"Puh...leeeaaasssee -- let it be over..." The cry of a tormented soul on the rack? No; rather an American of voting age agonizing through this presidential campaign. How long now? Mere years? Surely a decade.
Sick of hearing about candidates' personalities, personal faults, and their dirty laundry in general, what I'd really like to know is what programs they have in mind and how they intend to implement them. But...I don't think that's coming until after the election.
The jury's still out on the effectiveness of negative attack ads; psychologists claim threatening messages like these -- McCain's over the hill, out-of-touch, in bed with Bush/ Obama pals around with crooks and terrorists/ Palin's an inept lightweight clothes-horse/ Biden, oh never mind, that's enough -- are remembered longer than positive, uplifting ads, even though polls repeatedly show that voters dislike them.
While longing for the gentlemanly behavior and noble political restraint characteristic of days of old, I ran across a Newsweek article listing newspaper editorials from the republic's early years: 1800-Thomas Jefferson-John Adams presidential race: "If Jefferson wins; murder, robbery, rape, adultery, and incest will be openly taught and practiced...the soil will be soaked with blood...citizens hid their Bibles for fear the infidel president will declare them illegal." 1828-Supporters of John Quincy Adams called Andrew Jackson "a cannibal, a murderer" and his previously married wife "a whore."
125 years later and mild by comparison, Senator Robert Taft (upon the firing of popular General Douglas MacArthur during the Korean War) demanded "President Truman must be impeached and convicted...he is unfit, morally and mentally, for his high office...a fool who is surrounded by knaves." Truman's approval rating (22%-Gallup poll) is the all-time lowest for an active American president (Bush--take heart), and he was forced to cancel his 1953 reelection campaign.
So anyway, mudslingin' and muckrakin' apparently have a long, distinguished history here in River City and --- I should shut up!
Sick of hearing about candidates' personalities, personal faults, and their dirty laundry in general, what I'd really like to know is what programs they have in mind and how they intend to implement them. But...I don't think that's coming until after the election.
The jury's still out on the effectiveness of negative attack ads; psychologists claim threatening messages like these -- McCain's over the hill, out-of-touch, in bed with Bush/ Obama pals around with crooks and terrorists/ Palin's an inept lightweight clothes-horse/ Biden, oh never mind, that's enough -- are remembered longer than positive, uplifting ads, even though polls repeatedly show that voters dislike them.
While longing for the gentlemanly behavior and noble political restraint characteristic of days of old, I ran across a Newsweek article listing newspaper editorials from the republic's early years: 1800-Thomas Jefferson-John Adams presidential race: "If Jefferson wins; murder, robbery, rape, adultery, and incest will be openly taught and practiced...the soil will be soaked with blood...citizens hid their Bibles for fear the infidel president will declare them illegal." 1828-Supporters of John Quincy Adams called Andrew Jackson "a cannibal, a murderer" and his previously married wife "a whore."
125 years later and mild by comparison, Senator Robert Taft (upon the firing of popular General Douglas MacArthur during the Korean War) demanded "President Truman must be impeached and convicted...he is unfit, morally and mentally, for his high office...a fool who is surrounded by knaves." Truman's approval rating (22%-Gallup poll) is the all-time lowest for an active American president (Bush--take heart), and he was forced to cancel his 1953 reelection campaign.
So anyway, mudslingin' and muckrakin' apparently have a long, distinguished history here in River City and --- I should shut up!
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