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Hernando Today

Are Politics Always Dirty?

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DONALD J. MYERS, Special to Hernando Today

Published: January 18, 2008

Updated: 01/17/2008 06:12 pm

Republican candidates are always depicted by Democrats and the media as racists, sexists, homophobes and bigots. They must have forgotten their talking papers, because Sen. Hillary Clinton and her staff are attacking Sen. Barack Obama, and Sen. Obama is responding. Both parties have agreed to a cease-fire, but we will see how long it lasts.

In Michigan, the Democratic Party says that it will not recognize the primary results and seat the delegates because the state moved up its election early. The same holds true for Florida, but once the nominee is determined, that will change. Can you imagine either party not seating these two large states?

In Michigan, the Democratic candidates did not campaign in the state and Sen. Clinton was the only name on the Democratic ballot. Even so, the racial row has caused many black voters to vote "uncommitted." The results showed Sen. Clinton with 59 percent and "uncommitted" with 37 percent.

Michigan allows voters to vote in any primary regardless of their party affiliation. As in New Hampshire, the Independents and Democrats are voting for Sen. McCain, but not enough to win. I question the practice of allowing voters to vote in either party's primary. This is supposed to be the opportunity for the party to select its candidate without the results being skewed by non-party members.

I watched part of the Democratic debate on Tuesday night. The platitudes are coming from each candidate, but it was obvious that each candidate went out of his or her way to be nice. It will be interesting to see how long that lasts.

The media has reported that this was a life-or-death state for Gov. Mitt Romney. Now it is reporting that Florida is the same for former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. I am beginning to believe that this race will last much longer than I initially thought and the results up to this point are proving me right.

It appears that some of the Republican candidates are attempting to redefine conservatism. Trying to be a "liberal-lite" will insure that the Republicans lose big time. I am in the middle of the book "Ronald Reagan in Private" by his former executive assistant Jim Kuhn. The insights are good into who President Reagan really was. On a personal note, I was the commanding officer of Marine Barracks in Washington, D.C., from 1985-88 and provided a company of Marines for security at Camp David. As such, I flew to Camp David each month for more than three years and listened to my troops talk about the president. I also provided social aides to the White House for any type of official function. The respect was unbelievable and heartwarming.

The media is pushing Sen. John McCain and former governor Mike Huckabee, but in my view the race is wide open. Some of the initial states allow voters to cross over during the primaries, and I believe that is skewing the results.

There will be more than enough time to determine the positions of each candidate. The key candidates all have records that can be checked to determine if the current positions reflect the records. An informed electorate generally gets it right, but not always. Watching and listening to what Democrats have said about their opponents convinces me that this election will be dirty. The Republicans have also contributed, but not to the same degree. We are in for a long and divisive campaign.

Donald J. Myers, a retired United States Marine Corps colonel, is a regular columnist for Hernando Today. He lives in Spring Hill.

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