ABSTRACT
Political parties, and what they stand for, are so much a part of American political rhetoric that they sometimes go almost unnoticed. For example, we have become so accustomed to the kinds of negative campaign ads run against Democrats and Republicans that we don’t even have to inquire as to the party affiliation of the candidate being attacked. Democratic candidates are routinely scorned for being weak on defense, national security and terrorism; for wanting to tax middle-class voters to death and spend the money on wasteful programs that create large bureaucracies; and for trying to ban God from the classroom and/or undermine heterosexual marriage and the nuclear family. Republicans are attacked for catering to the rich and powerful; for wanting to turn back the clock on equal rights for African Americans, women, and other minorities; for never encountering a military weapons program they didn’t like; for being insensitive to the needs and suffering of the poor and working class; and, most recently, for encouraging public fear of terrorists. Party labels don’t need to be explicitly identified in these kinds of communications; everyone knows which attacks go with which party.
