# Is this the nastiest, meanest Presidential campaign of modern times? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 19, 2008, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-nastiest-meanest-presidential-campaign-of-modern-times/468605 "2008-10-19T03:03:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-nastiest-meanest-presidential-campaign-of-modern-times/468605/101 "2008-10-23T01:12:06Z")
**Moderator’s Note:** **Gonzomax** , **Shodan** , and **everyone else** , please take the personal sniping out of this forum. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-nastiest-meanest-presidential-campaign-of-modern-times/468605/102 "2008-10-23T02:16:56Z")
[http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Thousands\_of\_academics\_sign\_on\_to\_1022.html](http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Thousands_of_academics_sign_on_to_1022.html) Ayers is a highly respected authority on education. He is not a terrorist. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-nastiest-meanest-presidential-campaign-of-modern-times/468605/103 "2008-10-23T12:51:27Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > No, I don’t, because your belief in its decline is based in racist, white-supremacist claptrap. I see a nation which can’t summon the political will to control its borders and control public spending and debt. (There are other factors, but those are the biggest.) I don’t see either political party dealing seriously with either of those issues. Sooner or later, this will make our country dangerously unstable. You can call that “racist, white-supremacist claptrap” if you want, but the numbers I see on immigration and the national debt impress me a lot more than your rhetoric. > [@RickJay](#): > > I would point out that almost everyone responsible for this Presidential race being nasty is a white guy. I would point out that the left is no less guilty than the right when it comes to unnecessary and unseemly nastiness. Screaming “Racist!” at everyone who doesn’t conform to your ideology is at least as obnoxious as anything the right does. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-nastiest-meanest-presidential-campaign-of-modern-times/468605/104 "2008-10-23T12:55:48Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > I see a nation which can’t summon the political will to control its borders . . . [That’s the racist part.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=310401) It’s certainly not about **security,** for Og’s sake. Terrorists could sneak into the U.S. via the Canadian border much more easily, but you don’t see the Minutemen patrolling **there.** ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-nastiest-meanest-presidential-campaign-of-modern-times/468605/105 "2008-10-23T12:59:51Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers do not have top rated radio shows or best selling books. No one would have heard of them if the right didn’t make an issue out of them. So obscurity necessarily means unimportance? Ayers has never repudiated the ideology that led him to join the Weather Underground. You would not be this unconcerned if McCain had a similar association with a former Klansman who had never repudiated the Klan. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-nastiest-meanest-presidential-campaign-of-modern-times/468605/106 "2008-10-23T13:09:04Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [That’s the racist part.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=310401) It’s certainly not about **security,** for Og’s sake. Terrorists could sneak into the U.S. via the Canadian border much more easily, but you don’t see the Minutemen patrolling **there.** I really don’t care whether or not it’s “racist” in your eyes. And the issue isn’t terrorism, the issue is the radical transformation of our society. Radically altering the nation’s racial and ethnic demographics with mass immigration can’t possibly lead to anything good. And why is “racist” for whites to consider their own best interests? What possible benefit can whites derive from giving up their status as the dominant majority? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-nastiest-meanest-presidential-campaign-of-modern-times/468605/107 "2008-10-23T13:14:34Z")
That actually _is_ racist, although fortunately, it doesn’t count because you don’t care. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-nastiest-meanest-presidential-campaign-of-modern-times/468605/108 "2008-10-23T13:22:26Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > That actually _is_ racist, although fortunately, it doesn’t count because you don’t care. As “racist” is merely a term of abuse, I can’t see any reason that I should care. You might try answering that question. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-nastiest-meanest-presidential-campaign-of-modern-times/468605/109 "2008-10-23T13:24:55Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > And why is “racist” for whites to consider their own best interests? :rolleyes: Where to begin, where to begin . . . ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-nastiest-meanest-presidential-campaign-of-modern-times/468605/110 "2008-10-23T13:35:15Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > As “racist” is merely a term of abuse, I can’t see any reason that I should care. You might try answering that question. Ah, you’re being abused. The tragedy of it all. Whether you care about the term or not isn’t my concern. If you cared about being called a racist you wouldn’t share racist views with the public. Worrying about racial primacy is garbage. > [@](#): > > Radically altering the nation’s racial and ethnic demographics with mass immigration can’t possibly lead to anything good. This viewpoint is pretty close to paranoid insanity in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Jolly\_Roger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/91b2a8/32.png) [@Jolly\_Roger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jolly_Roger)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-nastiest-meanest-presidential-campaign-of-modern-times/468605/111 "2008-10-23T13:35:41Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > :rolleyes: Where to begin, where to begin . . . Lost cause, my friend…its a lost cause. ---
**Author:** ![accidentalyuppie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@accidentalyuppie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/accidentalyuppie)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-nastiest-meanest-presidential-campaign-of-modern-times/468605/112 "2008-10-23T13:36:26Z")
> [@Burton](#): > > I don’t see any point in rating these things, however its certainly very ugly and the Republicans are leading in underhandedness I’m very sick of it. > > I don’t know where I was when Bobby Kennedy was shot either. I do JFK, in 6th grade, at school outside of Boston. We were dismissed early. I was 6 when JFK was shot. I remember getting a couple of days off school which were worthless once I realized all the cartoons were preempted. Bobby Kennedy, I don’t remember ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-nastiest-meanest-presidential-campaign-of-modern-times/468605/113 "2008-10-23T13:43:39Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > Radically altering the nation’s racial and ethnic demographics with mass immigration can’t possibly lead to anything good. What you are describing has happened many times before in American history. More good than harm always came of it, in the long run. In the short run there was a lot of trouble and tension and ethnic crime gangs. But, really, would you want to live in an America with no significant numbers of Irish or Jews or Italians? Maybe you would. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-nastiest-meanest-presidential-campaign-of-modern-times/468605/114 "2008-10-23T13:46:59Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > What you are describing has happened many times before in American history. More good than harm always came of it, in the long run. Sir, you employ the undignified rhetoric of a potato-gnawing Irishman! Err, which is to say that - just a suggestion here, not a mod action - this racial topic might be better as a separate thread. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-nastiest-meanest-presidential-campaign-of-modern-times/468605/115 "2008-10-23T13:53:32Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > And why is “racist” for whites to consider their own best interests? What possible benefit can whites derive from giving up their status as the dominant majority? Speaking as a white male, it is by no means clear that I am gaining any significant advantages from a white majority. My interests are aligned much better with nonwhites who share my geography and socio-economic status than they are with whites in general. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-nastiest-meanest-presidential-campaign-of-modern-times/468605/116 "2008-10-23T13:56:22Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > If you cared about being called a racist … But I _don’t_ care. Pay attention. > [@Marley23](#): > > This viewpoint is pretty close to paranoid insanity in my opinion. That’s it? That’s all you’ve got? ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-nastiest-meanest-presidential-campaign-of-modern-times/468605/117 "2008-10-23T13:58:32Z")
You haven’t exactly set the bar very high here, **Polecat**. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-nastiest-meanest-presidential-campaign-of-modern-times/468605/118 "2008-10-23T14:02:51Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > What you are describing has happened many times before in American history. . No, it hasn’t. The current rate of immigration dwarfs previous waves. The census bureau projects that we will add a hundred million people to our population over the next four decades, almost all of them through immigration. Leaving aside the racial and ethnic aspect, there is simply no way we can provide the infrastructure necessary to add that many people to our population and still maintain a decent quality of life for the average American. If you still think there is no danger here, perhaps you could tell me how many people are too many if 400 million aren’t. 500 million? 800 million? A billion? How many more can come here before they swamp the boat? ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-nastiest-meanest-presidential-campaign-of-modern-times/468605/119 "2008-10-23T14:04:14Z")
> [@Hostile\_Dialect](#): > > You haven’t exactly set the bar very high here, **Polecat**. Dunno about that. So far nobody’s jumped it. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-nastiest-meanest-presidential-campaign-of-modern-times/468605/120 "2008-10-23T14:06:31Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > But I _don’t_ care. Pay attention. Pay attention yourself. I also said “Whether you care about the term or not isn’t my concern.” > [@](#): > > That’s it? That’s all you’ve got? That’s all that’s required. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-nastiest-meanest-presidential-campaign-of-modern-times/468605.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-the-nastiest-meanest-presidential-campaign-of-modern-times/468605.md?page=7)