Smearfest

Smearfest Last night my wife just looked at me and said politics is now a smearfest. First time I had heard that word and I had to wonder if it even was a word, so off to Google I went and to my surprise it is becoming a word. Now on Google it is spelled three ways with preventative medicine. But mixed in were the articles on this new word. Someone named Mark posted one of the better definitions: Sometimes, in the right-wing noise machine, you really need to stretch to spread your smears across as many targets as possible. It calls for a strategy that aims to cast your juvenile insults so broadly that they ensnare any of your perceived enemies within certain proximity. In a way, it’s a conservative approach that allows you to use less tar to tarnish more opponents in one wide swipe. Even Glenn Beck said: “Campaigns are ugly. Watching the way politicians act makes you long for the respect and self-control of the Sopranos.” But lets be totally honest smearfests are not only the work of the right; the left is just as guilty. Lets look at some of the older political smears: Sarah Palin - "Sarah Palin believes God told her to go to war with Iraq!" Rick Perry - 'Noted Homosexual Rick Perry' Barack Obama – Birth Certificate, Secretly a Muslim Global Warming Pink Slime Now these are minor league compared to today’s attacks. Herman Cain - Ginger White and how many others. Ron Paul - Smeared by everyone just because he is Ron Paul. And of course this is not reserved for national campaigns. Here in Indiana at both the state and local level we have a smearfest beyond belief. What is even more amazing is members of their own party are killing each other. Look at Senator Lugar, better yet Google "smearfest Lugar" and see the Trash you get. Even worst is a Congressional race where one candidate in an ad blasts not one but two opponents at the same time making claims that are totally false. And to top it off this is a candidate who moved(?) into the state for the purpose of running for congress. Where are these ads coming from out of state of course, from big Pac’s? The Supreme Court opened the door a few years ago by saying corporations have free speech and can be a person. What happened to “truth and the American way” it appears it has gone for a long walk and lost its way. It seems we prefer a candidate that uses lies and hides what they would do if elected. No wonder the Congress of the United States is no longer effective, the extreme right and left wings are too busy being evil to each other and others to shake hands and work for the common good. There can also be a fun side of Smearfests: Stranded with zombies VS Hazmat Skippy Peanut Butter on a smearfest