"Negative ads have been a hallmark of presidential campaigns for decades, because polls show they work.

But conservative strategist Frank Luntz, president and CEO of Luntz Global, LLC, has conducted various focus groups on the effectiveness of political ads, and says this latest batch is different in one key way.

"It's one thing to be negative," he observes. "It's another thing to demonize your opponent.""

Me quoting Frank Luntz, of all people.

Luntz is closer to the mark. The demonization of each other during 2016 was stomach turning.

McCain and Obama never did that, that I recall. (Their surrogates certainly did, of course.) McCain even batted down the birthism crap and defended Obama's patriotism.