I will agree that there's been negativity on both sides in the past decade; you can't say there was none from the Dems against Bush and the Republicans. However, let's examine something:
1. I think a lot of this goes back to Bush the elder's Willie Horton ads in 1988. I was near voting age when those aired, and they were nasty for the time. Now, of course, they'd be par for the course.
2. Kenneth Starr as special prosecutor, and a Republican Congress SO intent on finding ANYTHING on Clinton that they impeached him on lying under oath about an affair. With an intern who had no political influence that would affect the job he was doing. That was some special abuse of our legal system, right there.
3. But perhaps the worst thing I can think of was the smearing and slandering of John Kerry's service record in the 2004 campaign. Here you had a proven draft-dodger excused from service by his daddy's influence - who couldn't even show up for his stateside meetings - who managed to make a Silver Star recipient from Vietnam look bad. More special fuckery - from the Republicans.
I could go on, but do I really need to?
Let's face it: Liberals' criticism of Bush and Co. was mostly founded. These people were more crooked than a dog's hind leg, started not one, but TWO illegal wars on no evidence. (Though the Democrats aren't much better - many of them voted in late 2002 to give Bush unlimited war powers, and should have been knocked in the back of the head for it. Literally - not hard enough to cause brain damage, but enough to make them think again.)
(Yeah, I saw the baby. It's red and I still don't want one, LOL. But I'm happy for the couple!)
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Date: 2011-01-20 12:01 am (UTC)1. I think a lot of this goes back to Bush the elder's Willie Horton ads in 1988. I was near voting age when those aired, and they were nasty for the time. Now, of course, they'd be par for the course.
2. Kenneth Starr as special prosecutor, and a Republican Congress SO intent on finding ANYTHING on Clinton that they impeached him on lying under oath about an affair. With an intern who had no political influence that would affect the job he was doing. That was some special abuse of our legal system, right there.
3. But perhaps the worst thing I can think of was the smearing and slandering of John Kerry's service record in the 2004 campaign. Here you had a proven draft-dodger excused from service by his daddy's influence - who couldn't even show up for his stateside meetings - who managed to make a Silver Star recipient from Vietnam look bad. More special fuckery - from the Republicans.
I could go on, but do I really need to?
Let's face it: Liberals' criticism of Bush and Co. was mostly founded. These people were more crooked than a dog's hind leg, started not one, but TWO illegal wars on no evidence. (Though the Democrats aren't much better - many of them voted in late 2002 to give Bush unlimited war powers, and should have been knocked in the back of the head for it. Literally - not hard enough to cause brain damage, but enough to make them think again.)
(Yeah, I saw the baby. It's red and I still don't want one, LOL. But I'm happy for the couple!)