Enough is enough folks. I’m a VERY patient fellow. I can put up with a lot. You’ve really got to work hard to tick me off. But everyone involved with this upcoming presidential election has finally done it. You’ve pushed me too far.
You know, I always enjoyed politics. Sure it sometimes got a bit nasty, but never in my memory was it like this. It seems to me that both sides will do anything and say anything to demonize the opposition. It doesn’t matter how outrageous, how boldfaced or how cockamaney the theory is. The idea is “if we can possibly score two votes off of it, run with it.”
If I knew that this would all be over in the next eight days, I’d keep my mouth shut and simply ride it out. But I know that that isn’t happening. I know that no matter who wins this election, we will have four years of griping and moaning by the losing side. We are in for four years of people on the losing side complaining how the winning side cheated and stole the election, how the vote was surpressed, how minorities or the military or the elederly or some other group was systemically disenfranchised. We’re going to hear four more years of conspiracy theories about ballots, electronic voting machines and corrupt county officials. We’re going to hear nothing for the next four years but more rhetoric from both sides about how the other is nothing short of the ultimate evil.
Maybe it’s my fault. Maybe it’s because I listen to too much talk radio. I listen to both sides of the spectrum and frankly, most of what I hear appalls me. I hear constant references to the “Bush Crime Family” and the “Corrupt Regime.” I’m bombarded by comments such as “Botox Kerry” and “Pretty Boy” (for Edwards).
I used to love politics in America. To me, every fourth October and early November were the “golden time” when everything came to a head and I couldn’t wait to see how everything would fall into place. But not this year. This year I’m disgusted beyond all measure by the insane rhetoric that both sides are spewing. And I’m afraid that it will never be the way it used to be. I’m afraid that we’ve somehow opened up this Pandora’s box and we will never, ever have a “civilized” presidential election again.
I am particularly unimpressed that most pundits are reporting the scores of legal teams that are preparing for the battles over which votes to count and which to not. I remember too when politics–however nasty it got–were cut and dry by the time the Secretaries of States certified the vote. Now, unfortunately, I see nothing but the debacle pioneered in the 2000 elections from here on out.
Thanks to “polls” being so close, I think it’s dissillusioning the public and just causing a hell of a mess. Personally, I blame the bloodsucking media.
Amen! Though, I think that you’re not wrong, and that the campaigns in the coming years are going to get more nasty and focus more and more on totally irrelevant issues.
AMEN! I’ve been feeling the same way for a long time. What bothers me more than the idiocy on the parts of each side, is what Americans are doing and saying about each other. (the whole "only morons would vote for [insert candidate/issue here] thing).
For the first time in my voting life, I’m not going to be voting for the person, I’m voting for the issues that matter to me, and hoping for the best. I guess that’s all any of us can do with this lack of choice and common sense in DC these days.
I don’t need to hear why I shouldn’t vote for your opponent, I need a decent reason to vote for you. So far, I don’t really have one for either presidential candidate.
If it weren’t for state and local issues, I’d toss my ballot in the trash.
A few days ago, I wrote and then discarded a post I was going to submit regarding how we weren’t discussing the issues this election. I was here in 2000, and remember happpily and not, participating in debates on the issues the candidates espoused. Most notably I participated vigorously in the Social Security Debates, The Voucher Debates, and Affirmative Action. This year is notable in that none of that is happening, it’s mostly all you Bush/Kerry supporters suck. Which is why I discared the post, I just knew within a few replies, we’d have another partisan meltdown. Consequently my time posting in GD and the BBQ PIT has shrunk to nearly nothing.
I can’t believe I miss Great Debates, but it’s tue, I like reasoned debate, but this season is everything but.
I think it’s only going to get worse for three reasons:
1- the increased arrival into voting age of kids who’ve been raised post cable-TV who consequently have no attention span and are played to with soundbytes rather than anything substantive
2- the continued contraction of the media universe into super conglamerates that essentially play to the lowest common denominator
3- Dick Cheney’s daughter, Mary (who is a liberian or something)
I blame the right-wing media – specifically, the unholy trinity of Limbaugh, Coulter, and O’Reilly, who’ve taught an entire generation that name-calling and shrillish yelling is an acceptable substitute for political discourse.
And yes, I know there are nuts on the left as well. But to borrow the trite old phrase, they started it…
Clinton had a rather rough time with some on the right. But Reagan had a pretty rough time from some on the left as well. I think it is silly to blame so small a number of people for the vitriol being thrown about now a days.
It seems much more likely that this sort of thing has been around a long time. It’s just a little more prevelant (more people taking active parts in politics blogs and all that), more diverse (dispite the claims of media conglomeration, there are far more and far more diverse news outlets now than ever before), and the emergence of politics as mainstream theater.
For this last bit, I think you can blame talk radio. Its growth over the last decade or so has allowed many more people to spend time they might otherwise have used for sitcoms, sports, or soaps thinking, talking and watching politics.
Think of the vitriol as the porn aspect of the internet. Certainly a distastful portion of a very useful, even uplifting aspect of our culture. I think over time (the next decade or so) we will find a way to curb the excesses. We’ll find a way to fight spam as well as the ignorance spread by mean spirited political attacks.
Do you really find this year to be that much different? Since I’ve just recently started following politics (at age 34), my experience of previous election years is limited. But what I do remember is the nastiness at family get-togethers whenever politics would come up. If family members can act that way towards one another (granted, in-laws can be…how shall I put it? um…disagreeable), is it surprising that strangers are more so? (Perhaps it is, but then, perhaps I grew up in a non-typical place. O’ course, I’d expect better from the SDMB crowd anyway, else I’d not have paid my subscription fee recently.)
It seems to me that what we have now can be summed up in one word: exposure. Perhaps that needs some adjectives: pervasive exposure, or even inexpensive, unfettered, pervasive exposure. Heck, throw gratuitous and openly accessible in the mix somewhere also. When everyone and anyone has a bullhorn, the volume inevitably gets ratcheted up to 10; with no filters in place, the chatter reduces the signal/noise ratio. Factor distortion into the equation, and it’s remarkable anything gets through.
In retrospect, was there any reason not to expect politics to be infected by Jerry Springer?
O, what have we wrought? And do we not deserve our fate?
I am amazed that you can advance this as an arguement and not immediately realize “My God, I sound like a 5 year old!”. That is a bad thing.
I was thinking along those lines the other day, but what I realized is that what the Right started when Clinton was President, the Left perfected and took to new heights…er, lows, over the last 4 years, and now we’re all fucked.
Good one zev, but this is what happens when there isn’t a candidate who’s a clear frontrunner. In close elections (these last two), you will see this type of activity. Always.
I hope soon that we will find a candidate that a vast majority of Americans can support.
I agree that all the name-calling is over-the-top and counterproductive, but I’m not sure I agree that the flap about vote fraud is unheard-of, nor that it’s even a bad thing.
We’ve always had a lot of friction about electoral procedure in this country; think of the various city political “machines” known for their dirty electoral tricks, and aggressive disputes about “stolen elections” all the way up to the 1960 Nixon-Kennedy contest.
The current brouhaha is just the new-technology shit hitting the same old electoral fan. Until we’ve worked out a consistent and reliable ballot-casting system that combines the advantages of electronic technology with a durable and tamper-resistant record, we’re going to be hearing a lot of fuss when election time rolls around.
Is this really such a bad thing? I’d think that it’s actually a positive sign when voters take the electoral process seriously and raise a stink about the possibility of being defrauded of their vote. I also like to see the two political parties watching each other like hawks to ensure that the other guy doesn’t pull a fast one. If there are going to be shakeups in the process caused by the adoption of new technology, I’d much rather see an overexcited public getting its knickers in a twist about proper procedure than a complacent public not noticing when a few sleazy crooks (on whichever side) take advantage of them.
In any case, fussing and whining over the integrity of the ballots doesn’t seem to me nearly as bad and unhealthy as dishonest smearing of opposing candidates and general nasty invective.
Kimstu (who takes pride in the fact that her posts have never sullied these boards with nasty epithets like “Dumbya” or “Repugs”).
Zev…I’m just 42 and I’ve been involved ever since high school civics class. I’ve voted in every election since I was 18, at every level. I’ve made an effort to know the candidates and the issues and have attended many a debate and/or assembly. I agree that this year the rhetoric is disgusting. It seems to mirror our choices in candidates. With exception to some state and local politics, “the way it used to be…” as you said. I’m trying to remember when this was. It seems like a long time ago now.
I remember actually voting FOR a presidential candidate ONE TIME in the past two decades.
I concur, Zev, but I also despair. The problem is that both sides have found that the Big Lie is effective. George Orwell foresaw it long, long ago. It’s a problem with media – and it’s not necessarily a problem with left-leaning vs right-leaning, so much as media is viewed as ENTERTAINMENT. News shows must be ENTERTAINING. That means sound bites – quick, fast, flashes. Nothing thoughtful allowed. Nothing slow and deliberate allowed. People might change channels to look for a movie with an action hero and lots of explosions.
And, all solutions must be quick. Most problems are solved in half an hour, and no problem lasts more than an hour (well, OK, two hours in movies and some series allow slightly longer problems)
So, the Big Lie becomes effective. George Bush is stupid as a post, John Kerry wasn’t really a hero, etc etc. These work. People believe them because they heard them in the media.
If Big Lies work, then politicians will use them. And use them. And use them.
I should also point out that this election saw more money spent (read: wasted) than ever before, by many many millions. In short, the whole election process has become a year-long media circus.
PS - I think that it is possible to get down to bottom line issues, and there are real ones, and I think there is a real and clear choice. It’s not easy to separate grain from chaff, but it’s possible.
