From the Washington Post:
"Rick Davis, campaign manager for John McCain's presidential bid, insisted that the presidential race will be decided more over personalities than issues during an interview with Post editors this morning.
"This election is not about issues," said Davis. "This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates.""
The only reasonable interpretation of Davis' statement is that since the McCain campaign does not plan to talk about the issues, and they believe that "personality" drives the election, then the McCain campaign plan is to engage solely in negative personal attacks.
What nonsense.
This is a critical election for our country. Serious matters must be addressed and resolved: war, national security, poverty, the environment, Social Security, health care, food prices, and on and on. It is the candidate's job to explain their position on these issues. That the McCain campaign plans to spend this election period engaging in name calling, hissy fits, and nasty personal attacks is just plain wrong.
My solution? Between now and the election, plan more activities that don't involve exposure to commercial advertising. Forget t.v. and commercial radio. Read newspapers and books, go to movies and sporting events, hang with your friends. Get information on campaign issues from neutral entities, such as the League of Women Voters. Ask the candidates for detailed information about their stand on the issues. If you know who your candidate is, engage in positive discussions about the reasons why you support that person.
Being a candidate is a responsibility. Bloggers, editorial writers, political pundits and commentators have different roles. Being a candidate for President of the United States of America is a serious undertaking involving a very serious job. Rick Davis and John McCain may intend to treat the American people like fools, but we don't have to put up with it.
