# Things that are political suicide **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 5, 2016, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953 "2016-05-05T00:35:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/1 "2016-05-05T00:35:22Z")
In this thread, we are to exclude the \*\*blatant \*\* career-ending blunders like committing murder or donating personal dollars to fund terrorism or praising the Holocaust or being exposed as a secret member of al-Qaeda, etc. (I hope we also exclude people’s political leanings, so for instance, liberals won’t say “being too liberal is political suicide” and conservatives won’t say “being too conservative is political suicide.”) What not-so-obvious things are political suicide for a US politician? The ones that come to mind are: Attacking US military servicemen and servicewoman and veterans - Note: you can criticize \*defense spending and defense contractors \*aplenty, butyou can’t attack the _military men and women in uniform themselves. They’re heroes._ Similarly, attacking firefighters is a huge political faux pas; Criticizing America’s war crimes or historical actions in war; Rooting against Team USA in international sports; Make comments disparaging of figures such as MLK Jr., Lincoln, Mother Teresa, etc.; Propose health care “death panels;” Make an ignorant comment like Todd Akin did in 2012; Vocally \*promote \*borrowing from China and outsourcing jobs to China (Note: you can \*allow \*it discreetly, but you can’t \*support \*it as a good thing.) Vocally \*promote \* illegal immigration (Again, you can \*allow \*it discreetly, but you can’t \*support \*it as a good thing.) Making comments that are perceived as disparaging the 47% (as Romney learned in 2012); Being too pacifist or appeasing - if a candidate says, “We should not have gone to war after 9/11, war is never justified in any circumstances” they can kiss presidential aspirations goodbye. Basically, being too outspoken about anything. Pro-life? OK, but if you propose banning all abortions nationwide, that’s political suicide. Gun control? Sure, but if you propose an immediate confiscation of every gun nationwide, that’s political suicide. Any others? I’m sure we can come up with a long list. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/2 "2016-05-05T00:41:52Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Attacking US military servicemen and servicewoman and veterans - Note: you can criticize \*defense spending and defense contractors \*aplenty, but you can’t attack the _military men and women in uniform themselves. They’re heroes._ Maybe not as a group, but you can certainly get away with disparaging the service of individual service members or veterans. John Kerry got Swiftboated, and Trump mocked the idea that John McCain was a hero due to his having been captured. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/3 "2016-05-05T00:45:09Z")
In the immortal words of Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards, “caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy.” ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/4 "2016-05-05T01:01:35Z")
Saying “Look, the truth is that there’s simply no way to pay the pensions that were promised decades ago. We’re going to have to pay what we can and default on the rest”. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/5 "2016-05-05T01:06:37Z")
Being photographed at a KKK rally … Taking too many campaign contributions from foreign governments for federal office, or out-of-state contributions for state office … Raising taxes on the middle-class … Campaigning for USA office in Manitoba … Claiming to be an atheist … ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/6 "2016-05-05T01:14:21Z")
Embracing atheism. ETA: I see now this has already been mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/7 "2016-05-05T01:19:35Z")
Being Art Robinson … from [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_B._Robinson): > [@](#): > > In addition to believing that global warming is a hoax, Robinson opposes abortion and supports gun rights, cutting taxes, increasing border security and building new power plants. He argues for balancing the federal budget, defunding earmarks and ending special-interest influence in Washington. He also supports restoring sound money and ending the Federal Reserve System. Robinson is against bailouts to Wall Street banks. He also supports a strong national defense, but with a more restrained foreign policy. Robinson is a signatory to A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism, a petition circulated by the Discovery Institute to promote intelligent design. Unfortunately I can’t find any citations that he supported the Nevada Militiamen out at Malheur Wildlife Refuge, but he has campaigned on taking all Federal lands back. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/8 "2016-05-05T02:02:45Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Saying “Look, the truth is that there’s simply no way to pay the pensions that were promised decades ago. We’re going to have to pay what we can and default on the rest”. The truth is most governments know that’s such an enormous blow to their creditworthiness they will try their best, even local feeble minded politicians, to avoid default. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/9 "2016-05-05T02:08:18Z")
The other side of the coin (athiesm) can be best represented by a recent Republican candidate for Govenor of the State of Washington. Ellen Craswell ran for Govenor in 1996. She not only had God listed at the top of her campaign organization chart, but stated that she would govern the state using the principles in the Bible. She lost by a margin of 58% to 42%. She might have won, but her statements about the Bible destroyed her in Seattle and King County. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/10 "2016-05-05T02:57:04Z")
> [@Daylate](#): > > The other side of the coin (athiesm) can be best represented by a recent Republican candidate for Govenor of the State of Washington. Ellen Craswell ran for Govenor in 1996. She not only had God listed at the top of her campaign organization chart, but stated that she would govern the state using the principles in the Bible. > > She lost by a margin of 58% to 42%. She might have won, but her statements about the Bible destroyed her in Seattle and King County. That’s not the “other side of the coin,” unless you’re suggesting that being an atheist is somehow equivalent to being a theocrat. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/11 "2016-05-05T03:06:30Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > That’s not the “other side of the coin,” unless you’re suggesting that being an atheist is somehow equivalent to being a theocrat. I think the point is that Americans like an intermediate position. The prefer candidates who invoke God and say nice things, in broad terms, about religion and religious people, and they don’t want either candidates who are explicitly atheist or explicitly theocratic - either of these positions is electorally fatal. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/12 "2016-05-05T03:18:13Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > In the immortal words of Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards, “caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy.” But that’s obvious; this thread is about things that are not really obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/13 "2016-05-05T03:54:06Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > I think the point is that Americans like an intermediate position. Yes, that’s exactly the point I’m disputing. Mainstream American protestantism isn’t an intermediate point between theocracy and atheism. The idea that atheism represents an opposite extreme from theocracy is, itself, a manifestation of the deep prejudice against atheists in the American electorate. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/14 "2016-05-05T04:03:52Z")
Riding around in an Army tank makes you look like a shmoe, as Dukakis learned. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/15 "2016-05-05T04:18:29Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Yes, that’s exactly the point I’m disputing. Mainstream American protestantism isn’t an intermediate point between theocracy and atheism. The idea that atheism represents an opposite extreme from theocracy is, itself, a manifestation of the deep prejudice against atheists in the American electorate. Oh, right, got it. Yes, I agree. The opposite of theocracy would be, I suppose, atheocracy (to coin a phrase) - the view that government should be explicitly and actively atheist. Whereas a candidate who simply identifies as an atheist is analagous to a candidate who merely identifies as (some flavour of) theist, but doesn’t seek to implement theism through the law or public policy. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/16 "2016-05-05T04:58:09Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Riding around in an Army tank makes you look like a shmoe, as Dukakis learned. It wasn’t the tank itself, but the brain bucket he was wearing made him look like a bobble head, maybe if the army had that track going on a level surface instead of a training field, it may have been less bad visually. Declan ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/17 "2016-05-05T06:09:30Z")
William Kristol and Michael Graham point how, specially for Republicans in Purple states, it will be political suicide to support Trump in this pod cast from the conservative Weekly Standard. Paraphrasing: “can you imagine the trap most republican politicians will get into when Trump will say or do reckless things during the campaign and the media rushes to ask them “do you support what the Republican candidate (the face of the party) is saying here?”” They point out that many will not be able to tap dance around the trap they will get into if they come out as enthusiastic supporters of Trump instead of putting some distance, so: [Pass the Hemlock.](http://www.weeklystandard.com/pass-the-hemlock/article/2002234) ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/18 "2016-05-05T06:54:45Z")
Being Trump’s VP candidate. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/19 "2016-05-05T08:58:41Z")
Surprisingly, you can commit suicide by screaming. Ask [Howard Dean.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6i-gYRAwM0) (I never was able to understand what all the fuss was about; All I saw was a politician leading a rally who shouted an enthusiastic cheer-- sort of like a sports fan. He was perhaps a bit over-enthusiastic, though I didn’t see anything grossly inappropriate. ) But it destroyed his campaign. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/20 "2016-05-05T15:43:33Z")
Suggesting that another country is in some way better overall than the US. Suggesting that the US should sacrifice some of the prosperity of its citizens order to help improve the conditions of the impoverished around the world. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953.md?page=2)