Running for President: Consider it carefully.

[TayTay]

Item: Harold Ford has racist ads run against him in the US Senate race. Rethugs think that anyone who doesn't 'get' the ads is actually a humorless dolt.

There are a lot of people who look good on paper as Presidential candidates. That's human nature for you. We, as a species, are always looking for the next wholely good thing and we always think that there is someone on the horizon who is just too good to ever be smeared or bashed.

Item: Jim Webb accused of being a pedophile by the Allen campaign, based on a passage in a book of fiction Webb wrote years ago. Webb now has to answer national questions about whether or not he is in favor of odd sex with kids.

A lot of people think they want to run for President. However, these people have not yet 'done the math.' They have not yet sat down with the wife and looked her in the eyes and asked themselves if she is totally pure and if she could withstand the pressure of having everything she has ever done in her life dragged through the media. They have not asked themselves if their kids would be able to take it if a crowd of people started shouting at them that their Dad or Mom is a 'babykiller.' They haven't yet asked their sister, who is in a devoted lesbian relationship, if she minds if the national press digs into her life and puts her life on the front page for all to see and comment on. No one has yet explained what freepers are and how they organize and will call your home, call your kids' homes and try to disrupt your life and heap disgrace on you, for no other reason that that you are a Democrat. They haven't thought it through yet.

Item: Deval Patrick, Dem nominee for Gov of Mass, had his brother-in-law's (BIL) past rape conviction brought up suddenly in the Boston press. The rape charge was brought by Deval's sister against her own husband many years ago. The BIL served time in prison, got out, reconciled with his wife and has lived as a model citizen ever since. He and his wife counsel other at-risk couples on how to deal with marriage difficulties and avoid violence. BTW, the couple's kids never knew about this part of their father's past until they read it in the newspapers.

The Democrats have a lot of 'possibles' for 2008. They are bright and shiny people right now, full of hope and the chance that they are so good that the Rethug smear campaigns will not work on them. This is a delusion. If these people have ever been lawyers, written books, ever given a break to a buddy and let them slide on a misdeamnor or done any number of little things, they will be smeared for it. Some people know this is how it is in politics in America right now. Others will learn this lesson in the most painful way possible.

Everyone they know, every relative they have will have their tax records reviewed, their legal records checked and their entire lives examined through a microscope. There are a lot of people who think they can run for President.

Then there is reality. This is a brutal, unfair and grinding process. The bright and shiny people will often decide they want no part of it. And that's how it plays out. This is a long, long, long marathon. Not everyone can do it. People will figure that out. Give it time.

[wisteria]

1. I agree. The whole process scares many people away.

What is even more frightening is that the Repubs make things up. They don't even dig for dirt, they just use what ever smear they think will work for them.

[blm]

2. Exactly - people don't even factor in that part - the wholesale LIES that

will travel faster and stick around longer than any truth can play catch up.

And why Kerry or Gore are the BEST bets, though I sure do like Wes Clark a whole lot and think he has a best chance out of any other group of candidates to combat the inevitable lie-fests that will try to take him down. And my prediction is that they will come from other generals and commanders who have been waiting to take their shots at him.

[europegirl4jfk]

3. This is so disgusting

Sorry, but I have to say that. These smear campaigns are something I will never ever "get" in American politics. After all I've seen these last years, I'm still in awe about these mean personal attacks on political figures and their families. And not only wives and kids, but sisters and brothers, parents and grand-parents. That's a bit like the "Sippenhaft" during the Nazi regime in Germany and that's so unbelievable! Am I responsible for my sisters life or my grand-dads political opinion?!

Politics is a dirty business, I've learned that in Europe too. And it's not that candidates don't go after each other as hard as they could, not only on policy issues but unfortunately also often enough on the character of the person in question. But on such a personal, intimate level?? I have rarely seen that here. French president Mitterrand had a daughter out of marriage, the press knew it for years and didn't talk about it because it was just not relevant for his political work. German politicians Schröder and Fischer were married several times and it was not relevant when Schröder became chancellor and Fischer foreign minister. And these are just a few examples. Of course the rainbow press always talks about these facts and non-facts, but no serious media outlet would ever do so. And no opponent would use these smears during a campaign because it would only show himself in a bad light, not the person he wanted to smear.

[StoryTeller]

4. I agree

Reading Tay's post made me sad because it's so true. I think it's like that here in the U.S. because of the level of power our government has. Power is one of the most motivating forces in the world, and I think a lot of people here go into politics in order to gain power. So when you're striving for something that holds out to you the promise of greater power (especially when we tend to put the word "super" in front of it) and if that becomes the most important thing to you, then you'll do or say whatever it takes to remove the obstacles between you and the power that you want.

The other thing that makes it get so dirty here is that the followers of politicians want their guy or gal to reach that level of power, because it brings the followers the promise of greater power too. So they dive right into the character assassignations too.

Not saying all politicians/supporters are like this, obviously. But the ones that reach this level of nastiness usually are. :(

[sandnsea]

6. It's always been bad

Jefferson was attacked for going after a friend's wife, and for Sally Hemings.

And then there's this about Abe Lincoln. This looks like an attack on a liberal, not a Republican.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v450/sandnsea/aberight

add .jpg

It's too big for the thread.

[rox63]

5. Excellent post, and a sad comment on our times

Kerry and Gore have already been through this firestorm, and they came out smarter and stronger for the experience. Newcomers to presidential races may think they know what they're getting into, but they really don't know anything at all. And not knowing these things can kill a campaign that started out full of hope and optimism.