Dirty Politics

Once upon a time I thought both Barack Obama and John McCain were a different breed of politican, wanting to elevate the dialogue and campaigning for the benefit of the American people. I was wrong.

Several weeks ago McCain said that Obama would rather lose the war (in Iraq) than the election. It was maybe the worst thing that I've heard a candidate ever say. I'd have a hard time voting for someone who would say something like that about an opponent. Now, in the wak of Governor Palin's nomination as VP, Obama's Florida spokesperson has said, "Palin was a supporter of Pat Buchanan, a right-winger or as many Jews call him: a Nazi sympathizer."

First of all, the only evidence I've heard that Palin supported Buchanan is that she wore his button in 1999 when he was campaining in Alaska. She says she voted for Steve Forbes. Wearing a buton when someone is campaigning is more polite than an endorsement. Second, that statement calls Buchannan a "Nazi-sympathizer" and implicitly that Palin supports "Nazi-sympathizers". That is just as outlandish as what McCain said. Obama will undoubtedly distance himself from the comment, but as a self-proclaimed accomplished executive (which he said to butrress the rather weak argument that Palin has more experience than Obama) he should have better control of his organization than to allow such a statement to be released.

I'm an undecided voter, looking for a reason to believe in either candidate and increasingly finding less reason to believe in either of them.