Getting Sick of Both Parties

[Walter Pullis]

The blame game going on concerning Katrina,Iraq, and a host of other issues is getting me mad. Why don't we just solve the problems and concern ourselves about what party is better,who will be elected etc. around election time.

I'm a bit older than most of the posters and remember the cold war of the post WW II period. People were not concerned about parties then, just how can the government can get the job done.

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I'm a bit older than most of the posters and remember the cold war of the post WW II period. People were not concerned about parties then, just how can the government can get the job done.

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You must be joking. You must have forgotten Truman's campaign against the Republican "do nothing" Congress in 1958, Ike's use of Nixon as an attack dog on the Democratic party in 1952, etc. etc. etc.

[benfranklin]

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You must be joking. You must have forgotten Truman's campaign against the Republican "do nothing" Congress in 1958, Ike's use of Nixon as an attack dog on the Democratic party in 1952, etc. etc. etc.

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I think that the OP misstates the shift in emphasis. Politics today is not more party-oriented than it used to be, it is more personal. As this post indicates, Truman, Ike, etc., often directed their attacks at the other party rather than discussing issues. What they didn't do is attack one another personally.

Politics has grown increasingly personal and negative. Most people don't even think about issues anymore (assuming they ever did). They just have a knee-jerk reaction against any proposal made by that idiot _________ (fill in the blank).

Perhaps my memory grows dim with age, but I cannot remember anything remotely approaching the degree of personal hated shown by the opposition toward Clinton and George II. Or maybe it is just more public and vocal in a age of increased communication and lessened civility.

The confirmation hearings for John Roberts are a prime example of this. This guy is bullet-proof, and the Dem Senators are really having fits because they can't find anything of substance wrong with him. The only thing wrong with Roberts is that he was nominated by that idiot Bush. And I'd bet a million bucks that if John Roberts had been nominated by Clinton, the GOP members would be going through exactly the same routine.

I can't wait to see which 2 idiots run in 2008. Politics is a better spectator sport than the NFL and pro wrestling rolled into one.

[Roybert]

Great post.

[DVaut1]

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I think that the OP misstates the shift in emphasis. Politics today is not more party-oriented than it used to be, it is more personal. As this post indicates, Truman, Ike, etc., often directed their attacks at the other party rather than discussing issues. What they didn't do is attack one another personally.

Politics has grown increasingly personal and negative. Most people don't even think about issues anymore (assuming they ever did). They just have a knee-jerk reaction against any proposal made by that idiot _________ (fill in the blank).

Perhaps my memory grows dim with age, but I cannot remember anything remotely approaching the degree of personal hated shown by the opposition toward Clinton and George II. Or maybe it is just more public and vocal in a age of increased communication and lessened civility.

The confirmation hearings for John Roberts are a prime example of this. This guy is bullet-proof, and the Dem Senators are really having fits because they can't find anything of substance wrong with him. The only thing wrong with Roberts is that he was nominated by that idiot Bush. And I'd bet a million bucks that if John Roberts had been nominated by Clinton, the GOP members would be going through exactly the same routine.

I can't wait to see which 2 idiots run in 2008. Politics is a better spectator sport than the NFL and pro wrestling rolled into one.

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1) I think the part about Roberts is a bit misguided; the Roberts nomination is a near certainty (as you said), but the Democratic opposition isn't in 'fits' trying to find something wrong with Judge Roberts. In fact, it has little to do with Roberts at all. Do you see why?

2) As both parties have been vying endlessly for the political middle since the New Deal, elections are now much more candidate-centered (as I think we can all agree, the Republican and Democratic Parties are nothing more than center-right and center-left. While this is a gross generalization, there's not much honest disagreement between the two parties; and the current climate of policy apathy/personality obsession is the result of the contemporary party congruity -- Harvard's Thomas Patterson does this topic great justice in his book The Vanishing Voter, for those interested).

I agree that the political negativity isn't at all that nuevo, so to speak, but certainly, with more candidate-centered elections, that negativity is centered less around the party/policy differences and more around candidate personalities.

And yes, politics is certainly a fun spectator sport.

[jcx]

Good post but you are wrong on one point. The ACLU activist Ruth Bader Ginsburg breezed through her nomination with nary a word from the GOP. I think the vote was 95-3 or something. If there was ever a SC candidate that deserved scrutiny (from a conservative perspective) she was it and the Senate was out to lunch. More proof the GOP is utterly corrupt and worthless. At least the Dems admit they are one-world under UN socialists.

[adios]

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Truman's campaign against the Republican "do nothing" Congress in 1958,

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Didn't know Truman was active in politics in 1958 [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img].

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Truman's campaign against the Republican "do nothing" Congress in 1958,

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Didn't know Truman was active in politics in 1958 [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img].

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Thanks for the typo flame. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[fluxrad]

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Politics today is not more party-oriented than it used to be, it is more personal.

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This statement is patently false.

[jokerthief]

The only thing that pisses me off more than both parties is this forum.