[Cerek]

Originally posted by Aerich: Yes, I know, an unabashed blatant takeoff of John D's post. Here goes: 1) Neither candidate has shown himself to his best advantage. 2) One of these two will be president; both sides will have to live with whoever it is. 3) The muckrakers and general political slimeballs on both sides are having a field day. 4) The slimeballs and the media are colluding to ensure that the voters rarely hear anything substantial about meaningful issues. 5) I'm so stinking tired of the election hype that I wish it were over already.

I'm with you on this one, Aerich (though I did enjoy "Hale" Harris' rant also.

I am sick and tired of the lies, obfuscations and hyperbole from BOTH sides. Both parties focus more on attacking their opponent than on stating what they will do for the country and the issues we face. Even when they DO focus on the issues, they use exaggerated statistics and data to support their view and to attack their opponents.

Kerry says that 45 million Americans currently are without Health Insurance. He neglects to mention that almost half this figure (around 20 million, IIRC) are people that have lost group insurance because they are in between jobs. It doesn't mean they are incapable of getting health coverage on their own (indeed, they will get new coverage as soon as they get their next job), but Kerry makes it sound like all 45 million are UNABLE to get Health Insurance AT ALL. Believe me, I know about this situation. I have a chronic illness that can be very devastating. So it is literally impossible for me to get private health insurance. I cannot get health coverage AT ALL unless I have a job at a place offering a group policy. So not only are my insurance options limited, my job options are also limited. But I make the best of the situation.

Bush - on the other hand - has supposedly grossly exaggerated the cost of Kerry's proposed Health Plan by several billion (if not trillion) dollars.

I'm just sick of it all. Even in the our local politics, we have a candidate running for NC Senate that I actually happen to know personally. He is a retired judge from my hometown and his wife was one of my favorite teachers in high school. He is running against an incumbant and faces a major battle - so he has supposedly resorted to his own "smear campaign" against his opponent. This week's local newspaper is FULL of letters to the Editor, many either supporting or condemning this local guy and his ad campaign. The candidates son wrote a ringing letter of endorsement saying that merely pointing out the actual voting record of the opponent is not a smear campaign. Well, yes and no. IF you JUST point out that Senator X voted "for" this bill or "against" that bill, that is one thing. But when you add the political commentary that "Senator X does not CARE about the needs of western NC", THEN you have gone beyond "merely reporting the voting record".

And that's the problem with all smear campaigns. It starts out under the guise of "just informing the public of my opponents record", but it quickly sinks into a character assassination of the opponent BASED on the exposed voting record.

Personally, I just look up website or newspaper articles that simply list how various candidates voted on various issues and then decide for myself how well they support the issues important to me.