# Democrat character attacks on republicans.... **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 10, 2008, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrat-character-attacks-on-republicans/462915 "2008-09-10T08:46:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2008, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrat-character-attacks-on-republicans/462915/21 "2008-09-11T05:56:05Z")
> [@gitfiddle](#): > > To be clear, I don’t doubt that my family and friends believe what they say about their party, but they need to be confronted with their party’s responsibility for the low-brow politics they/we so often decry. > > Am I wrong? You are not wrong. Remember McCain’s new adviser is a disciple of Rove, so mud slinging is to be expected. Also expect to see the Republicans try to blow up the slightest comment to be the equal of deliberate attacks - as we’ve seen in this thread already. You are right to not count non-campaign attacks. The Democrats may have some nutballs on the web, but the Republicans have the #1 NY Times bestseller (#1 from mass purchases.) If the election were a sporting event, most of the Republican party would be in the penalty box. ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2008, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrat-character-attacks-on-republicans/462915/22 "2008-09-11T12:33:08Z")
Hypocrisy abounds in the Republican party (not that all politicians don’t do it from time to time.) Like, how about the painting of Obama as a tax and spender…despite the fact that at least tax and spend is better than SLASHING revenue AND spending like money’s going out of style. Whatever crap people spout, the fact speak for themselves. Since 1980, we’ve had 20 years of Republican leadership and 8 of Democratic…the deficity rose steadily during ALL of the Republican administrations, but within 2 years of Clinton taking office, the deficit began to shrink until we ended up with a surplus, which Bush rapidly destroyed within a couple years. Now we’re in the red…again. Why do Republicans have the label of being the ones who know how to run an economy, when all the facts point against it. > **[Voodoo Economics, and the National Debt Takes off Again](https://zfacts.com/national-debt/)** > > Watch G H W Bush call Reagan's supply-side economics "Voodoo" then deny it when he's Reagan's VP. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2008, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrat-character-attacks-on-republicans/462915/23 "2008-09-11T12:47:08Z")
And the folks who replied to point out that it isn’t a _character_ attack are completely right. Anyway, from the short context in the youtube link below, it’s clear that Obama is talking about policy, not character, before the “lipstick on a pig” remark. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPd4yk0x-eg) It is conceivable that he’s riffing off the Palin media coverage for the “lipstick on a pig” reference, but it doesn’t make sense in the context of his remarks before it. One of the interesting things about media coverage of the kerfuffle is that even a liberal like me, predisposed towards Obama support, can be convinced that it was a personal attack because I didn’t delve too carefully into it. So is the “lipstick on a pig” controversy there because there are few real examples of Democratic candidates making character attacks on Republican candidates? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2008, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrat-character-attacks-on-republicans/462915/24 "2008-09-11T16:37:01Z")
Why isn’t **Bricker** participating in this thread? I know that this is one of his hot button issues… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrat-character-attacks-on-republicans/462915.md?page=1)