In defense of ugly primary campaigning

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

Remember Paul Tsongas? In 1992 there was a whisper campaign that he had cancer. The whisper campaign was supported by the fact that he did, in fact, have cancer. There is little doubt that the Clintons helped remind people, in subtle ways, that Tsongas was not up to the rigors of the presidency.

Tsongas put out medical opinions that he was in good health and swam laps in a poll open to reporters to reassure people that he was just fine.

Paul Tsongas died of the same cancer he was supposedly cured of before Bill Clinton left office.

On the other hand, in 1992 Bill Clinton faced whisper campaigns (and shouting campaigns also) about his womanizing. There is no doubt that the Tsongas campaign helped remind people, in subtle ways, that a Clinton presidency might be de-railed by bimbo trouble.

In 1997, while Paul Tsongas was dying, the Republicans were preparing to spring a well-designed perjury trap on Bill Clinton over sexual indiscretions, which led to his impeachment the following year.

Fred Thompson has the same cancer as Paul Tsongas had. There is a distinct possibility (or probability) that Fred Thompson would die in office, because it's a form of cancer that sleeps for years but then springs up in incurable virulence. Given Thompson's age and the nature of his illness, extrapolating out eight years is not all that favorable.

Yet, even with the recent example of Paul Tsongas, it would be considered reprehensible for a candidate to point out that Fred Thompson has an incurable and ultimately lethal cancer.

JFK was suffering from a progressive and fatal illness when he ran for President in 1960. At the time, Addison's disease was a death sentence. (today, 47 years later, I think it is treatable.) The fact that Kennedy had Addison's disease was hidden from the public. It wasn't known until after he was assassinated.

If a primary opponent, say Hubert Humphrey, had discovered in 1960 that JFK had Addison's disease and publicized the fact it would be remembered as one of the ugliest incidents in American political history... but we know Kennedy wasn't going to publicize it!

Many negative attacks are bogus and unfair, but ugly negativity does has it's role in the overall process of examining candidates... it's not like they're going to examine themselves.