Ready, Aim, Fire!

I recently read and article in Newsweek titled Ready, Aim, Fire! by Sharon Begley.  The article is about negative ad campaigns.  Begley claims the tradition of our nation's negativity comes from the Declaration of Independence.  More than half of it were attacks on England.  Today Obama and McCain are using a lot of attack ads.  77 percent of Obama's ads are negative, while 54 percent of McCains ads are negative.  Polls have shown that 80 percent of voters believed that negative ads are unethical and damaging to our democracy.  70 percent of polled voters said McCains's ads were too negative and nasty while 41 percent Obama's were.  In the week ending on October 4th, almost 100 percent of McCain's ads were negative, while only 34 percent of Obama's ads were negative.  Begley says one of the most noted attack ads ever was the 1964 daisy ad.  It showed a girl pulling petals of a daisy, and at the same time counting from ten to zero.  Once she reaches zero a bomb goes off.  It ends with, "Vote for President Johnson."  There was no mention of opponent Barry Goldwater, but the message was clear.