# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/21 "2016-05-05T16:00:26Z")
Not being sufficiently patriotic (must have flag lapel pin, must stand with hand over heart during anthem). Being neither Christian nor Jew. Proposing tax increases (remember Mondale?) Having a facial tattoo. Denying American Exceptionalism. Turning 75. Appearing in porn. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/22 "2016-05-05T16:09:57Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > 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._ Republican Saxby Chambliss (a slaveholder name if I ever saw one) attacked disabled US vet Max Cleland, who lost both legs and an arm, for not contributing sufficiently to the country. I seem to recall the Republican opponent of Tammy Duckworth, who lost both legs in Iraq to an IED, attacked her with something similar, saying she talks about her veteran experience too much. So maybe its not political suicide if you attack specific servicemen and women For the rest of your list, I seem to recall the Republicans making at least one of each of those mistakes and still being viable. That just shows how far that party has fallen ---
**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, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/23 "2016-05-05T16:35:30Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > Being Trump’s VP candidate. Horsefeathers … Trump’s VP wins the 2020 election running as the incumbent president … [wolfish grin] ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/24 "2016-05-05T16:42:15Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Being neither Christian nor Jew. Obviously not political suicide. Being very anti-religion, on the other hand, probably qualifies. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/25 "2016-05-05T16:56:55Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > But that’s obvious; this thread is about things that are not really obvious. I think that’s kind of a contradiction. Calling something “political suicide” implies that it will _ **definitely** _ end a political career, which then means that it’s obvious. BTW–didn’t Trump attack a veteran–John McCain–without committing political suicide? ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/26 "2016-05-05T17:01:09Z")
Casting any vote that can be construed, however unfairly, as being soft on child pornography. There has been internet legislation with serious implications that has been pushed under the “get tough on kiddie porn” mantra and sailed through. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/27 "2016-05-05T17:03:36Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > BTW–didn’t Trump attack a veteran–John McCain–without committing political suicide? The race isn’t over yet. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/28 "2016-05-05T17:04:56Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Having a facial tattoo. The mental image of President Tyson at a press conference made me do a spit-take! > [@](#): > > Appearing in porn. Honestly, in this day and age, a) as long as you looked hot and b) didn’t do anything too freaky, I think you’d be ok. There’d be lots of jokes at your expense (along with more than a few secret admirers), but if it was long ago, and you were a good sport about the kidding, you could survive the scandal. My contribution… Any sentence that contains the phrase “peace be upon him”. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/29 "2016-05-05T17:14:14Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > Being photographed at a KKK rally … And yet, in 1989, [Louisiana elected a Grand Wizard to the House of Representatives](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Duke#1989:_Successful_run_in_special_election_for_Louisiana_House_seat). ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/30 "2016-05-05T17:15:36Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > Obviously not political suicide. Being very anti-religion, on the other hand, probably qualifies. Oh I misread the OP, I assumed it meant presidential politics, not generic politics. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/31 "2016-05-05T17:20:35Z")
Being R. Budd Dwyer? > **[R. Budd Dwyer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Budd_Dwyer)** > > Robert Budd Dwyer (November 21, 1939 – January 22, 1987) was an American politician. He served from 1965 to 1971 as a Republican member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and from 1971 to 1981 as a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate representing the state's 50th district. Dwyer then served as the 30th state treasurer of Pennsylvania from January 20, 1981, to January 22, 1987, when he killed himself during a live press conference. > In the early 1980s, Pennsylvania discovered that ... What? Too soon? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/32 "2016-05-05T20:19:04Z")
Get accused of consorting with a young hot sexy babe. Deny everything, and dare the press to “put a tail on me”. Then, when some reporter actually tails you, get caught _and photographed_ consorting with young hot sexy babe. Gary Hart, 1987. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/33 "2016-05-05T20:23:26Z")
The day after getting defeated running for governor, appear in public, grubby and unshaven, and declare to the press “You won’t have Nixon to kick around any more.” Then fly off into the sunset, never to be seen nor heard from again. Oh, wait a minute . . . ---
**Author:** ![Doyle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doyle/32/439_2.png) [@Doyle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doyle)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/34 "2016-05-05T20:23:27Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > And yet, in 1989, [Louisiana elected a Grand Wizard to the House of Representatives](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Duke#1989:_Successful_run_in_special_election_for_Louisiana_House_seat). Or from our previous governor, Edwin Edwards, “The only way I can lose this race is to be caught in bed with a live boy or dead girl.” ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/35 "2016-05-05T20:29:01Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > . . . Trump mocked the idea that John McCain was a hero due to his having been captured. To be sure, _everything_ Trump has said and done should, by all sensibilities, have been political suicide, yet he shambles on, zombie-like and vampire-like, sucking the blood out of his rivals and devouring the brains of all pundits. Will his behavior prove to be suicidal after all, come November? Or will the deathless suicidal political zombie apocalypse come to pass? The world waits and trembles . . . ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/36 "2016-05-05T20:38:47Z")
> [@Doyle](#): > > Or from our previous governor, Edwin Edwards, “The only way I can lose this race is to be caught in bed with a live boy or dead girl.” I don’t know him, but it reminded me of Marion Berry. How many times did he get elected _after_ being caught on camera in a hotel room smoking crack and getting ready to have sex with someone that wasn’t his wife? \ 4, if I’m reading it right. Plus he’s got a wax statue at Madame Tussauds in DC and somewhere along all of this he’s been arrested more for drugs and he’s a democrat that didn’t pay his taxes and voted against an LGBT bill. He must have had a lot of charisma, I’m surprised he never ran for president. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/37 "2016-05-05T20:53:09Z")
Voting against any “get tough on crime” bill no matter how ridiculous it is. For example I think the whole thing where sex offenders have to be registered and not live in certain areas is a joke. But no politician would ever vote against it. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/38 "2016-05-05T20:53:42Z")
Gore Vidal once said the only sin the American Voter could never forgive was: **Not Being Telegenic**. Michael Dukakis may have been an unfortunate case in point, at times resembling a bobblehead figurine. In the “tank commander” fiasco mentioned upthread I think he reminded people of Snoopy. ---
**Author:** ![Memnon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Memnon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Memnon)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/39 "2016-05-05T20:54:07Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Not being sufficiently patriotic (must have flag lapel pin, must stand with hand over heart during anthem). > > Being neither Christian nor Jew. > > Proposing tax increases (remember Mondale?) > > Having a facial tattoo. > > Denying American Exceptionalism. > > Turning 75. > > Appearing in porn. Clearly you’ve never seen “Trump’s Tower - Oral Address on the 69th Floor”. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/40 "2016-05-05T21:33:28Z")
Dick Pics! I’m hoping, at least. I never wanna hear about that scum-bag Anthony Weiner again. I hope he ends up Night Manager at an Arby’s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953.md?page=3)