Slinging Mud

[Guest]

I don't know how to tell you this but I'll try. Clayton, it is my observation that you may be too sensitive of a guy to be hangin' out with us so called "mudslingers". And I hope you take that as a compliment. I think it is a good thing when men are sensitive.

On the other hand are you suggesting that if we can't say something nice then we are not suppose to say anything at all???? Is that how it goes in politics? Clayton, how do you evaluate a candidate by what they say or what they have done? And how do you know what they have done if no one says anything because they are too busy being like Peter and Paul? That is why many old growth Ohia trees behind Belly Acres were harvested illegally because no one wanted to say anything bad until a whistle blower finally stepped forward and spoke of what she had seen and experienced. Yes the truth can be difficult to accept but eventually it always comes to light.

[Kapohocat]

quote:

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Originally posted by Clayton

What is more important to you when you consider which candidate you will vote for, issues or character?


Clayton

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I think issues AND character are important. We do not need more people with poor character to run our government. But also it is important, for me, to find someone who I admire their character in conjunction with the majority of their views of issues resonating with what I believe.

I think the balance of character is important when their views do not coincide with mine. If I can trust them, then I know even an opposing view is made with morals and ethics.

[missydog1]

Beautifully expressed, Cat.

A while back I read something on this topic that stuck with me. It was on a page about logical arguments.

quote:

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We vote for, elect, and are governed by politicians, not platforms; in fact, political platforms are primarily symbolic and seldom enacted. So, personal criticisms are logically relevant to deciding who to vote for.

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Source:http://www.fallacyfiles.org/adhomine.html

The problem with this topic, Clayton and Mendo, is you don't seem to understand that "mudslinging" has a specific meaning: it means negative campaigning against an opponent.

It doesn't apply to voters and non-candidates who critique a politician, only to people who are running campaigns.

Wikipedia does a good job on explaining what mudslinging is and is not:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudslinging

I'm not running a campaign; I'm not a politician; it is my right and I would say my civic duty to express misgivings about politicians, and ditto for the other forum users. It is in fact offensive for you or anyone to disparage our first amendment right to speak freely about candidates.

quote:

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I'd also like to ask anyone, who still wishes to talk negatively about a candidate, would you please include the name of the person you are backing in that particular race.

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This is another confusion between candidates and citizens. You pose questions like this to candidates, and they reply because they want your vote. You don't have any right to demand of other forum users that they adhere to some formula you present for making comments. []

[fishenjim]

It's an American right to vote or not vote for some one for whatever reason you choose no matter how trivial it may seem to others and you owe no one an explanation. Maybe you like their shoes good enough for me it's YOUR VOTE.

[DaVinci]

Democracy is two wolves and a lamb deciding on what to have for dinner. Somebody said that. Not me. Seemed relevant here.

[oink]

That's why we have a constitutional republic and not a democracy. Many don't understand that and want us to be a pure democracy.

Pua`a
S. FL
Big Islander to be.

[missydog1]

quote:

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Originally posted by oink

That's why we have a constitutional republic and not a democracy. Many don't understand that and want us to be a pure democracy.

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Glad you said that oink. Many don't understand that and speak as if we already are a pure democracy.

quote:

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"Hence it is that democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and in general have been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths... A republic, by which I mean a government in which a scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect and promises the cure for which we are seeking." James Madison, Federalist Papers No. 10 (1787).

ÒA democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.Ó Thomas Jefferson

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DaVinci, your quote is courtesy of Benjamin Franklin.

[pahoated]

Rather than worry about slinging mud and ethics, shouldn't the question be why Puna can only come up with whack jobs for candidates? Kind of rhetorical since most people don't want the job and the selection pool is very shallow. All a citizen can hope for is that the fiddle tune is good while Rome burns.

"This island Hawaii on this island Earth"