Perhaps, but that's only because your perspective is a bit truncated. I suggest you go back and review your American history. "Dirty" campaigns have been a staple of our electoral politics since the days of the Founding Fathers. Indeed, the 1828 campaign in which John Quincy Adams was referred to as the "pimp" and Andrew Jackson was accused, inter alia, of being the son of a whore, having committed adultery (a common trait among democrats?) and murder, makes today's "negative" campaigns seem about as nasty as a game of croquet at the Heinz-Kerry estate. So let's stop all the whining about dirty tricks, shall we. And let the games begin.
RS, I think you've got a few things wrong on that list, eg you can't "amend" the Constitution by legislation or executive order, and as pointed out above, much of it is misleading. Nevertheless, they are issues that cna be debated. Instead Kerry runs around claiming that unnamed foreign leaders support him and calling Republicans liars. Why can't he get to the issues? And why is his record off limits? Although I don't agree with most of your bullet points, I have to say that I think Bush has been somewhere between average and mediocre. When I look over the Kerry record however, I see nothing to convince me he will be any better and a lot to make me think he could be another Jimmy Carter. Instead of these unrelenting attacks on Bush, Kerry has to do something to convince people he is a better choice. So far he hasn't done that. There is a sizeable minority of voters who despise Bush, but I don't think they are enough for Kerry to win, just as the crowd that loathed Clinton wasn't enough to carry another uninspiring cnadidate, Bob Dole, to victory. To date Kerry's platform on the most important issues, my "3 T's", is dismal. He is clearly lying in saying he won''t raise taxes on those under $200k, he has no plausible plan to combat terrorism and looks on it as a law enforcement issue, and he is on several conflicting sides of the trade debate.
"Outrageous claims" is somewhat of an understatement for RS7 et al. Amend the US Constitution? Good Lord...
Don't kid yourself - both sides are equally self-righteous, self-interested, and couldn't give a sh*t about the rest of us. Politicians (all of them, regardless of whether they sit on the left or right side of the aisle) are by definition crooks only interested in lining their own pockets and clamoring for and wielding as much power as possible and imposing their rules on the rest of us (while at the same time exempting themselves from those rules).
New rule You can't be a Washington outsider if you're already president. - - - - - - - - - - - - By Bill Maher March 13, 2004 Hearing President Bush these days constantly complain about "the politicians" and John Kerry being part of a "Washington mind-set," and saying things like "I got news for the Washington crowd" is like hearing Courtney Love bitch about junkies. "Washington insider" is by definition a function of one's proximity to the president. That's you, Mr. Bush. You're ground zero. Ever wonder, sir, why everyone stands and they play music when you enter a room? When you're given check-writing privileges by the Federal Reserve, you just might be a Washington insider. Lemme try to explain it to you in a different way: You're not "Mr. Smith goes to Washington" -- you're the Washington part. We need a Mr. Smith to mess with you. You're not on a mission you reluctantly accepted, like the old farts in "Space Cowboys." You campaigned for this job, and now you're doing it again. And having been the Grand Poobah for three years, it's a little late to be selling yourself as some fish-out-of-water cowboy visiting the big city on assignment. You're not McCloud, you're the grandson of a senator and the son of a president and CIA director. For 15 of the last 22 years you've had a key to the White House. The last thing that happened in Washington without the Bushes getting a piece of it was Marion Barry's crack habit. "The Exorcist" happened in Georgetown, but Satan had to run it by Jim Baker first. So knock off the regular-guy act -- and by the way, that also goes for John Forbes Kerry, the other white meat. Two Skull and Bones preppies, these guys are, from Nantucket and Kennebunkport, who use the word "summer" as a verb and probably had monogrammed beer bongs in college. Please, John Kerry: Stop rolling up your sleeves at campaign rallies like you're about to man a register at Costco. You're a Boston Brahmin who married not one but two eccentric heiresses -- you're not Joe Sixpack, you're Claus von Bulow. I think your current wife is great, but hello, she inherited the Heinz fortune! She's the ketchup lady! -- which explains why sometimes he's gotta smack her on the bottom to get her to come. Look, fellas, we've got almost eight months till the election. That's a long time to hold in your gut. To pretend you're something you're not. Let's just be real and admit that finally, and unfortunately, true class warfare has come to America. Yale class of '66 vs. Yale class of '68.
And support of 95% of foreign leaders and 95% of humanity. THAT'S SAYING SOMETHING. It would be so much better to have a president popular and respected in the world then a president who's hated and despised.