Here's something I've been wondering about all summer, since the Swift Boat Liars begin their little saga and since the media began so obviously parroting the Republican talking points and since some of us found Bush & Co. with their pants on fire all the time.
I was kind of proud of John Kerry for taking the high road and running a pretty clean campaign. However--he lost. So--points subtracted for running a clean campaign, since it didn't work.
Should the Democrats start lying and cheating like the Republicans?
The Democratic party has a history of cheating, back when there was a Democratic Machine.
The Chicago Machine is famous. Lyndon Johnson supposedly stole his first election. Maybe JFK cheated in the 1960 election (I don't think this is proven, however).
The point is: There were times in the past when the Democrats won elections. And they didn't always win them honestly.
I say yes--the Democrats should start lying about their opponents. They should start running negative, dirty ads, they should put flyers on the windshields of voters, they should do what it takes. They should think of what the Republicans will be doing, and follow suit.
I still don't think they should cheat at elections. At least, I don't think that yet. (However, there might be a strategic reason why they should--to show the voters what the Republicans do, and to call attention to voter fraud.)
What do you all think?