Politicians Say The Darndest Things

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Politicians Say the Darndest Things

During the year 2000 election, many things were said with an intent to hurt the opponent’s reputation, and corrode his follower’s faith in his leadership. These harmful words were used so that the other candidate could gain an edge in the polls. Unjust acts such as the ones described above would have been considered slanderous fifty years ago. The worst part about this sort of thing happening is, unfortunately, for the most part it is the candidates who are doing the talking while America is listening and allowing it to happen. This name calling is compounded by the fact that more and more candidates are relying on these tactics for the upper hand in any given election. While both parties, Republican and Democrat, are guilty of this, one statement above all was the most untactful and did not set a good example to the American people; the statement referred to George W. Bush Jr.’s competency to run the white house. The statement made by both Al Gore and Joe Liberman that George W. Bush would be unable to maintain the Presidency due to lack of political experience was both unfounded and unjust.
If George Bush Jr. was able to gain the Republican nomination for the presidency, then who is to say that he is incapable of being a good president? Becoming a party nominee, a feat that is by no means easy to achieve, means that the Republican Party thinks that their nominee is capable and fully able to run the United States. In this case forty nine percent of the country thought that George W. Bush would make a fine president. Neither would Bush be the first man to have gone into the white house green and come out a veteran. Woodrow Wilson, for example, had only held the position of Governor of New Jersey for two years before he became president (Whitney, 224.)
Gore’s slight on Bush’s experience with politics was neither a gentlemanly nor is it a fair way to attempt to win the electio...