Political discourse heading in scary directionDate: 3/11/2016 I have to admit I never thought I would see Republican presidential candidates, who traditionally like to wrap themselves in some element of propriety, discussing in only slightly veiled terms one another’s physical attributes and manhood.
That’s what political discourse has become? The awkward truth is in the history of American politics, the low blow has been all too common.
In Philadelphia Magazine author Johnny Goodtimes wrote of just how dirty our political discourse has been through American history.
In the 1828 race between Andrew Jackson and incumbent John Quincy Adams, one anti-Jackson handbill claimed “the blood thirsty Jackson began again to show his cannibal propensities, by ordering his Bowman to dress a dozen of these Indian bodies for his breakfast, which he devoured without leaving even a fragment.”
In the Cincinnati Gazette an editorial writer screamed in print “General Jackson’s mother was a COMMON PROSTITUTE brought to this country by British soldiers. She afterwards married a MULATTO MAN, with whom she had several children, of which General JACKSON IS ONE!!!”
I’ve retained the original emphasis here.
Author Joseph Cummins noted in his book “Anything for a Vote: Dirty Tricks, Cheap Shots and October Surprises in U.S. Presidential Campaigns that “1836: Congressman Davy Crockett accuses candidate Martin Van Buren of secretly wearing women’s clothing: ‘He is laced up in corsets!’ and in 1864: Presidential candidate George McClellan describes his opponent, Abraham Lincoln, as ‘nothing more than a well-meaning baboon!’”
Wow.
Now I’m no Pollyanna, but wouldn’t it be admirable if we could reverse the trend? I thought charges people made against Barack Obama – he’s not a U.S. citizen; he’s a Muslim – in the 2008 election were low. Frankly I attributed it largely as a racist reaction to an African-American running for the nation’s highest office.
The eight years of the Obama Administration has been marked with some of the nastiest attacks on not just the president, but his wife and daughters. Usually presidential families have been off limits, but not this time.
So now we have a presidential race in which anything is being said in order to try to claw one’s way to the top of the heap. In part it’s a reflection of the desperation candidates have to get some of the attention that has been focused on Donald Trump by the national press.
I don’t find these exchanges amusing. I find them to be frightening.
Don’t forget local races
The presidential drama shouldn’t take our eyes off the local races. Ludlow School Committee members James “Chip” Harrington will be challenging incumbent state Sen. Eric Lesser in a kind-of rematch. Harrington ran as a Democrat against Lesser two years ago, but has switched his affiliation to that of Republican.
Both men have highly defined positions on a number of issues that should provide voters with a real choice.
The other race is the one of Hampden County Sheriff. So far, former Springfield Mayor Michael Albano has run his campaign against incumbent Sheriff Michael Ashe Jr. – a sensible strategy of course if Ashe was running for reelection. He’s not.
Albano’s plan, as it appears initially, is to criticize Ashe’s record with the implication that Ashe’s endorsed choice for his successor, Nick Cocchi, would just be continuing Ashe’s policies.
It’s a classic move to slam issues without giving who you think is your principal opponent any name recognition. Albano is ignoring his other two opponents, James Gill and Jack Griffin, who like Cocchi have real experience in corrections. Albano does not have any such experience.
To say the least, I suspect this race will become more and more interesting.
Agree? Disagree? Drop me a line at news@thereminder.com or at 280 N. Main St., East Longmeadow, MA 01028. As always, this column represents the opinion of its author and not the publishers or advertisers of this newspaper.
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