The Republican primaries have been notorious for political dramatics and fierce exchanges between candidates. As is the apparent norm in politics, finding ways to undercut your opponent has become as important as finding opportunities to bolster your own reputation. However, a recent turn of events indicates that underneath all of that hostility, there still remains an untouched etiquette and morality, albeit for only a brief period of time. According to an article published by The New York Times Sunday, Mitt Romney decided to pull negative advertising that criticized Rick Santorum while he was off the campaign trail and sitting beside his young daughter in a hospital.
Bella Santorum was hospitalized with a case of pneumonia and is known to have a chromosomal disorder. She has only just been released, indicating that Santorum will return to campaigning as usual. Given the severity of her illness, Rick Santorum forfeited any campaign engagements for a few days in order to ensure she was being taken care of. Romney’s decision to pull the advertising will definitely be applauded by the media and voters alike because it is a rare instance where political scheming is halted in respect for a family emergency.
While many will assume Romney did this as purely a publicity stunt, perhaps it would not be ill advised to give the former Bay State governor the benefit of the doubt. One would like to believe that a man running for public office has a basic moral foundation, even under such competitive circumstances.
Nevertheless, an update on the aforementioned story confirmed that since Santorum is now back on the road, the negative advertising would run once more. This illuminates the fact that so much political advertising is negative that only unusual circumstances warrant a retraction. If the advertising focused on positive media for the candidate and lowered its ratio of ads bashing their rivals, this would produce a much healthier race. Romney has purchased almost $3 billion in television advertising space, and it’s a shame that a good portion of that money will go toward airing ads that criticize his opponents. One cannot solely blame Romney for this, as sinking to these levels in political campaigning is a norm that has been perpetuated by politicians around the globe. Hopefully, this instance of reverting to more positive advertising will lead a precedent for an overall change in attitude.
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