Question about US presidential campaigns...

[Deleted]

Is it me, or are most presidential campaigns in the US very, very harsh (lack of better word)? I live in Denmark, and it would be absolutely unheard of to flame other politicians based on enything else than, well, politics. I know it's the same in other scandinavian countries too.
Are the presidential campaigns actually based on anything but hot air? I guess they are, but to what degree?
Everything I seem to hear from over there is criticism of other politics based on candidates choices in high school etc, scandals, "gaffes" (or whatever it's called), stuff like that. Debates, too, I feel are largely based on personal insults.
It's so absurd it's almost funny, to be honest.

Is it really like this? If so, why?
Cheers.

EDIT: http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-ways-t...er-10-seconds/ sums it up I suppose

[Sevyvia]

I'm ashamed to watch political debates in Denmark as it is, I can't even bear to think about the US stuff. It's so incredibly dumb and debasing.

[Reeve]

Is it me, or are most presidential campaigns in the US very, very harsh (lack of better word)? I live in Denmark, and it would be absolutely unheard of to flame other politicians based on enything else than, well, politics. I know it's the same in other scandinavian countries too.
Are the presidential campaigns actually based on anything but hot air? I guess they are, but to what degree?
Everything I seem to hear from over there is criticism of other politics based on candidates choices in high school etc, scandals, "gaffes" (or whatever it's called), stuff like that. Debates, too, I feel are largely based on personal insults.
It's so absurd it's almost funny, to be honest.

Is it really like this? If so, why?
Cheers.

EDIT: http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-ways-t...er-10-seconds/ sums it up I suppose

There's plenty of policy discussion in American campaigns. They often don't go into much detail though, because the idea is that the average American citizen either won't understand the specifics or don't care to learn about the specifics. They post some specifics on their websites sometimes, but often they speak in nebulous terms. For example, they talk about closing tax loopholes, but they never say specifically which tax loopholes or why it would be a good idea. They avoid those specifics because for every tax loophole, there are a LOT of people who like the loophole.

[Activi-T]

It's like that because the rallies and conventions are already filled with people who are going to vote for you so you don't have to go into policy. So they spend their time decrying how terrible the other side is and try to get their base supporters whhipped up enough to go out and do things to try and sway the undecided.

I agree it's a pretty silly way for politics to word but that's how it appears to be in the USA, in my opinion.

[ptwonline]

It's harsh because in a 2 party system, you don't actually have to be good. You only have to be better than the NEXT guy.

It's far easier to knock someone down with negative attacks than it is to build yourself up with positive things, and since you only have to be better than the next guy, negative campaigning becomes the norm.

There's two other problems: too much money, and the legality of lying through your teeth. Outright lying is protected under Free Speech (though why it isn't considered a form of fraud I have no idea). Virtually unlimited political donations and spending is also protected by Free Speech because the Supreme Court is made up of partisans. With so much money and the legal ability to lie like crazy, it's an open license to blanket the nation in negative advertising.

The media rarely calls them out for all the lying or else handles it with kid gloves or false equivalence because they have an economic incentive to do so: over a billion dollars in advertising revenues because of these campaigns. Slam them too hard and they may stop advertising or they may not agree to interviews, hurting your revenues and helping your competition. So instead of holding campaigns to the truth, they are complicit in spreading the lies.