Politicians are dishonest to a "T". NO person whose name appears on a ballot is "honest".

[cherokeeprogressive]

NO person whose name appears on a ballot "cares about the common good". NO person whose name appears on a ballot cares about anything more than having their name appear on that ballot AGAIN, AND AGAIN, AND AGAIN, AND AGAIN, AND AGAIN, except in those few instances where the law prohibits it.

Stop kidding yourselves.

[Warpy]

1. No, they're not, mostly because of the nonsystem of campaign finance

that keeps them in thrall to big donor sugar daddies. Once they get into office, they find out that a good 75% of the job involves raising enough money to stay there.

Few people wake up one day and decide to run for national office. They are approached by one industry or another that provides the seed money.

Extremely wealthy men who decide to run on their own money don't get very far, oddly enough.

[SheilaT]

2. Have you ever run for office?

I have. And I was not dishonest to a T. Really. I was not. I did care about the common good.

Perhaps you speak for yourself.

[cherokeeprogressive]

3. If you had won your election, how long would it have taken for you to start thinking about

getting re-elected? Days? Weeks? Months? Or would it have started as soon as a constituent told you that you needed to start thinking about it?

[SheilaT]

5. Well of course at some point I would have thought about

running for re-election. Duh.

So that would automatically have made me dishonest? Really?

[Savannahmann]

4. Speaker Pelosi.

Speaker Pelosi has one of the safest seats in Congress. The chances of a Republican getting elected from her district are about the same as Monkeys flying out of my butt and doing a version of Hamlet.

In the interview with Jon Stewart posted here it was said that she spends five hours a day fundraising and working on re-election.

Five hours a day working to get re-elected to the safest seat in Congress.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

6. Nonsense. N.T.

[WhiteTara]

7. Okay! You got me! I won't run.