# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/41 "2016-05-05T22:06:58Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Propose health care “death panels;” No one in American public has ever done so, and I cannot imagine why anyone would. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/42 "2016-05-05T22:07:36Z")
This last cycle has seriously eroded the range of politically suicidal statements. If you can quickly turn around and lay claim to that you’re just expressing the true feelings/opinions in real people’s hearts, and that those taking offense are doing so either out of “political correctness” or out of “privilege”, you can go on. > [@Ludovic](#): > > The race isn’t over yet. In a “normal” election during the past 20 years disparaging McCain as non heroic for having been captured would have been a deal-breaking moment in and of itself or else cause for a self-abasing display of contrition. This year it was a mere blip, at worst just another data point of the many reasons to loathe the nominee. > [@YogSothoth](#): > > 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 Because the idealization/fetishization is of this archetype of “The Troops” as quietly selflessly suffering, all stoic and Spartan like, to come home as asskicking invincible heroes or honored dead, or otherwise rejoin society all quietly selflessly and stoic like. We’ll applaud them as they get off the airplane but for cryin’ out loud just fade away like the old song said. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/43 "2016-05-05T22:40:10Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > No one in American public has ever done so, and I cannot imagine why anyone would. I meant, “public life.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/44 "2016-05-05T22:42:55Z")
Getting caught in bed with a live boy **and** a dead girl. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/45 "2016-05-05T23:08:20Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > or out-of-state contributions for state office … That failed to scuttle Scott Walker. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/46 "2016-05-05T23:11:06Z")
> [@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. But it is the existence of that prejudice that **makes** it an intermediate point. We are talking about electoral politics here, perception **is** reality in an ontological sense. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/47 "2016-05-05T23:13:44Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > 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. OTOH, they might find it equally suicidal to oppose him. Best they can hope for is that nobody asks them. Which is too much to hope for. _Schadenfreude_ is perhaps not the very best _Freude,_ but it’s sure in the top 10, ain’t it? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/48 "2016-05-05T23:16:20Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Getting caught in bed with a live boy **and** a dead girl. But, it would be so worth it! Your name would live forever! ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/49 "2016-05-05T23:17:24Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Being neither Christian nor Jew. There are some Muslims in American public offices. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/50 "2016-05-05T23:21:14Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > Horsefeathers … Trump’s VP wins the 2020 election running as the incumbent president … [wolfish grin] Come to think of it, despite that whore-doctor’s letter, Trump is no healthy-looking dude, and I can’t believe he got this far screaming that much without suffering a stroke or a heart attack. It’s only a matter of some little time. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/51 "2016-05-05T23:24:46Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Appearing in porn. > [@Moriarty](#): > > 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. Unless it was gay porn. We ain’t quite there yet. You have to be a _sui generis_ figure like Arnold Schwarzenegger to get away with that. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/52 "2016-05-05T23:25:29Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Appearing in porn. > [@Moriarty](#): > > 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. **Moriarty** , I take it that you’ve never paid attention to all the teachers getting fired or resigning for precisely that. [https://www.google.com/search?q=teacher+gettting+fired+for+porn+past&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=teacher+getting+fired+for+porn+past](https://www.google.com/search?q=teacher+gettting+fired+for+porn+past&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=teacher+getting+fired+for+porn+past) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/53 "2016-05-05T23:26:34Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Being R. Budd Dwyer? > [R. Budd Dwyer - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Budd_Dwyer) > What? Too soon? Actually, despised as American pols are nowadays, committing suicide on-camera could be an electoral landslide-winner. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/54 "2016-05-05T23:30:10Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > 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. Apparently his base didn’t care. I was living in Baltimore, near DC, at the time. I recall seeing an AA wearing a t-shirt reading, “I saw the video. Bitch set him up.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/55 "2016-05-05T23:31:23Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Gore Vidal once said the only sin the American Voter could never forgive was: > **Not Being Telegenic**. For some reason, that did not stop W from winning (kindasorta) two terms. Even Gore and Kerry oozed charisma by comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2016, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/56 "2016-05-05T23:36:30Z")
Didn’t Schwarzenegger appear in a porno once? It didn’t kill his political career. Then again, though, maybe California is just different. There are also some that depend on party. Being openly gay, for instance, will prevent you from winning any election as a Republican, but not necessarily as a Democrat. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2016, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/57 "2016-05-06T00:30:28Z")
How about the candidates spouse? Notice how they have pictures of Trump’s wife out there during her model years when yes, she did pose nude. ---
**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 6, 2016, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/58 "2016-05-06T02:20:59Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > How about the candidates spouse? Notice how they have pictures of Trump’s wife out there during her model years when yes, she did pose nude. [♪ For now our country is going to make it. At last a King who looks the part! At last a Queen who looks good naked! ♫](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kN87BwWkTM) -Blackadder Back and Forth Make America Great Britain again! ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2016, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/59 "2016-05-06T03:02:09Z")
“Hey, anybody wanna hear me sing the national anthem? I do it real funny!” ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2016, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953/60 "2016-05-06T05:30:36Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > How about the candidates spouse? Notice how they have pictures of Trump’s wife out there during her model years when yes, she did pose nude. But those were “artistic” naked pics, which many people feel is not porn. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-are-political-suicide/753953.md?page=4)