Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Mudslinging in '04 Nothing Compared to History
Contested presidential elections and negative campaigning go hand in hand -- all the way back to 1796 and America's first competitive race between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.
Adams' foes accused him of being a closet monarchist. In the 1800 election, with the same two participants, the slime only thickened. Adams was now a solicitor of women, having allegedly ordered a U.S. warship to fetch his mistresses from England. Jefferson added legal prostitution, incest and rape to his portfolio.
And so it went in America for the remainder of the 19th century -- no rules, but plenty of unruly behavior. Among the lower points along the low road of presidential politicking:
1856: Californian John C. Frémont runs on the slogan "Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Men, and Frémont." His enemies add "Free Love" to the list, alluding to Frémont's illegitimate birth.
1860 and 1864: Democratic newspapers picture Abraham Lincoln as a primate, calling him "Honest Ape."
1868: Republican spokesmen allege that Democrat Horatio Seymour's family is prone to insanity (Seymour's father had committed suicide). Democrats caricature Republican Ulysses S. Grant as a slob and a drunk.
1876: Republican Rutherford B. Hayes, a Union general, is accused of robbing the Civil War dead and shooting his mother in a mad pique. Democrat Samuel J. Tilden is, in GOP words, "a drunkard, a liar, a cheat, a counterfeiter, a perjurer, and a swindler."
1884: Grover Cleveland becomes the Democratic president. After a newspaper reveals that Cleveland fathered a child out of wedlock a decade earlier, Republicans chant: "Ma, Ma, where's my pa?" "Gone to the White House, ha-ha-ha" (GOP campaign parades also feature a baby carriage).
Cleveland backers go into damage-control mode, alleging that Republican James Blaine was the groom at a shotgun wedding. And they insinuate that the GOP candidate is a dishonest influence peddler, chanting: "Blaine, Blaine, the Continental liar from the State of Maine."
Fast-forward now to the presidential campaigns of the modern era. There are still instances where candidates crossed the line.
In California's 1950 Senate race, Nixon had called Democrat Helen Gahagan Douglas "the pink lady" for her leftist voting record.
The 1964 election produced the fabled "Daisy Spot" linking the hawkish Republican Barry Goldwater to an atomic blast... the ad showed a little girl counting petals on a flower, followed by the countdown to a nuclear bomb explosion, as mirrored in her eye.
Even the now-infamous Willie Horton ads from the 1988 election pale in comparison to 19th century tactics. The ads linked a Horton murder-and-assault spree to a Massachusetts weekend prison-pass program.
A century earlier, Dukakis himself would have been portrayed as the rapist.
So where does the 2004 election stand in this scheme of presidential mudslinging? Look no further than the gold standard of vicious campaigns: the elections of 1824 and 1828 pitting Andrew Jackson against John Quincy Adams.
Let's suppose Kerry were so bold as to directly blame Bush for soldiers' deaths in Iraq. Jackson was accused of executing his own troops in the War of 1812.
Maybe the Bush campaign would then suggest that Kerry is an opportunist for twice marrying a wealthy woman. Adams was called "The Pimp" for allegedly providing a woman to the czar of Russia.
Would either side go negative against either Laura Bush or Teresa Heinz Kerry with the same savagery that was directed against Louisa Adams?
Democrats claimed Adams was an illegitimate child and had premarital sex with her husband.
Like professional wrestling, voters will have to differentiate between genuine wounds and feigned injuries.
America the Beautiful? Not in this campaign. Welcome to Whine Country.
Contested presidential elections and negative campaigning go hand in hand -- all the way back to 1796 and America's first competitive race between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.
Adams' foes accused him of being a closet monarchist. In the 1800 election, with the same two participants, the slime only thickened. Adams was now a solicitor of women, having allegedly ordered a U.S. warship to fetch his mistresses from England. Jefferson added legal prostitution, incest and rape to his portfolio.
And so it went in America for the remainder of the 19th century -- no rules, but plenty of unruly behavior. Among the lower points along the low road of presidential politicking:
1856: Californian John C. Frémont runs on the slogan "Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Men, and Frémont." His enemies add "Free Love" to the list, alluding to Frémont's illegitimate birth.
1860 and 1864: Democratic newspapers picture Abraham Lincoln as a primate, calling him "Honest Ape."
1868: Republican spokesmen allege that Democrat Horatio Seymour's family is prone to insanity (Seymour's father had committed suicide). Democrats caricature Republican Ulysses S. Grant as a slob and a drunk.
1876: Republican Rutherford B. Hayes, a Union general, is accused of robbing the Civil War dead and shooting his mother in a mad pique. Democrat Samuel J. Tilden is, in GOP words, "a drunkard, a liar, a cheat, a counterfeiter, a perjurer, and a swindler."
1884: Grover Cleveland becomes the Democratic president. After a newspaper reveals that Cleveland fathered a child out of wedlock a decade earlier, Republicans chant: "Ma, Ma, where's my pa?" "Gone to the White House, ha-ha-ha" (GOP campaign parades also feature a baby carriage).
Cleveland backers go into damage-control mode, alleging that Republican James Blaine was the groom at a shotgun wedding. And they insinuate that the GOP candidate is a dishonest influence peddler, chanting: "Blaine, Blaine, the Continental liar from the State of Maine."
Fast-forward now to the presidential campaigns of the modern era. There are still instances where candidates crossed the line.
In California's 1950 Senate race, Nixon had called Democrat Helen Gahagan Douglas "the pink lady" for her leftist voting record.
The 1964 election produced the fabled "Daisy Spot" linking the hawkish Republican Barry Goldwater to an atomic blast... the ad showed a little girl counting petals on a flower, followed by the countdown to a nuclear bomb explosion, as mirrored in her eye.
Even the now-infamous Willie Horton ads from the 1988 election pale in comparison to 19th century tactics. The ads linked a Horton murder-and-assault spree to a Massachusetts weekend prison-pass program.
A century earlier, Dukakis himself would have been portrayed as the rapist.
So where does the 2004 election stand in this scheme of presidential mudslinging? Look no further than the gold standard of vicious campaigns: the elections of 1824 and 1828 pitting Andrew Jackson against John Quincy Adams.
Let's suppose Kerry were so bold as to directly blame Bush for soldiers' deaths in Iraq. Jackson was accused of executing his own troops in the War of 1812.
Maybe the Bush campaign would then suggest that Kerry is an opportunist for twice marrying a wealthy woman. Adams was called "The Pimp" for allegedly providing a woman to the czar of Russia.
Would either side go negative against either Laura Bush or Teresa Heinz Kerry with the same savagery that was directed against Louisa Adams?
Democrats claimed Adams was an illegitimate child and had premarital sex with her husband.
Like professional wrestling, voters will have to differentiate between genuine wounds and feigned injuries.
America the Beautiful? Not in this campaign. Welcome to Whine Country.
