Is Politics Any Different Than High School?

In Bob Herbert's recent editorial, he skewers the country (really only those stupid enough to vote for Dubya), the political process, and especially the media for acting like 3-year-olds:

"Mr. Bush came to mind because, for all of the obvious vulnerabilities he exhibited in 2000, it was not him but Mr. Gore who was mocked unmercifully by the national media. And the mockery had nothing to do with the former vice president’s positions on important policy issues. He was mocked because of his personality.In the race for the highest office in the land, we showed the collective maturity of 3-year-olds.Mr. Gore was taken to task for his taste in clothing and for such grievous offenses as sighing or, allegedly, rolling his eyes. It was a given that at a barbecue everyone would rush to be with his opponent."
My contention is not that we were acting like 3-year-olds, but that we were, are, and continue to act like high schoolers, with the mean girls and boys (especially the right-wing Swift-Boating smear machine) trying to tear people down for trivial things like clothing or personality, intentionally distracting from whatever substance there might be of a person's knowledge or positions.

More on this in a later post.


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