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If Candidates Never Lied
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
If Candidates Never Lied
Lynn Woolley
Wednesday June 19, 2002
Can you imagine what it would be like if candidates told the truth during elections? Don't worry; it isn't about to happen, but if it did, you could really separate the Left from the Right.
What if Hillary Clinton, running for the Senate from New York had told reporters, "Well, my big goal is to get as much power as I can so that I can run for president in four years. You can't seriously think that I want to be remembered just as HIS wife."
What if they told the truth about their core values? Senator Tom Daschle might say, "Reelect me and I will work hard to expand the power and influence of government. I want to create more benefits and entitlements so that government will soon be taking care of us all. Except for the wealthiest one percent."
Suppose Senator Phil Gramm had said, "I want people riding in the wagon to get out and help push the wagon." All right, Senator Gramm did say that, so sometimes politicians tell the truth. But right now, November is just a few months away, and politicians are in full election mode.
The state of Texas is providing some of the most outrageous and unintentionally funny situations in the entire nation. At the state Republican convention, some delegates were going around trying to get the candidates to sign a pledge to support the party platform. The candidates would have none of it.
Governor Rick Perry said he couldn't support it because he hadn't read it. And besides, it was voluminous. One would think that the incumbent governor might read the party platform - all 24 pages. But the platform contains conservative stuff like suggesting that the United States drop out of the United Nations, and that fetuses are people. You just can't support that wacky conservative agenda this close to an election.
The Democrats contacted major party leaders like Tom Daschle, Bill Bradley, Richard Gephardt and Al Gore and invited them not to come to their convention. John Sharp, who's running for lieutenant governor doesn't think the party's liberal icons would play well in Texas. But Sharp phoned a concerned constituent to assure her that, once elected, he will "be true to his roots."
The strangest situation of all is that of liberal Democrat Ron Kirk, the former Dallas mayor who's running for the seat now occupied by Senator Gramm. The nation is watching this race because a Kirk win could solidify control of the Senate for the Democrats. So the loquacious Mr. Kirk is on the stump, espousing the liberal agenda, right? Wrong.
Candidate Kirk simply can't afford any perception that he might not be supportive of President George W. Bush, who has already referred to Kirk as "obstructionist." So Kirk bites his tongue and talks about safe issues like helping schoolteachers and saving Social Security. He may want to tax and spend, but he's not talking about it. You just can't support that wacky liberal agenda this close to an election.
Current thinking is that the public likes moderates - and so does the media. So all the candidates will act moderate until the election is over and the winners can start being themselves again.
But what if they just opened up and told the truth?
Hillary could say, " It's just not fair for some people to get better medical care than others, or a better education. So as your president, I will instigate a government takeover of the healthcare system and provide a free college education for everyone." Presumably, those Americans who believe in a socialist agenda would vote for her.
George W. Bush might answer, "Fairness is not the issue. The issue is keeping government out of people's lives so they have the freedom to succeed. So I'm going to abolish the Departments of Education and Commerce, cut spending and reduce taxes." Free market conservatives would love him.
Back in the real world, no candidate is comfortable with being open and honest about his true values. So campaigns are based on polling data, consultants and conventional wisdom that that includes pandering to every interest group, and upsetting no one.
They're just not going to tell us what they really think. Wouldn't it be interesting if they did?
Lynn Woolley's e-mail address is lynn@belogical.com.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/6/19/85421.shtml
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Lynn Woolley
Wednesday June 19, 2002
Can you imagine what it would be like if candidates told the truth during elections? Don't worry; it isn't about to happen, but if it did, you could really separate the Left from the Right.
What if Hillary Clinton, running for the Senate from New York had told reporters, "Well, my big goal is to get as much power as I can so that I can run for president in four years. You can't seriously think that I want to be remembered just as HIS wife."
What if they told the truth about their core values? Senator Tom Daschle might say, "Reelect me and I will work hard to expand the power and influence of government. I want to create more benefits and entitlements so that government will soon be taking care of us all. Except for the wealthiest one percent."
Suppose Senator Phil Gramm had said, "I want people riding in the wagon to get out and help push the wagon." All right, Senator Gramm did say that, so sometimes politicians tell the truth. But right now, November is just a few months away, and politicians are in full election mode.
The state of Texas is providing some of the most outrageous and unintentionally funny situations in the entire nation. At the state Republican convention, some delegates were going around trying to get the candidates to sign a pledge to support the party platform. The candidates would have none of it.
Governor Rick Perry said he couldn't support it because he hadn't read it. And besides, it was voluminous. One would think that the incumbent governor might read the party platform - all 24 pages. But the platform contains conservative stuff like suggesting that the United States drop out of the United Nations, and that fetuses are people. You just can't support that wacky conservative agenda this close to an election.
The Democrats contacted major party leaders like Tom Daschle, Bill Bradley, Richard Gephardt and Al Gore and invited them not to come to their convention. John Sharp, who's running for lieutenant governor doesn't think the party's liberal icons would play well in Texas. But Sharp phoned a concerned constituent to assure her that, once elected, he will "be true to his roots."
The strangest situation of all is that of liberal Democrat Ron Kirk, the former Dallas mayor who's running for the seat now occupied by Senator Gramm. The nation is watching this race because a Kirk win could solidify control of the Senate for the Democrats. So the loquacious Mr. Kirk is on the stump, espousing the liberal agenda, right? Wrong.
Candidate Kirk simply can't afford any perception that he might not be supportive of President George W. Bush, who has already referred to Kirk as "obstructionist." So Kirk bites his tongue and talks about safe issues like helping schoolteachers and saving Social Security. He may want to tax and spend, but he's not talking about it. You just can't support that wacky liberal agenda this close to an election.
Current thinking is that the public likes moderates - and so does the media. So all the candidates will act moderate until the election is over and the winners can start being themselves again.
But what if they just opened up and told the truth?
Hillary could say, " It's just not fair for some people to get better medical care than others, or a better education. So as your president, I will instigate a government takeover of the healthcare system and provide a free college education for everyone." Presumably, those Americans who believe in a socialist agenda would vote for her.
George W. Bush might answer, "Fairness is not the issue. The issue is keeping government out of people's lives so they have the freedom to succeed. So I'm going to abolish the Departments of Education and Commerce, cut spending and reduce taxes." Free market conservatives would love him.
Back in the real world, no candidate is comfortable with being open and honest about his true values. So campaigns are based on polling data, consultants and conventional wisdom that that includes pandering to every interest group, and upsetting no one.
They're just not going to tell us what they really think. Wouldn't it be interesting if they did?
Lynn Woolley's e-mail address is lynn@belogical.com.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/6/19/85421.shtml
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
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