Say the right things when electioneering”
- Thom Yorke
It's happening again. As November draws near and the US election becomes a slightly brighter light on the horizon, that – thing – is raising its ugly head again. The shrill cry of elitist could be heard bouncing from the rafters of the RNC only a week ago. Once again they were heard to say - Obama is not one of us, he's not an 'everyman.'
The fact that this hackneyed and broke-down expression serves as the Republican mantra should come as a shock to no one (it’s as redundant as they are). It should also be of no surprise that the newly minted VP candidate has picked up this rallying cry so quickly. This is the art of politicking.
Simple things like truth and fact are of zero consequence – what is needed now are vitriolic diatribes. The kind of attack that doesn’t just put your opponent in his place, but potentially ruins him and his family for as long as anyone cares to remember.
Case in point - the Republicans are accusing Obama of wanting to educate Kindergartners about sex. In reality Obama wants to put forth a bill that aims to start educating Kindergartners about sexual predators - in my mind this is a rather important distinction. However to the McCain camp this is inconsequential.
I would love to say that this is the new politics, but frankly it's the time honoured tradition of ruining your opponent. Nor is it solely a product of the US. In fact this week our own Canadian election campaign hit the ground running with the Conservatives shitting the bed twice in as many days. Once with a pooping puffin and again by accusing the father of a dead soldier of using his dead son to further the Liberal agenda...pinko commie bastard.
Of course Harper-bot (this year's model comes complete with eyebrows and 2 new emotions - anger and smug superiority), was quick to file both incidents under the "Not my fucking fault" category.
But just because this is the style of politics we've grown accustomed to, doesn't necessarily mean we should be forced to tolerate it. I mean every time you turn around it's one shady act after another from all parties. We've become so jaded and skeptical that every political action is deemed to have ulterior motives - maybe because they do.
It seems that there are only two types of politics left in the world: slanderous character assassinations on your opponent, or actual assassinations where your opponent is blown up in their car.
How that changes I have no idea - maybe it comes from us. Maybe we tell the news outlets like Fox and CNN that we want impartial news. Maybe we should demand that the news coverage clarify and vet things that are coming out of the politicians mouths instead of carelessly pushing information out that they know are lies. Maybe they should call the politicians out when they know they're trying to pull one over on us.
Of course maybe that sort of news coverage already exists.
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