Election time, the phrase denotes different things to different people. To those with a political agenda, it is time to start working for the party candidates. This in itself is okay. This is supposedly a free country and if one wants to help a candidate that is fine, but there is a line that must not be crossed. On the other side of that line is deceit and law breaking. This type of stuff actually took place during the last presidential election, when people in some states were called up and told the voting had been put off to the next day. Others received offers of rides to their polling places, only to be dropped off many miles away. Then there were the other lies. Stories made up that were totally untrue, that were designed to sully the name of a candidate. There is no room for this type of stuff and the people that do this, should be put behind bars. Unfortunately this is nothing new in this country. Dirty politics have been going on for hundreds of years. That is no reason for allowing them to continue however.

It might be hard to believe, but the very first contested election for president in this country was riddled with falsehoods. Poor John Adams had his character smeared by the supporters of Thomas Jefferson. They had made up a story that they believed would finish off Adams as a candidate. The story went this way, it said that John Adams, a hero of the revolution by the way, wanted to marry off his son to the daughter of King George the 3rd. They further stated that the reason for this was that he wanted to create a government with himself as the head, that would be under the rule of the British. When you consider what the country had just gone through, this was indeed dirty politics of the worst kind and set the stage for dirt slinging for hundreds of years to come. The had a lot of other things to say about Adams such as, he was a coward, a half-breed, a thief and a low life, just to mention a few. Maybe if this stuff would have been nipped in the bud, we wouldn't be where we are today. Needless to say, unfortunately this type of stuff seem to work, Jefferson was elected and Adams lost.

One thing that seems to have really hit a nerve with the American people, is all of the hypocrisy. How many politicians have we seen that have condemned others on the floor of the House and Senate for sexual actions, that were later found out to have done the same things themselves? Believe me when I tell you that this has happened an awful lot and it has happened to Republicans far more than to Democrats and has become very noticeable. I think that if there is one thing that people hate much more than someone in office having an affair, it is someone else in office condemning them with they themselves are having their own affairs and maybe even have children out of wedlock. I am not condemning anyone here, I am just saying that of all the things politicians can do wrong, hypocrisy. seems to register as one of the biggest no no's. with the public. These people are like sharks, they can't wait to devour someone from the other party, even if it means condemning actions that they themselves have been doing for years. Another thing is that they have no shame. You and I may not knowing they are fooling around, but many others in Congress do and they are appearing before them publicly and condeming other people for certain actions, even though they know that others know they are doing the same thing. Wow, I certainly was not brought up this way and I bet that most of you weren't either.

When Bush ran against Dukakis, there really was no central theme. What the campaign for Bush had decided early on, was to run attack ads. There is nothing illegal about this, it is just distasteful. I know that I would much rather know where the candidates stand than watch videos telling me that the other guy is weak on defense or some such thing. U.S. News and World Report stated, "... in the absence of a great issue or dominating personality defining either race, several candidates have structured their campaigns around assaulting their opponents -- especially with negative commercials." Some pollsters are of the opinion, that if you say something bad about a politician, then most people will believe it without checking to see if it is true. I haven't checked this fact myself, but I can say this from personal experience, I know some people that will believe anything that their party tells them without question. They are like robots. I don't think that it should make a difference where hurtful information comes from, it should be checked, before it is believed. Rumors had been circulated that Dukakis had mental health problems and had been treated for them. Dukakis's patriotism was called into question, because as governor he didn't fine teachers who refused to give the pledge of allegiance in class. A Republican Senator stated that Dukakis's wife participated in a flag burning in the 1960s, but was forced to retract this later. Lies just flew everywhere during this election and most of them were directed at Dukakis and his family.

In 1884 there was a particularly dirty race. It was between Grover Cleveland and James Blaine. The Republicans called the Democratic Party the party of , "Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion." This phrase had been composed by a minister. The other thing that they composed was a little taunt. They had accused Cleveland of fathering an illegitimate child and they would say, Ma, ma, where's my pa? Gone to the White House, ha ha ha!". Well it turned out that they were right about one thing, Cleveland did get to the White House.

What disturbs me about a lot of politicians is how unprepared they are. They are apt to say things that just aren't true, because they saw them in the newspapers and never checked to see if the story was accurate. Hillary Clinton has made this mistake a couple of times. McCain forgets about different stands he took in the past and says that he is for things that he has come out against. Obama has show bad judgment by thinking that sermons from his pastor, that he was present for, would never be known. This certainly is not a group that instills confidence, it is going to be very hard for the voters. Again it is not going to be a question of who is the best, but a question of who will do the least damage. None of the candidates has shown good judgment and if they look so inept now, what is going to happen when one of them gets into the White House?

I am sitting at my desk and writing this article on May 15, 2008. By the time this is posted, the political situation may have changed, but as of now Clinton and Obama are fighting for the Democratic nomination and Obama is ahead and gaining, but Clinton keeps winning states here and there. She lent her campaign eleven million dollars of her own money and if she drops out she will lose it. If she stays in, she can transfer the money to her Senate Campaign fund after, I believe, August. Another way for her to get her money back would be for people to donate money to her, but when you are losing and it is perceived that you are finished as a candidate, no one wants to give you money. Then there is her opponent who could try and convince his supporters to donate the money to her to get her out of the race. This has been done in the past. As a matter of fact, McCain did this at least once. Will the race come down to Obama and McCain? It certainly is beginning to look that way, but if Obama doesn't get the required amount of delegates, someone else just might step up at the convention.

Wouldn't it be nice, if we could remove dirt from politics? There already is a rumor that the Republican campaign is willing to pay someone ten million dollars if they testify that they were with Obama when he took heroine or cocaine. I am not saying he took these drugs, only that this is what is supposedly waiting in the wings. What kind of reliable witness is that? I hope that this isn't true and doesn't happen, but the rumor goes on to say that a certain Republican sub-group is going to do this, whether McCain likes it or not. Shades of Jefferson and Adams.