Was it always this way?

[jagmeister]

I suppose I was too young when Reagan was elected. Or perhaps because the internet had yet to be born. But I don't remember this type of political animosity existing in our country. I'm I wrong?

I sure hope this trend of Americans spouting hate toward other Americans over politics does not continue. I know I do my best to raise my kids to be citizens of this country -- not of a political party.

 

[Beauty]

I don't remember it being this way before either, although I'm fairly young politically.

I agreed with some of what Kerry had to say and I agreed with some of what Bush had to say. When it came down to the vote I agreed a bit more with Bush. I saw him as the stronger person and more of a leader. Had John Edwards been running for President instead of Kerry I may have felt differently, I just don't know.

I don't consider myself a firm Republican, although I was raised in a stouch Republican family.

I have seen this election tear my friends and family apart. I hate it!! I hate the sarcastic remarks and hurtful things I see from both sides. Its really really sad!

I surely hope things get better in our country before my child gets older. I think we are in a sad situation right now when we can't respect each other just because of opposite beliefs. In the end we all have to raise our own families and live our own lives.

 

[mallcat]

I totally agree. We are destroying our country from within. If it continues, the terrorists won't have to do a thing to bring America to its knees. Both sides need to get a grip and stop this nonsense. What are we doing? If I hear one more person say that morals do not matter anymore, I'm going to scream. When did morals become a dirty word. No matter which side of the coin you are on, morality is not a dirty word. We can have disagreements without such vehemence. I'm really scared for our country, not because of this election, but because of how future elections will be when either party is not happy with the country's choice. We will never make everyone happy regardless of who leads the country. Do we have to belittle each other over it? I'm sure that those who hate Americans love what we are doing to ourselves. I may not agree with certain issues, but that does not give me a right to display hatred to those who do believe in those issues. I think I was born in the wrong era. I'd like to go back to the kinder, gentler way of life.

 

[babar]

I don't remember morals being such a big issue before. I remember when it was about things like the economy...or ideas of war.....

When I was young, my view was Republicans are for the rich, and Democrats were for the poor, and that's what my parents would disagree about. I seriously don't remember it being about religion as much as it is now.

and I don't see Republicans and Democrats so black and white anymore.

 

[JimB.]

Nope. It's about the same.

Reagan was absolutely villified in the press, & our friends in the european press portrayed Reagan is the man that was going to destroy the world because he was actually (gasp!!) standing up to the Soviet Union.

When KAL 007 was shot down, people tried to say it was on a US Spy mission, hence it was our fault.

We have always been a lightening rod for criticism internationally, & we have always bickered internally. That's just the way it's been.

Think this campaign was nasty? Go back in american history about 100 - 150 years. See how Abe Lincoln was portrayed.

Todays campaigns are pure vanilla compared to some of those in the past.


At least TV journalists were held more accountable in the past though. When Nicolas Von Hoffman referred to President Nixon as a "dead rat on the kitchen floor" he was unemployed within a week. Now journalists utterly fail in maintaining any standards, & hey, it's ok.

 

[jagmeister]

Originally posted by JimB.
Nope. It's about the same.

Reagan was absolutely villified in the press, & our friends in the european press portrayed Reagan is the man that was going to destroy the world because he was actually (gasp!!) standing up to the Soviet Union.

When KAL 007 was shot down, people tried to say it was on a US Spy mission, hence it was our fault.

We have always been a lightening rod for criticism internationally, & we have always bickered internally. That's just the way it's been.

Think this campaign was nasty? Go back in american history about 100 - 150 years. See how Abe Lincoln was portrayed.

Todays campaigns are pure vanilla compared to some of those in the past.


At least TV journalists were held more accountable in the past though. When Nicolas Von Hoffman referred to President Nixon as a "dead rat on the kitchen floor" he was unemployed within a week. Now journalists utterly fail in maintaining any standards, & hey, it's ok.

I agree that in Lincoln's time things were different. Then again, we were killing each other. I hope for my children's sake, better times are ahead.

 

[Jennifer S]

I think today is more about morals because they have been declining in America. Look at TV for example, years ago shows like Leave it to Beaver and Happy Days were on. Now we have trash like South Park. Morals weren't a problem back in the day. I think America is finally saying Enough is enough. We can only take so much. I never let my kids watch the news- murder,sex scandals, school shootings, etc.

I wish I lived when America was simplier too. Maybe that's the trend we are starting.

 

[bsnyder]

Originally posted by JimB.
Nope. It's about the same.

Reagan was absolutely villified in the press, & our friends in the european press portrayed Reagan is the man that was going to destroy the world because he was actually (gasp!!) standing up to the Soviet Union.

When KAL 007 was shot down, people tried to say it was on a US Spy mission, hence it was our fault.

We have always been a lightening rod for criticism internationally, & we have always bickered internally. That's just the way it's been.

Think this campaign was nasty? Go back in american history about 100 - 150 years. See how Abe Lincoln was portrayed.

Todays campaigns are pure vanilla compared to some of those in the past.


At least TV journalists were held more accountable in the past though. When Nicolas Von Hoffman referred to President Nixon as a "dead rat on the kitchen floor" he was unemployed within a week. Now journalists utterly fail in maintaining any standards, & hey, it's ok.

I agree with Jim, especially about the last paragraph.

Some people's memories are very, very short. When Reagan pushed the Pershing Missles in Europe, there were huge worldwide marches against the U.S.

And speaking of Lincoln, I do worry that some nut will be enflamed and encouraged by the left's hateful, vile treatment of President Bush.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Originally posted by jagmeister
I suppose I was too young when Reagan was elected. Or perhaps because the internet had yet to be born. But I don't remember this type of political animosity existing in our country. I'm I wrong?

I sure hope this trend of Americans spouting hate toward other Americans over politics does not continue. I know I do my best to raise my kids to be citizens of this country -- not of a political party.

I voted for Reagan, my first election.

I watched politics forever. It is always this way.

 

[mallcat]

I agree Jennifer S. I still do not watch today's new TV shows. I stick with Nick at Night and TV Land reruns, HGTV, Food Network, Discovery, History Channel, Travel Channel, etc. I cannot bear the new reality and immorality that is being shown. What is so wrong with the days of Beaver Cleaver and Father Knows Best?

 

[snoopy]

I'm 40, have voted in 6 elections, and never remember a line drawn in the sand like there has been in this election.

I also think there are very few people who fall in the grey area. Most people I know, regardless of where they fall on the political spectrum, feel very passionately that their side is the right one. I certainly have never felt so passionately about any election before.

 

[missypie]

I have heard several stories this election year about mud-slinging that was done by our founding fathers and beyond. Accusations of murder, rape, "mixing of the races" (a horrible insult among certain people way back when), affairs, etc., etc. NPR did a piece on campaign songs of the past and there was one from the late 19th century about how the opponent was in league with the devil...it had the line "Who deserves the lowest place in Hell?" [then sang the opponent's name].

In the more recent past, however, I've heard it said that the tide turned and things got to the level of ugly we know today after the Democrats blocked Bork's appointment to the Supreme Court. We could debate whether that was good or bad, but in the past the appointments had apparantly sailed through and after that, the gloves were off.

 

[Rokkitsci]

Originally posted by jagmeister
I suppose I was too young when Reagan was elected. Or perhaps because the internet had yet to be born. But I don't remember this type of political animosity existing in our country. I'm I wrong?

I sure hope this trend of Americans spouting hate toward other Americans over politics does not continue. I know I do my best to raise my kids to be citizens of this country -- not of a political party.

Yes - it was ugly when Reagan was president also. The same people on the radical left fringes of the democrat party called Reagan a dunce and threatened to leave the country if he was elected.

The media still made fun of him; they would jump through hoops to try to "find" something to use against him and would ignore the excesses of the democrat opponents.

In fact it was the animosity of the media and the liberal democrats over their angst when Reagan was elected that gave rise to the suceeding years of outright hatred by the left fringe for the "Reagan supporters."

Reagan represented the democrats worst nightmare. They treated him as though he were Satan reincarnate. Ever since Reagan, the media and the left wing fringe have conspired to defeat "reaganism" in any way they can.

All that is different now is that they have emerged into more public view, putting out thugs like Michael Moore to do tyheir dirty work. They are running scared and are going out in an ugly manner.

 

[Mary Ellen]

This was the 9th time I've voted in a Presidential election. None have been pretty. This did seem somewhat worse and IMHO it may be due in part to the media. I feel they report the extreme positions. Back in the Kennedy days (I wasn't voting way back then), the media wasn't the 'dig up the dirt' types you see today. As I understand, Kennedy's "girlfriends" would walk right pass the press room in the White House, they were common knowledge. They went un-reported. Can anyone imagine that happening (to ANY President) today?

Walter Cronkite gave no indication (that I was aware of) of his own political opinions. Recently there was network news commercial where the anchor said something along the lines that ‘their’ duty was to gather the information, “interpret” it and then disseminate it. I want to know who, what, when and how – not someone’s ‘spin’ on what happened.

As an example, during the Gulf War I would see the Press Conferences live during the day. I was STUNNED the first time I watched the national news coverage of that same conference. I would then tape the live conference and show it to DH after watching the news at night. We soon stopped watching the national news at all, as the coverage bore little (if any) semblance of what happened at the Press Conference.

Like JimB, I remember Reagan being absolutely vilified in the press. Seeing the way his memory was treated at his funeral, you'd never guess that.

There is a lot of truth in what mallcat says, but I do think that the "kinder, gentler way of life" may be a wishful memory. There were a number of things that weren't kinder or gentler.

I also think that people are more about 'ME', not society as a whole. How many times have we heard of a child/youth/young adult beating/knifing/shooting another because they felt ‘dissed’? They haven't learned that sometimes things just don't go 'your way' or that others' opinions may be just as valid.

Now having said that, do I think any political party is more ‘moral’ than another? NO. Is any party 'better' than another? NO.

 

[Microcell]

Originally posted by JimB.

Think this campaign was nasty? Go back in american history about 100 - 150 years. See how Abe Lincoln was portrayed.

Todays campaigns are pure vanilla compared to some of those in the past.

Of course his election was one of the factors that started the Civil War!!! I agree with you, I just thought it was kind of funny!

 

[LisaZoe]

I think any new president faces this - Reagan and Clinton sure did. However, it does seem like it has become more common to see widespread "smear" campaigns from both sides due to the advent of things such as the Internet, 24/7 news channels, email, etc. Used to be something that happened in DC wouldn't be heard about for days, weeks or years by most in the other areas of the country unless it was on one of the 3 network news programs, in the newspaper or on radio. Now such happenings are spread virtually instantaneously to a vaster audience than ever before.

 

[cobbler]

I was wondering this myself. THis is only the 3rd presidential election I voted in and maybe it was because I was younger in my first two, or didn't have internet as accessible then but there seems just so much hatred and division.

I asked my mom if it had always been this way and she said yes, but it does die down after a while.

Politics is all about the "game" of perception.

 

[Alice28]

Reagan was president all through my older childhood and teen years and I remember the press and people HATING him. I mean, it was VICIOUS.