Quote:
Originally Posted by honeychile
FWIW, I wasn't thrilled about the naming of Sarah Palin as the VP contender, but kept quiet about it (certain GC people can vouch for that). The spoofs on her - which entirely too many people believed as truth, not spoofs - just made a bad situation worse. Frankly, the older man/younger MILF combination was a little creepy. Yet, while I will respect the Office of the President and Vice President, I'm still not convinced that the men currently holding these offices are the best that the United States has to offer.
I'm an American, and I want the very best for America. Nobody can convince me that the four people who represented the two major parties were the best this country has to offer. [/soapbox]
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KSigkid
That's all very dramatic and all that, but you're far from the only person on this board who felt that way (myself included). I think that was very much a topic of conversation on the board, and the only people who seemed thrilled by the results of the primaries were Pres. Obama's supporters.
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But I think that's why the treatment of Palin matters, beyond debating to what degree we think she brought it on herself or deserved it.
What normal person of the kind of quality that we want to see would risk subjecting himself or herself to that?
How do we enjoy the freedom of speech and the press that we're accustomed to in the expansive way that the internet made possible and still have standards of decency in political discourse that would allow good people to enter the field?
ETA: I know there was no golden age of politeness in American politics, but I think there was a time when people still had private lives and could escape from the punishment of constant criticism.