This thread discusses the Content article: Mudslingers


need not apply

I couldn't agree more. Mudslinging should really be kept out of this race. So far, it seems more like both parties are doing their best to curb it and it's been a real distraction from the real issues.

Of course I am no fan of McCain and I will take great pleasure in voting for Obama this fall, yet I must make a passing comment on the ridiculousness of criticizing mudslingers by starting your letter off with "John McCain is still an idiot." This type of slanderous name calling is on par with the same group of people the writer detests. I agree in principle with the writers assertions; however, I would suggest that instead of name calling, he counters the Bush/McCain base with reason and intelligence. They will have no counter. They never have.

I can't beleive you can use the term "reason and inteligence" in connection with politics. Something like calling someone a militant pacifist.

itschmee wrote:
I can't beleive you can use the term "reason and inteligence" in connection with politics. Something like calling someone a militant pacifist.

Your cynicism in this regard is indicative of the larger problem in American politics, one that views all rational debate as stagnant and meaningless. Of course there can be reason and intelligence in politics; we just have to allow for it. We have to demand it. Instead, most opt for the emotional response; one, that by its very objective, seeks to circumvent thoughtful argument for much simpler knee-jerk reflex of emotion.

In fact, it is time we demand a return to an "intellectual standard" in all our political leaders. We have seen what a C-student with zero intellectual curiosity will get us; let's demand something more. I hope that Obama and McCain respect the collective intelligence in their forthcoming debates because it is grossly obvious the media/punditry have no intention to do so. You do not sell the most papers or achieve the highest ratings with intelligence. There is a reason that Hannity/O'Reilly get more viewers than Bill Moyers and it is nothing for anyone to be proud of.

Well said. I completely agree about the Rush Limbaugh's of today's society. They really hurt America and it's ability to think with its head and create a sense of hostility toward the opposition. It makes me wonder if we wouldn't be better off without political parties. Then they wouldn't have a standard to hide behind and we could vote for ideas instead of a club to which we only think we belong.