Ott Johnson, Editorialist
May 12, 2008 11:20 am
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I suspect most people are already tired of presidential politics. False claims, slightly altered quotes and plain untruths are difficult to evaluate. In fact, I’ve seen almost nothing that could be called leadership ability. However, I have seen some — well, see the following and you decide.
The Democratic party mailed out a few thousand copies of a “2008 Presidential Campaign Survey.” At least that was the label. The last page of the four-page survey dealt with contributions, which would appear to be the prime justification for the survey. However, there were some questions of interest.
Question number seven asked, “Do you believe that John McCain’s pledge to keep troops in Iraq for another 100 years will be a liability in the general election? Obviously, the reader is being lead to believe McCain made such a pledge, but he didn’t. This is classified as a political lie. How unfortunate.
Question number 11 asks, “How likely do you think it is that McCain and his Republican allies will launch a ‘Swift Boat’ style smear campaign against our presidential nominee? Doesn’t this question suggest the Democrats have another “Swift Boat” style problem they are hoping to keep hidden?
However, question number 12 seems to imply that Democrats can be easily mislead or disenfranchised, which isn’t complimentary to their own members, by asking, “How concerned are you that Republican voter suppression schemes will disenfranchise Democrats and impact the outcome of the presidential race?”
So, this is politics 102. Blame the other party for things they haven’t done while implying they will. Put words in the mouth of the opponent, as if the opponent actually said them. Stretch the truth to an unrecognizable fable. This, unfortunately, is the stuff the people are supposed to take into account when determining their vote. Then we wonder why we often elect undesirable people to do important jobs.
The first thing we must remember about the presidential madness is that presidents have far less power than they claim when running for office. No matter what they promise, if it cost money, the president can’t do it unless the congress gives the president the money. This fact frequently is overlooked, sometimes on purpose, as the congress provides the funds to the president for a specific purpose, then criticizes the president for doing it.
The terrible truth is that the political campaign for president is just now underway. We have six more months of this stuff with many more joining the political circus for the lesser position. The people, the voters need more facts and deserve less political propaganda and more rest from what political campaigns have become.
A few hundred words in the newspapers of factual data about the candidates or ten minutes on the tube should be adequate for voter decisions. Unfortunately, we are bombarded with too much stuff that’s true or false. Such a tangled web we weave!
Just something to think about.
Thanks to those serving and those who have served in military services for protecting our freedom.
Ott Johnson is a Perkins writer.
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