These Indys Don't Like Ugly

As we sit and watch the Dem-bulbs snatch defeat from the laws of victory.

But there is an alternative, if Americans would only think for themselves, instead of believing that the only Democrats running are Clinton and Obama, as the corporate media would have us believe.

The one candidate who can roundly beat any Rethug. in November is John Edwards

Personal and political divisions add up for Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama

Eric Zorn

"I like this. I think it's exciting." -- Bill Clinton, Tuesday, referring to the barbed exchange between his wife and Obama in a Democratic primary debate Monday.

Yes, the slash and burn, thrust and parry of political infighting is fun and exciting.

We get to see how well candidates respond when they're knocked off script by fair shots and foul blows. We get to see real emotion rather than the canned passion of stump speeches and position papers.

It's also destructive. Negative campaigning and the obsession with candidates' inevitable flaws breeds voter cynicism, apathy and disrespect.

So far, so pat.

The above observation could apply, conservatively, to 95 percent of all races ever run: Hypocritical Bum vs. Unprincipled Rascal.

But what's going on now in the Democratic presidential primary contest feels particularly destructive and therefore less fun and exciting (if you lean Democratic) or more fun and exciting (if you lean Republican).

Just in the last couple of weeks, the campaign between front-runners Obama and Clinton has gotten ugly -- deeply personal, openly hostile and racially divisive.

Never mind who started it, whose elbows are sharper or which candidate is the most chronically, reflexively mendacious. I have my view, and I'm sure you have yours.

Either way, the poisonous rhetoric is infuriating backers of Obama and Clinton and creating a rift that may not heal by November, even though their positions on issues are substantially the same.

This observation is purely anecdotal, and I base it on the sudden, sharp increase in the number of self-identified Democrats I've communicated with recently who've said something like this:

I used to think I could support either one of them, but now I'm so disgusted I could never vote for (him/her).

It's traditional to set aside grudges formed during the primary race and support the party in the general election, holding your nose if necessary.

But it's hard to hold a voting stylus while holding your nose with one hand and sticking your finger down your throat with the other. Look for some of these fierce loyalists to sit out the election in November.

Particularly if the GOP nominee is John McCain, whom many Democrats and independents see as the LOR (least objectionable Republican). And particularly if the Democratic nominee is Hillary Clinton, whom many Republicans and independents see as the MOD (you know).

Clinton gets the edge here in what may be an early or a late round in the primaries, depending on when the nomination is decided: She's not the one who's been running on the promise of a new high-tone style of politics, after all.

The Clintons' bloody political knuckles have been obvious since the early '90s, which explains both their successes and their comparatively high disapproval ratings.

So each squabble is a little victory for her. For now, this is true even when she loses on points or is caught in a deceitful contradiction, such as when she contended the other day that Obama had said Republicans had better ideas than Democrats (he said no such thing), and she blasted Obama for praising the same political skills and vision of Ronald Reagan that she herself has publicly praised.

The Republican field is also dramatically split, but for now the divisions seem to be more ideological than personal.

It will be ironic, though somehow predictable, if it turns out to be the heavily favored Democrats who fall at the hands of the "Anybody But (underscore)(underscore)(underscore)(underscore)(underscore) Coalition."

I believe the technical term for this is "losing ugly."


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The Nazis, Fascists and Communists were political parties before they became enemies of liberty and mass murderers.