I find myself deleting about two-thirds of the comments posted on this blog because they're just scurrilous attacks on either Ellen Zoppo or Art Ward.
So let me say right up front that we're not going to get into Ward's old drunk driving arrest or tax bills owed by Zoppo's parents or how either of them deals with their children or ... well, you get the idea.
I'm just going to delete all of that stuff. It's not that a reasonable argument can't be made for discussing them as a campaign rolls along, but if that happens, it will be because one of the candidates, or the Press, or a public outcry forces an issue onto the table.
It won't happen because some anonymous poster feels like taking a cheap, usually inaccurate shot at the candidate they loathe.
However, if you just want to vent about Zoppo or Ward -- and you can refrain from sounding like a wild beast in the process -- then feel free. Say whatever you want, as long as it's suitable for a general audience and talks about issues or the way the candidates handle issues.
I'm still going to whack the worst of the offenders' posts. But this is the spot to try to score that one telling point you're sure will somehow sway those who disagree.
*******
Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
18 comments:
If the acting was better this would be the WWF.
Good for you,Steve!All this mudslinging(sp?) is getting a bit tedious.A point of order for BOTH camps;the results of the last general election were less about the war in Iraq,and much MORE about the voters sending a VERY CLEAR message that they have had their FILL of all these negative ad campaigns.
Tim Gamache
Tip O'Neil said "All politics is local". I guess to a large extent Bristol politics is personal. Many seem to be basing their support of, or more accurately their opposition to, a candidate on their personal feelings about him or her.
no, Tim, the last general election was mostly about the War in Iraq. not so much in Connecticut, but most everywhere else.
A couple of candidates in our neck of the woods got gutted at the polls at least in part because of negative campaigning (Bobroske and Nancy Johnson, for instance). But in general, slinging mud has tended to work quite well at the polls over the years.
And as voters know less and less about what politicians do, or even who they are, I have little doubt that dirty politicking will keep rolling along.
The only way to clean up politics is for our fellow citizens to take their responsbilities seriously enough keep an eye on government day in and day out, week after week, year after year.
Really, this primary between Ward and Zoppo should be a breeze for voters because any of them who care at all should have a pretty good idea what they like and dislike about both candidates. Zoppo and Ward have been fairly prominent in local politics for a long time, with their strengths and weaknesses perfectly apparent to anyone who watches them.
Oh come on, has everyone forgotten about the swift boat ads, President Bush's supposed lack of NG attendence in his final year of service or his DUI when he was much younger? These are all examples of effective negative campaigning. In some cases negative campaigning works. A former Republican candidate (a credible one) told me after losing an election that he wished he had gone more negative. Let's not get too carried away with condemning this entertaining political behavior that many of us all enjoy and that sells newspapers as well.
Negative ad campaigns only are effective because the average voter allows it.I for one don't care what one candidate thinks his/her opponent is or is not,what they have done or didn't do.I want to know what their opinion is on important issues.How can one formulate an educated,informed opinion on nothing more than negative ads?
Tim Gamache
Tim,
You can't only judge candidates on negative ads. But when you have two nasty people running against each other, one who's an over-aggressive zealot and one who feels he's being denied his birth-right, you're bound to have negativity.
What else can we talk about? They're both clearly incompetant.
Spoken like a true Republican!
Politics has been nasty in the U.S. going all the way back to the earliest campaigns involving political parties. Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr had mudslinging fests that would make ours today seem tame. They ended up fighting a duel over it all. Abe Lincoln was called an ugly ape and worse. Allegations of illegitimate children, infidelity, etc. have been par for the course.
We say we want moral, upright people but then we tear our candidates apart looking for flaws both real and imagined.
It makes you wonder why someone would subject themselves to such abuse. Often its due to a desire for glory and power but other times its due to a sincere desire to advance the public good. And if we're really honest, most of the time the motivation is a mixture of all those elements.
Steve,
Bringing up the way Ward treated a police officer when he was arrested for DUI is NOT the same as bringing up derogatory comments about the candidate's families. HE was responsible for HIS actions when he was arrogant and pompous and tried to intimidate a city worker. Great behavior for a City Councilman. You printed a hundred derogatory comments about how Ellen treats people on your blog, but as soon as someone comes up with an example of Ward's bad behavior, you get up on your high horse and refuse to print comments from readers. It is more than obvious to the readers of this blog that you are a Ward supporter. I say, "What's good for the goose, is good for the gander." Art Ward is certainly not a saint and Ellen is not the evil witch you are goading people into believing.
I agree that Ward's DUI -- and the circumstances around it -- are worth recalling. I'll track down the original story soon and get it posted here on this blog, so we all have the facts rather than iffy memories of it.
How long ago was this DUI?
1997? Just a guess.
This happened over 10 years ago and its still being dragged up!?
People get a life!
Steve, I don't see how dredging up something that happened 10 years ago and was not repeated since then is fair reporting. It doesn't contribute anything to the kind of person or politician Art is today and it's just the kind of mudslinging that you are telling everyone to refrain from.
Art's past DUI, which he did his restitution for as any other citizen, is no more relevant than Ellen's public property forclosure record, her parents ability to avoid back tax collection for a rediculously unreasonable amount of time, or Johnson's questionable exit from CL&P.
Ward's DUI did not happen 10 years ago. And the reason the story should be brought up again has nothing to do with restitution for the crime, it has to do with his intimidation of a City employee.
check the police records if you dispute the facts rather than this childish "did too, did not" juvenilistic trash
Post a Comment