The Nashville Scene ran an interesting article recently about John G. Geer’s, In Defense of Negativity: Attack Ads in Presidential Campaigns. Citing Hillary Clinton’s recent “red telephone” ad below, Paul Griffith writes for the Scene:
According to Geer, democracy needs below-the-belt imagery like that of the Clinton ad, even if such characterizations can be painful to watch, because negative ads often provide more actual information than warmer, fuzzier bids for support. “For a negative appeal to be effective,” he writes, “the sponsor of that appeal must marshal more evidence, on average, than for positive appeals.”

Griffith concludes:

Someone should give Hillary Clinton a copy of this book, given recent Democratic calls for her to quit for fear her less-than-positive ads might disrupt party unity.

Read the rest of the article at the Nashville Scene website.
Also see a special feature, John Geer’s Attack Ad Hall of Fame.