I don't know if I'm getting less patient or not but it seems to me that we were a "kinder, gentler" nation back in the fifties and sixties when it came to politics. I don't remember the politicians being so cruel to each other. I have never seen such a barage of negative ads. By negative ads, I don't mean ads that criticize an opponent's records but ads that attack his character, his wife and kids and even his (or her) mother.
Last week, the missus and I had a few days off so we went down to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee for some R & R. Now, being from Kentucky, I always had heard that our politics were the meanest. Man was that a mistake!
In Tennessee, they go for the jugler. It doesn't matter if you're running for President, Governor, Congress or the local School Board....Anything's fair play. The only person I saw run a "positive" ad (although it was kind of "corny") was Senator Lamar Alexander, a Republican running for relection to the U. S. Senate. I remember when he was Governor of Tennessee and he always seemed to be a nice person and I guess he still is. He won over 80% of the vote in his race and I didn't even know he had an opponent until I was back in Kentucky watching the returns election night.
That being said, his was the only race I saw down there that was even remotely clean. There were two people running for the State Senate from the Knoxville area that were both former County Executives. One was a man named "Ken" something and the lady's name was Betty Rupe (pronounced Rupee). I don't even know which was the Democrat and which one was the Republican. Her ad showed a picture of her opponent (Ken), who was about my size or bigger at some kind of outing. He had a torso that made up of about 95% of his body weight with his arms, legs and head making up the other 5%. In other words he resembled a "tick." This particular picture (which was a grainy "black & white," showed him trying to get out of a lawn chair. He was wearing a pair of baggy gym shorts and a tee shirt that exposed about 1/3 of his enormous belly, flip flops, about a three day stubble of a beard and gray hair that looked like it hadn't been washed in about a month. He also was chewing on the stub of a cigar about three inches long. The scene of him lifting himself out of that chair was reminiscent of the scene around the campfire in "Blazing Saddles" if you get my drift.
The announcer in the ad went on to say he lost thousands of jobs for Knox Countians while serving as County Executive. Thousands of dollars in public funds were missing. He employed all of his siblings and in-laws. His mother was of questionable character and his father left her for a gay relationship with their minister (OK, I might be "stretching" that part). Anyhow, the ad turned to color and this Betty Rupe portrayed as a saviour of her county (she was County Executive from an adjoining county), a fiscal genius who had ties to the Vanderbilts. She was also a former three term school board member and didn't get into full time politics until she had raised her children and put all of them through college (no mention of what her husband did or if he contributed to the kid's success). The final scene shows her in a hard hat on top of a backhoe (she was actually running it) digging a "scoop of dirt" for the new Senior Citizens Center she managed to find funding for. Finally her sweet voice comes on and says "I'm Betty Rupe and I approved this message because I know what it is to be poor and pay for my own education and yata-yata-yata!"
A few minutes later, another ad comes on from her opponent. This one shows him in a suit and tie, hair neatly groomed, looking about fifty pounds lighter than in her ad, and acting like a bundle of energy. While County Executive, he created over 9,000 jobs for Knox county, balanced twelve budgets, left a surplus of several million dollars in the bank when he left office (I assume voluntarily), built schools and many other achievements too numerous to mention here. After noting these acclamations, he then proceeded to attack Ms. Rupe, showing a picture of her (you guessed it, a grainy "black & white) in some sort of uniform (like a school crossing guard?), looking about fifty pounds heavier than her preceding ad and the announcer went on to say that she raised taxes in her county seven times, laid off county employees, her school's grades were among the lowest in the nation, and that she was late in paying her taxes five years in a row. It also mentioned that she took a couple of luxury cruises on the taxpayer's dollar. It was the exact opposite of her ad.
I didn't stick around down there to see who won the race and I checked online before going to bed Tuesday night but the race was too close to call at that point. I lost interest by the next morning and couldn't tell you today who won.
I was always interested in politics, even as a student in high school. I ran for class treasurer my senior year and won. It was my first adventure into politics and I'm not sure I even had an opponent. I was sure I had no experience and I don't remember even asking for a vote. I'm sure we ran a clean race though because I believe I would have remembered at that tender age if someone had questioned my character (which wasn't too hot in those days).
The earliest negative campaign ad I can remember was when Barry Goldwater challenged Lyndon Johnson for President. I remember a television ad that showed a little girl playing with a daisy when the camera "zoomed in" on her sweet face. She showed curiosity and fear at the same time. The camera then turned around and off into the distance it showed a "mushroom" cloud, presumably from an atom bomb. This ad apparently worked because Goldwater was defeated soundly. Of course, Johnson got us deeper and deeper into the real war, the Vietnam war to the point where he didn't run after one term (not counting the partial term where he succeeded John Kennedy after his assasination). I later saw on a documentary where this was considered the first of negative campaigning as we currently know it.
The best example of "double talk" by a politician happened in 1952 by a fellow who shares the pronunciation of his name with me (although with only one "T") He was Noah S. "Soggy" Sweat, Jr., a former judge, lawyer and State Representative from Mississippi. He was elected to the Mississippi House in 1947 at the age of 24 and gave his famous "Whiskey Speech" during his last year there when lawmakers were debating legalizing liquor. As always, it was a "volatile issue." Here's the text of his famous (and copyrighted) speech delivered at a banquet while this issue was before the legislature.
"My Friends, I had not intended to discuss this controversial subject at this particular time. However, I want you to know that I do not "shun" controversy. On the contrary, I will take a stand on any issue at any time, regardless of how fraught with controversy it might be. You have asked me how I feel about whiskey. All right, here is how I feel about whiskey.
If, when you say whiskey you mean the devil's brew, the poison scourge, the bloody monster, that defiles innocence, dethrones reason, destroys the home, creates misery and poverty, yea, literally takes the bread from the mouths of little children; if you mean the evil drink that topples the Christian man and woman from the pinnacle of righteous, gracious living into the bottomless pit of degradation, and despair, and shame and helplessness, and hopelessness, then certainly I am against it."
"But...
If, when you say whiskey you mean the oil of conversation, the philosophic wine, the ale that is consumed when good fellows get together, that puts a song in their hearts and laughter on their lips, and the warm glow of contentment in their eyes; if you mean Christmas cheer; if you mean the stimulating drink that puts the spring in the old gentleman's step on a frosty, crispy morning; if you mean the drink which enables a man to magnify his joy, and his happiness, and to forget, if only for a little while, life's great tragedies, and heartaches, and sorrows; if you mean that drink, the sale of which pours into our treasuries untold millions of dollars, which are used to provide tender care for our little crippled children, our blind, our deaf, our dumb, our pitiful aged and infirm; to build highways and hospitals and schools, then I am certainly for it!"
"This is my stand. I will not retreat from it. I will not compromise!"
I'm Hugh Sweatt and I approve this message!
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