Bigtime Bigotry Haunts Our '08 Presidential Election

The Elections of '08 call for us to stand taller, and not allow our views to descend to the level of gutter politics.

(SALEM, Ore.) - It may as well be Halloween (Oct. 31st) in place of the US Election Day this presidential year (Nov. 4th).

Those four days of separation on the calendar are not much of a barrier for the intermingling election theme: submission to fear. Three competitive types of bias have already made their mark on Elections 2008, and yet we have five months to Decision Day.

Three US Senators have assumed the spotlight this year: Hillary Clinton of NY, John McCain of Arizona, and Barack Obama of Illinois. Each has an Achilles Heel in dire need of healing. But what are the voters hearing?

Nobody is claiming that any of the above is directly making prejudice as part of their platform. Nonetheless, sometimes one's more vehement supporters go astray and indulge in the bitterness of big-time bigotry.

Both General Grant and General Eisenhower ran and won the presidency. Neither has the personality of McCain, who was a POW during the Vietnam War.

Senator Dole of North Carolina and Representative Schroder of Colorado both sought the Presidency, but neither quite equated their plight to that of Senator Clinton.

Reverend Al Sharpton also ran but faltered. Who among us is prepared to say that Senator Obama behaves similarly?

If we indulge in simple thinking, we become simpletons. Educated voters deserve better than catering to rank prejudice, be it based on age or race or gender. Some invoke stereotypes to mask their own insecurities.

The Elections of '08 call for us to stand taller, and not allow our views to descend to the level of gutter politics.

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Tracie June 12, 2008 10:38 am (Pacific time)

The democrats essentially voted against the Civil Rights acts during the 60's, and Sen. Al Gore Sr. was certainly against these Civil Rights as per his voting record. Compare the Senate party voting record. Then if you look at the horrible racial animus acts by Woodrow Wilson and FDR, it becomes clear which ideology pushed for equal rights as per vote and deed...until one party saw some political hay to be made. One just has to review the historical voting pattern of congress to verify what I wrote above. Fortunately we have arrived at a time when we can address racial issues a little better, but it will take a give and take process by all if we hope to find any solutions. To pit one party against the other is bad form, we are all in this together so a bi-partisan partnership is essential. I am a liberal, but I do agree with Roger in that people spend too much time carping about others instead of joining forces to find common agreement.

Henry Ruark June 12, 2008 7:37 am (Pacific time)

(sorry for inadvertent "send";here's rest) "...neocon-led catastrophes we've suffered, it is all words and little results. Nixon et al set "Southern strategy", admittedly built on return to racialism where it still worked; Reagan built still further on massive distortion re mythical masses making hay on welfare while whites suffered; and so on and on... WE in America know better and can DO better; it is the very height of cynical subterfuge and hypocriscy to rant as you do here, from the direction you choose to state.

Henry Ruark June 11, 2008 6:48 pm (Pacific time)

Roger et al: As with somuch else on the once-dominant, now wrecked neocon-led

Roger June 11, 2008 9:06 am (Pacific time)

This race obsession of liberals is beyond bizarre. I hear them going on about it endlessly at work, always assuming everyone but them is a racist, sexist homophobe who will never vote for a woman or a black man. Whereas, we conservatives couldn’t give a tinker’s darn about such crapola, we care about a candidate’s adherence to conservative principles and demonstrated competence. “It does not matter if the cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice.” D. Xiao-Ping

Henry Ruark June 10, 2008 7:42 pm (Pacific time)

To all: Bigotry, of any kind and at any level, is the cruelest enemy of rational, reasonable elective choice. Key phrase here is "the kicker": "Educated voters deserve better than catering to rank prejudice, be it based on age or race or gender. Some invoke stereotypes to mask their own insecurities." Even those who, for whatever human reasons, missed any part of our educational system can still make well-informed choices by broad media access open to all today. Racism, as you may recall from report here, is longtime economic myth promoted by those who gain from that wider application of bigotry. Both sexism and ageism are also, in large part, myths,too, supported by a special prejudice involved in both. Be kind to your own interest and appreciation for realities, and fight to the final vote any attempt to make prjudice and bigotry shape up our selective, rational and iformed voting right.

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