It's understandable that Democrats are trying to close it.