Playing Dirty — Is It Worth It?

This is what I’m seeing from those who think we should fight dirty, anything goes, everyone, including children of family members are “fair game”. Below are the comments I’m seeing on a few of the blogs. Below are those who approve of playing dirty…..

You go, girl.

1. Muckraking is necessary — always.

2. It’s never the “crime,” it’s always the cover-up.

3. Hypocrisy sucks.

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it is time to play by the rules of Rush, Dobson, Coulter and Rove — they use them and blame the other side

we have been toads — too bad Sarah Palin — you made this bed, now sleep in it

i just feel bad for bristol — she is an unwilling participant — and was totally used by her mother

how sad
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What XXXX said!!! Time to take the gloves off damn it.

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There were many more, but I think you get my point. Below are a few who do not approve of playing dirty….

XXX sent me a link to this, and so I read it. My take is exactly the opposite, for a variety of reasons. I do not think this is anyone’s business but the Palins. Period.

I do not think it has relevance to any public position Gov. Palin may take. Period.

I think that, especially since Bristol Palin is still technically a minor, she should be off-limits. Period.

And, in reference to XXXXXX – you want to emulate those scumbags? Sorry, but I don’t play that way. They are vile. I realize that if you wrestle pigs, you’re bound to get some shit on you. That’s why you don’t wrestle pigs. It’s that simple.

I offer these views with all dues respect, because, XXXX, I happen to read your blog fairly regularly, and while I do not comment (normally), I felt compelled to on this issue. I like you blog and respect your views. They just differ from mine. That’s all.

Ok, so you get my drift. Apparently I’m not the only one who feels that this particular type of muckraking is the smart way to win an election. Not only did Obama himself disapprove of this line discussion going on with his supporters, as is pointed out by BAC of YIKES, but the well known Chicago news columnist, John Kass, wrote about it today in the Chicago Tribune. A few excerpts below from his column shows his disdain for this behavior.

POLITICS DON’T GET DIRTIER THAN SMEARING A PREGNANT GIRL

John Kass
September 2, 2008

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — Have American presidential politics become so hateful that a pregnant 17-year-old girl has to have the intimate details of her life exposed to the nation by character assassins?

Ask the left-wing Internet haters, the anonymous=2 0propagandists who call themselves bloggers on the Daily Kos.

And ask Bristol Palin, who didn’t deserve it, and was a victim of the rumor-mongers consumed with attacking her mother, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican running mate of Sen. John McCain, because the mother is a conservative and opposes abortion.

The Internet rumors claimed that Sarah’s baby, Trig, born four months ago with Down syndrome, wasn’t really hers but her daughter’s. They plucked some photos from the Internet, photos out of sequence, to make it appear as though Gov. Palin hadn’t been pregnant, proving once again that on the Internet, the casualties are credibility and civility. Reading it, you could almost hear the saliva dripping from their teeth as they typed anonymously.

[snip]

When I was just starting out as a reporter, a wise old newspaper man told me his rule: Don’t ever write about their kids. Leave the kids alone, unless the child runs for office, or pulls down some fat government contract, or if the parent hauls them out as a shield before an indictment. Leave them alone, he said, because the kids don’t deserve it, because they’re civilians.

Feel free to read the rest of the story by John, who is looking at this like I am which is whether it is a smart political ploy to continue with this dirty20line of campaigning.

Even though the rumors about Sarah Palin not being the mother of her own son, there are some who are not willing to let it go and some that are expanding their filthy smears against the father of Bristol’s baby. For those who continue to claim that Sarah is not the mother of Trig, get a freakin’ calculator out if you can’t do the math. For those who are now going after Bristol and her teen aged husband to be, get a freakin’ soul for gosh sakes!

Sure, Democrats can wallow in the mud just like the Republicans have been known to do. They can emulate Anne Coulter, Karl Rove, and Rush Limbaugh, but where will it get them? Will they win this race for Obama? It may or may not, but is it worth lowering yourselves to the lowest common denominator in order to achieve this goal? Is it worth losing your dignity or your compassion? Is that not the part of you that you are proud to display or is this what you want all to see?

John Kass said it best in the last sentence of his column, “So the crooked blade swings from the right and the left. The use of children as a weapon leaves a terrible stain, on the kids, on the losing candidates, on the winners, and on all of us.”