FortKnox's Journal: Politics - The lesser of two evils

The only thing I wish for this country to truely change in politics is the removal of smear campaigns. I want candidates to tell us who they are, what the stand for, and the platforms they support. The end.
But now its just 'look what he did!', 'can you believe she did this!', 'look at how undecisive he is!', 'She flipflopped and here is her history on it...'
Smear back and forth... back and forth. So when we vote, we aren't voting for who we support or who stands for what we stand.... we are voting for the lesser of two evils, which is dispicable in my opinion....

it wouldn't help

[stoolpigeon]

because if they did what you want, every commercial would tell you the same thing.
"I want to get as far as I possibly can. I want to accumulate influence and power and I will do whatever is expedient in furthering that process. Then I will use that power and influence for personal gain"
 
the whole thing is wrotten to the core. the smear campaigns are just the symptoms coming to the surface. they are so desperate to 'win' that they quickly lose any inhibitions.

Re:

[RailGunner]

The problem is that we keep electing Lawyers.

Time to elect me. I'm an engineer, not a lawyer.

RailGunner for President in 2012! (Cause I won't be the constitutionally mandated 35 years of age until then.)

If elected, I promise to kick ass and chew bubble gum. Only I'm all out of bubble gum.

Re:

[stoolpigeon]

ever since you found those sunglasses, you've acted so wierd.

Re:

[RailGunner]

OK, at the risk of sounding like an even bigger dork, I don't get that. Is that a reference to something that I missed? Cause I haven't found any sunglasses. In fact, the only pair I have is the pair I bought from Wal-Mart several months ago.

And weird? Nah... just aiming for +5, Funny mods. Of course, then the following overrated mods (chicken!) damage my karma...

I heard it wasn't comedy unless it hurt, though.

Re:

[RailGunner]

NEVER MIND. Duke Nukem wears sunglasses. I got it just after I hit send, and now I have to *gasp* reply to my own post. Too bad I don't have multiple personality disorder, otherwise I could use that excuse. No I couldn't. Shut up, you. No, I have a right to speak! Not if I rip out your vocal chords. You'd be ripping out your own, then, too! Oh, yeah, my bad. It's ok, we'll forgive you.

Time to ingest more caffeine, apparently.

"Today we're replaced RailGunner's normal allergy medicine with Stupid Pills.

Re:

[stoolpigeon]

Actually - I thought you were referencing They Live [imdb.com]. He walks into a bank (i think it was a bank- something like it anyway) with a shotgun and says the bit about bubble-gum. He finds sunglasses that allow him to see aliens that are not identifiable to everyone else. I figured with you and wrestling, you'd have seen it for sure. Maybe you have but don't associate that line with it like i do.

Re:

[rk]

Sorry, I'm already in the shadow cabinet for the Ethelred-Dragon '08 [slashdot.org] campaign.

On the other hand, you'd definitely be the most metal president EVAR.

The problem

[GeckoFood]

The problem is that the candidates often would rather not emphasize their own credentials or lack thereof. If you are a lackluster candidate or you have a colorful skeleton closet, the campaign degrades into, "Look at him! He's a bigger scumsucker than I am!" It's no longer a matter of "I stand for this and that" anymore - it's all about discrediting your opponent so you don't have to go on record.

It backfired here in our district the last time we had elections to the House of Representatives. Two candida

My solution

[nizo]

I think the solution I posted awhile back would work:

- Force everyont to allow the opposing candidate a free rebuttle if you attack them in an ad.
- Only allow a specific picture of ANY candidate to be used in ANY political ad. No pictures of any candidate with devil horns or clubbing baby seals. Feel free to show a picture of yourself hugging starving Ethiopian kids, but that is the only picture you can show throughout the entire campaign. Having that same picture be the one shown on the touchscreen voting

Did you hear this?

[johndiii]

There was a candidate who rented two boll weevils the week before the election.

He thought everyone would vote for him: the lessor of two weevils. :-)

Re:

[Randolpho]

Russell Crowe delivered that joke much better in Master and Commander -- and I think he's one of the worst actors in recent history. :D

The problem with this

[Marxist Hacker 42]

I want candidates to tell us who they are, what the stand for, and the platforms they support. The end.

They'd just lie. Even if they did tell you the truth, it would just be a list of their campaign donors. Our legislature on a national level, and quite often even at a state level, is just a figure head these days for the $10,000/vote lobbyists who write the real legislation.

Giant Douche vs Turd Sandwich

[Randolpho]

South Park said it all:

South Park Episode 808 [imsdb.com]
PETA Compound Leader: But Stan, don't you know, it's always between a giant douche and a turd sandwich. Nearly every election since the beginning of time has been between some douche and some turd. They're the only people who suck up enough to make it that far in politics.

Can you believe this?!

[tonsofpcs]

Most of the negative ads are produced by third parties. Look at the fine text or the last few seconds of the spot, it will say who paid for it. Most likely it was not the candidate. Up where I'm at school, there was a scandal where one group started a smear campaign about some error, and both candidates came out and said that the ad was unfounded, and even if it were, it should not be brought up in relation to such a campaign.