Political Manners
With fewer than 60 days to go until Election Day, it’s “game on” for President Obama and Governor Romney. Throughout the remainder of the campaign, we can hope that both candidates will be on their best behavior. Ad hominum attacks serve the country less well than a laser-like focus on issues.
If they don’t, well, they won’t be the first politicians to behave poorly. Consider the following:
In the investigations that took place after a group of burglars broke into the Democratic National Committee’s offices in the Watergate building, tape recording transcripts revealed that President Richard Nixon tossed obscenities about with abandon. The term “expletive deleted” quickly entered the national lexicon.
First Lady Ida McKinley suffered from epilepsy. When she suffered an epileptic seizure at the dining room table, President William McKinley was known to take his napkin and drape it over the First Lady’s face.
In the nation’s first contested election, candidates and one-time close friends John Adams and Thomas Jefferson hurled insults at each other. Jefferson said Adams was toothless, senile and a monarchist. Adams complained that Jefferson wanted to bring French-style anarchy to the U.S.
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