TODAY’S POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS RECALLTHOSE OF THE 19th CENTURY

…How politics is done in a Third World Nation

 

The GOP primary campaigns are resembling Third World Nation elections.

 

OK everybody, I’m going to give you a kind of “Word Association” quiz.

 

I’m going to offer you a list of phrases.  I would like you to then identify from what event these comments were made:

 

So here we go:

·       “They lied!”

·       “He lies.”

·       “This guy lied.”

·       “That’s a lot of lies.”

·       “Why do you lie?”

·       “You are the single biggest liar.”

·       “It’s a disgrace and an embarrassment.”

·       “Give me a break.”

·       “This country is dying.”

·       “I don’t know how he knows what I said on Univision because he doesn’t speak Spanish.”

·       “He is so weak on illegal immigration it’s laughable.”

·       “You want to talk about weakness? It’s weak to disparage women. It’s weak to denigrate the disabled.”

·       “He said he would take his pants off and moon everybody.”

·       “He called him pathological and compared him to a child molester.”

·       “Nasty guy.”

 

Those of you that follow politics as I do probably know from where these comments came.

 

Yes, these are actual quotes that were taken from the GOP televised debate held before the up-coming South Carolina primary.  (Most of these phrases came from Donald Trump, Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio.)

 

As one political pundit has stated, “Republican debates today are more in line with those from back in the 19^th Century when candidates occasionally beat each other with canes.”

 

But I must say that seeing the former president George W. Bush campaigning last week for his little brother Jeb, I was taken back to when jabs at political opponents were usually disguised mostly in political rhetoric, not blatant accusations of lies and liars.

 

In listening to “Dubya” Bush’s speech, he was as “corny” as ever, but the former president was refreshing to listen to, when you compare it to what we get from his party’s current candidates.  His speech was meant to provide support for brother Jeb in a southern state that still thinks highly of the former president and the Bush family in general.  But the former president’s speech also served to remind us of little brother Jeb’s less than stellar speaking and campaigning skills.

 

When I said George W. was “corny”, as an example he stated that in his presidential “afterlife,” he has become a tree farmer which, “gives me a chance to practice my ‘stump speech’.”  He also said, “I’ve written two books, which has surprised a lot of people, particularly up east who didn’t think I could read, much less write.”

 

George Bush also gave his speech as most candidates of the past have done, without using vulgar language for making his point.  And he made his scores against the competition without referring to Donald Trump by name.  He did it by saying, “These are tough times, and I understand that Americans are angry and frustrated, but we do not need someone in the Oval Office who mirrors and inflames our anger and frustration.”  He did it again when he said, “Strength is not empty rhetoric. It is not bluster. It is not theatrics. Real strength, strength of purpose, comes from integrity and character. And in my experience, the strongest person usually isn’t the loudest one in the room.”

 

There was no misunderstanding as to whom the former president was referring.  And he did it without raising his voice, pointing his finger or using foul language.  He also didn’t call any candidate a liar.

 

So, what then did Donald Trump do in responding to citizens George and Jeb.

 

First, Trump took direct aim at the 43rd president, saying: “They lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction. There were none, and they knew there were none.”

 

Then, Trump used the “truther” accusation that Bush and Co. had advance knowledge of the 9/11 attacks. “They knew some bad things were going to happen.” Trump accused the former president’s administration that, “They could have stopped it.”

 

But Dubya finished off with his brother as he should have, in trying to send Jeb off on a good note when he said, “We need someone who can take a positive message across the entire country, someone who can inspire and appeal to people from all walks of life, not just one party or one class of people. Jeb, will rise above the petty name calling.”

 

I have to say that in the past, I wrote many articles and Blogs with highly negative comments about George W. Bush when he was still president back in 2007.  I never thought the day would come when I would ever be writing positive comments about the same president that took the nation into a costly and unnecessary war.

 

But dealing today in the era of Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, “Dubya” really offered a welcome twist on today’s ugly Republican politics.

 

Unfortunately, the former president’s appearance was just a temporary respite in the chaotic mess we now call the “GOP primaries”.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2016