Republican candidate accused of wanting to kill cuddly animals in new low for US campaigning

PolitiFact examines the ad's claim.

Comments

[Martin Marprelate- A Man in the Street!]

US politics have always been dirty so this is no surprise. It is the mirror image of those religious extremists who would smear a Democrat candidate if they had had an abortion when they were younger. I have no time for either of these US Political Parties but then again I am not an American voter. A plague on both of their houses as far as I am concerned.

I wouldn't personally vote for someone who had healthy cats or dogs destroyed where they was a viable alternative.

[JCS]

What hypocritical rubbish. Some of the things the Republicans and there allies have been slinging at President Obama and the Democrats and you think that is low. I am afraid if you start calling your opponents names and misrepresenting them then they are fully entitled to do the same.

[Steve Tierney]

I wouldn't vote for somebody who wanted to do this, to be honest.

[Martin Marprelate- A Man in the Street!]

Like I say I have no time for either of the US Political Parties so would vote for an Independent if one stood. Politics over here can be robust but I hope we never sink to the level they have Stateside.

[Richard Drake]

"It is the mirror image of those religious extremists who would smear a Democrat candidate if they had had an abortion when they were younger."

There is nothing intrinsically 'extremist' about smearing someone who procures an abortion. If someone takes the ethical postion that life starts at conception (and who is to say for sure that it doesn't) then an abortion is an extreme act no different from murder. From this ethical standpoint those who procure abortions are consenting to murder and those who perform them are not morally distinguishable from the SS doctors committing mass murder in nazi concentration camps.

[Martin Marprelate- A Man in the Street!]

Richard Drake, I take the stance on Abortion that until the foetus draws its first independent breath I hold the mother's life and welfare to be paramount and do NOT believe that life begins at conception. To my mind therefore the ultra religious Yanks who not only smear those who are involved in pregnancy terminations but indulge in acts of violence against such people are extremists. I sense that you take a 180 degree opposite position on this. That's your choice. I have made my mind on this issue decades ago when David Steel's Act became law in the UK and have no reason to change it. Each to his own.

[Ultimo Tiger]

Well, the US used to execute human beings in the gas chamber so why the attack ad? If they could do it to humans I'm sure doing it to animals isn't too big a jump. I suppose they're just being consistent.

[Cleethorpes Rock]

No-one can argue the Republicans are being soft on the death penalty.

[Martin Marprelate- A Man in the Street!]

True enough Ultimo. Now I am in favour of Capital Punishment for willful and deliberate murder and acts of terrorism but not by the Gas Chamber as used in the USA nor the Electric Chair. Instead I support the use of the British "variable drop" method of execution in which death is virtually instantaneous. Q.V.

Variable Drop
This process, also known as the measured drop, was introduced to Britain in 1872 by William Marwood as a scientific advancement to the standard drop. Instead of everyone falling the same standard distance, the person's height, weight and strength[7] were used to determine how much slack would be provided in the rope so that the distance dropped would be enough to ensure that the neck was broken but not so much that the person was decapitated. The careful placement of the eye or knot of the noose, (so that the head was jerked back as the rope tightened), contributed to breaking the neck predictably.
Prior to 1892, the drop was between four and ten feet (about one to three metres), depending on the weight of the body, and was calculated to deliver a force of 1,260 lbf (5,600 newtons or 572 kgf), which fractured the neck at either the 2nd and 3rd or 4th and 5th cervical vertebrae. However, this force resulted in some decapitations, such as the famous case of "Black Jack" Tom Ketchum in New Mexico Territory in 1901. Between 1892 and 1913, the length of the drop was shortened to avoid decapitation. After 1913, other factors were also taken into account, and the force delivered was reduced to about 1,000 lbf (4,400 N or 450 kgf). The decapitation of Eva Dugan during a botched hanging in 1930 led the state of Arizona to switch to the gas chamber as its primary execution method, on the grounds that it was believed more humane.[8] One of the more recent decapitations as a result of the long drop occurred when Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti was hanged in Iraq in 2007.

[Bedd Gelert]

I think the advert is excellent !! 'Shock and Awe' of the best kind !!

If you can't stand the heat, don't stand for Senate !!

I wish there were more of this sort of stuff in the UK.

"Here is a man called 'George'. Here is some coke, and here is a prostitute.."

[Greg]

I don't think this is a new low. I think Elizabeth Dole two years was far worse than this.

[Martin Marprelate- A Man in the Street!]

There are many American ideas that simply do NOT work here in the UK and this type of hostile political advertising is one of these. Unlike you Bedd Gelert I do NOT want to see this type of thing on telly on this side of the Pond.

BTW why choose the name of the grave of a legendary Welsh hound as your nom-de plume? Mine is of course from Shakespeare and signifies someone who is an uninvited and unwelcome guest at a feast.

[John Moss]

And what do they do to stray dogs and cats at Battersea if they are not claimed within 12 weeks?

[Martin Marprelate- A Man in the Street!]

John I understand that they are "put to sleep" as they say if they are not claimed or re-homed. There are however other organisations such as the Cat Protection League of which I am a member which will not put down a healthy animal.

[Justin Hinchcliffe]

Vote Democrat is THIS election.

[American Bystander]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIyewCdXMzk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io9KMSSEZ0Y&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRQwYFs3BxI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRQwYFs3BxI&feature=related

You were saying?

[American Bystander]

Oh, I forgot this gem...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjK1Ar4ksvY&feature=related