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We can do better....

VanC

Well-known member
....but it ain't gonna happen. Politics is an oxymoron, and it always has been. It can be uplifting and give people hope, but it can also be degrading and bring on despair. It can cause otherwise normal, decent people (at least in their own minds) do things and say things that'll curl your hair. We see it right here on this forum. The hateful, sexist attacks on Gov. Palin go hand in hand with the vile, sick, racist "jokes" about Sen. Obama.

I hear people complain how much worse it's become recently. I don't think so. Yes, race and gender play a part in it like never before but, if you study your history, you'll see that this type of thing has been around from the beginning. It isn't so much that things have gotten so much worse, IMO, but that we can see things quicker an easier. We have so much information available to us so much quicker that sometimes it's overwhelming. Most of that information helps, but much of it drags us down, and it's all right there at our fingertips.

Will it get better? Probably not. Politics seems to often bring out the worst in people. Always has, always will.


The Politics of Personal Destruction
Ken Connor
Sunday, September 07, 2008

"Here ruining people is considered sport," so concluded Vince Foster in what many believe was his suicide note. "Here" is Washington D.C., and the instrument of ruination is the politics of personal destruction.

Alaska's Governor Sarah Palin is the latest person to find herself in the crosshairs of those aiming for her ruination. Her offense? She accepted Senator John McCain's invitation to be his running mate for the 2008 Presidential election. This historic milestone of a woman running on the Republican ticket was soon transformed into histrionics. Any real analysis of Governor Palin's public record was jettisoned in favor of digging up dirt about her personal life, real or concocted.

First came the snide comments on Governor Palin's looks. Most of those comments came from feminists, the same women who decry sexism and complain that too much attention is paid to how a woman looks. Nevertheless, they are the same women who keep us abreast of Hilary Clinton's changing hair styles and her preference for pantsuits. Who can forget the vitriol aimed at Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris during the 2000 Florida recount? How she applied her makeup became more important than how she applied the law. We may have come a long way baby, but cattiness persists among the feminists.

Next, Governor Palin was attacked for being a bad mother. Suddenly the crowd who proclaims women can only find fulfillment working outside the home have become homebodies. Crocodile tears were shed over whether Governor Palin would be abandoning her children if she became Vice President. It's ironic that feminists now complain that she should be at home with her kids.

But let's not kid ourselves. Many of the folks now supporting Governor Palin's bid for Vice President would be casting similar aspersions upon her if she were Senator Obama's running mate. Their unconditional support for Governor Palin, notwithstanding her family circumstances, is, for many, an abandonment of the notion that motherhood is a woman's highest calling.

Then came the attacks on Governor Palin's family. Her husband's DUI when he was 22 years old (over twenty years ago) was trotted out to see what kind of reaction it would receive. It didn't receive much of one but hey, it was worth a shot.

The most despicable attack was directed at Governor Palin's 17 year old daughter Bristol. One columnist tried to fabricate a scandal that Trig, Governor Palin's 5 month old son, was actually Bristol's and that Governor Palin claimed to be the mother in order to avoid embarrassment and save face. The scandal was replete with pictures of Bristol from 2006, claiming she was then pregnant with Trig, a mere eighteen months prior to Trig's birth. The columnist—not one to let the facts stand in the way of a good story—still demands a note from Governor Palin's doctor before he will be satisfied.

All of this microscopic scrutiny did lead to the Palin family's acknowledgement that Bristol is indeed pregnant (five months) and that she and her boyfriend plan to marry. This, of course, led to more aspersions on Governor Palin's fitness as a mother and provided a chance to extol the virtues of condom use as the centerpiece of sex education. You see, Governor Palin believes children should not be having sex and, thus, abstinence is what they should be taught. No doubt Bristol's circumstances have reinforced her belief.

Congressman Barney Frank joined in the mud slinging by commenting that Governor Palin's home is "in great turmoil." That's the same Barney Frank who claims he didn't know that a homosexual brothel was being run out of his Georgetown townhouse some years ago.

Thankfully, the one adult in all of this has been Senator Obama. He reacted to the attacks by saying, "Let me be as clear as possible. I have said before, and I will repeat again, I think people's families are off limits. And people's children are especially off limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Governor Palin's performance as governor or her potential performance as a vice president." The Senator went on to remind everyone that he also was born to an eighteen-year-old mother.

One blogger got it right when he wrote, "In our politics today, we don't just debate people, we destroy them." Both the left and the right are guilty of this bloodlust. The casualty count is high. No doubt many good people—people that would be of great service to the country—are reluctant to serve in public office because of the politics of personal destruction.

America will be better served if voters stay focused on the issues that face the country. Tabloid political coverage takes our focus off the important issues, and diminishes our electoral process. We can do better.



Copyright © 2008 Salem Web Network. All Rights Reserved.
 
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Anonymous

Guest
I still think the best story that shows how these campaigns have changed is the story of how JFK and Goldwater had agreed to only go after the issues- and to save the taxpayers/donors campaign funds they would fly to 4 or 5 preset debates around the country TOGETHER in the same plane....

JFK got killed - LBJ wouldn't go for it- and things slowly started to divide the county...Then the addition lately of Karl Rove and Rove tactics- and confrontational administration and legislation- and I think this country is at its highest point for being divided that I've seen in my lifetime...
 

VanC

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
I still think the best story that shows how these campaigns have changed is the story of how JFK and Goldwater had agreed to only go after the issues- and to save the taxpayers/donors campaign funds they would fly to 4 or 5 preset debates around the country TOGETHER in the same plane....

That's a nice story, but I doubt it's true. Kennedy was killed in Nov. of 1963. Goldwater announced he was a candidate for president in Jan. of 1964, and wasn't assured of the nomination until he won the California primary in the summer of 1964. Care to elaborate?
 
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Anonymous

Guest
VanC said:
Oldtimer said:
I still think the best story that shows how these campaigns have changed is the story of how JFK and Goldwater had agreed to only go after the issues- and to save the taxpayers/donors campaign funds they would fly to 4 or 5 preset debates around the country TOGETHER in the same plane....

That's a nice story, but I doubt it's true. Kennedy was killed in Nov. of 1963. Goldwater announced he was a candidate for president in Jan. of 1964, and wasn't assured of the nomination until he won the California primary in the summer of 1964. Care to elaborate?

Are you insinuating that the McCain campaign would lie :???: :wink: :lol:

John McCain, in a letter to Obama, calls for a barnstorming tour of town hall meetings across the country -- modeled after something Barry Goldwater and John Kennedy had discussed before Kennedy was killed -- in addition to the three formal debates.
http://weblogs.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/politics/blog/2008/06/town_halls_lincolndouglas_or_g.html

From NBC’s Chris Donovan
In McCain's letter he quotes Goldwater as saying a similar deal on town hall meetings "would have done the country a lot of good."

The quote actually comes from a 1988 Washington Post interview with Goldwater -- and it might be interesting to see the full quote in context.

In it, Goldwater says, "It probably wouldn't have happened." Here's the full quote: (and as I type historian Michael Beschloss just made this point on MSNBC):

"Goldwater's eyes remain fixed on the window. 'I would have enjoyed it very much. I even talked to him one day about using the same airplane, going to the same places. He'd get out in one place and start to debate and I'd rebut him. Then we'd turn it around in the next place. It was the Uncle Morris fantasy, and it probably wouldn't have happened. But he liked the idea. It would have saved a lot of money, we'd have had a good time, and it would have done the country a lot of good.'" (Washington Post, 8/14/1988)
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/06/04/1110876.aspx
 

VanC

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
VanC said:
Oldtimer said:
I still think the best story that shows how these campaigns have changed is the story of how JFK and Goldwater had agreed to only go after the issues- and to save the taxpayers/donors campaign funds they would fly to 4 or 5 preset debates around the country TOGETHER in the same plane....

That's a nice story, but I doubt it's true. Kennedy was killed in Nov. of 1963. Goldwater announced he was a candidate for president in Jan. of 1964, and wasn't assured of the nomination until he won the California primary in the summer of 1964. Care to elaborate?

Are you insinuating that the McCain campaign would lie :???: :wink: :lol:

John McCain, in a letter to Obama, calls for a barnstorming tour of town hall meetings across the country -- modeled after something Barry Goldwater and John Kennedy had discussed before Kennedy was killed -- in addition to the three formal debates.
http://weblogs.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/politics/blog/2008/06/town_halls_lincolndouglas_or_g.html

From NBC’s Chris Donovan
In McCain's letter he quotes Goldwater as saying a similar deal on town hall meetings "would have done the country a lot of good."

The quote actually comes from a 1988 Washington Post interview with Goldwater -- and it might be interesting to see the full quote in context.

In it, Goldwater says, "It probably wouldn't have happened." Here's the full quote: (and as I type historian Michael Beschloss just made this point on MSNBC):

"Goldwater's eyes remain fixed on the window. 'I would have enjoyed it very much. I even talked to him one day about using the same airplane, going to the same places. He'd get out in one place and start to debate and I'd rebut him. Then we'd turn it around in the next place. It was the Uncle Morris fantasy, and it probably wouldn't have happened. But he liked the idea. It would have saved a lot of money, we'd have had a good time, and it would have done the country a lot of good.'" (Washington Post, 8/14/1988)
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/06/04/1110876.aspx

Perhaps it was Godwater who was lying. He was before my time, but I've read a lot about him and, while there is much to be admired IMO, he wasn't always above the fray of dirty politics.

Or perhaps he just remembered it differently. The interview you cited took place when Goldwater was 79 years old. As all McCain and Reagan haters will tell you, that's way past the point of being able to think clearly. :p
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
.Frankie said:
Oldtimer said:
I still think the best story that shows how these campaigns have changed is the story of how JFK and Goldwater had agreed to only go after the issues- and to save the taxpayers/donors campaign funds they would fly to 4 or 5 preset debates around the country TOGETHER in the same plane....

JFK got killed - LBJ wouldn't go for it- and things slowly started to divide the county...Then the addition lately of Karl Rove and Rove tactics- and confrontational administration and legislation- and I think this country is at its highest point for being divided that I've seen in my lifetime...

oldtimer whta are you doing to unite AMERICA?

#1- We need a change in Washington....
 

Sandhusker

Well-known member
We need POSITIVE change in Washington.

I don't understand how people who want change from the horse crap that goes on in Washington politics thinks that an individual from Democratic Chicago, arguably the MOST CORRUPT political machine in the country, is the answer. Did Obama change any of the horse crap in Chicago? Heck no! Instead, he played the dirty game to his benefit! What happened to his opponents in his first Illinios St. House race?

This guy had a chance to do some changing where change is needed, but instead he chose the usual horse crap poltics because it benefitted him. He had a shot and blew it. So tell me, what has "changed" in him so that he won't be the same damn self-serving hypocrite that he was in Illinios state politics?
 

TexasBred

Well-known member
Sandhusker said:
We need POSITIVE change in Washington.

I don't understand how people who want change from the horse crap that goes on in Washington politics thinks that an individual from Democratic Chicago, arguably the MOST CORRUPT political machine in the country, is the answer. Did Obama change any of the horse crap in Chicago? Heck no! Instead, he played the dirty game to his benefit! What happened to his opponents in his first Illinios St. House race?

This guy had a chance to do some changing where change is needed, but instead he chose the usual horse crap poltics because it benefitted him. He had a shot and blew it. So tell me, what has "changed" in him so that he won't be the same damn self-serving hypocrite that he was in Illinios state politics?

You'll never get these guys to answer those questions? Hope and Change but never one even an example.....When someone asks Obama a ??? he simply says "i HOPE you CHANGE the subject".. :roll:
 
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