Keep repeating.."The candidate is not his supporters and vice versa"

[vi5]

This is my mantra lately, especially when venturing here into General Discussion.

"The candidate (whatever candidate) is not responsible for the stupid things his/her supporters do or say.....the candidate is not responsible for the stupid things his/her supporters do or say....ad infinitum"

This is really the only way to stay sane. Until one or any of the candidates themselves from their very own mouths, pens, or keyboards employs any of the dirty, below the belt comments, tactics, approaches and smears that are all too prevalent on this board, I will not judge one of them negatively.

This is getting harder and harder to do, and Heavens knows if I was unable to do this I probably wouldn't be supporting who I'm supporting right now if I were unable to put the distance between the two entities. But damnit I'm going to try.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. If you support a candidate

the best way to do it is to go out and do something constructive, like cleaning up a park or visiting veterans' hospitals. Wear your candidate's button. Pass out literature or talk about your candidate only if ask. This is the best way to support your candidate.

[MuseRider]

2. Glad you said this.

I was looking at Dean very early, turned my husband on to him. I have since gravitated to Kucinich but am still ABB. However, I found last week that I could no longer stand to hear anything about Dean and Clark, those two in particular. So I am on a program to keep myself from being so petty and stupid. I hate the fact I have been so turned off by all the constant Dean and Clark threads and all the bashing. Messy democracy. I will be back to a more rational state soon I hope.

[lostnfound]

3. How campaign funding works 101

What you say is true in the most elemental way -- but in a broader sense, the reality of American politics is that (as they say in W's home state) "you dance with them that brought ya". Corporations and the people that own them don't give money to political campaigns out of the goodness of their hearts -- they do it to get favored treatment.

To put it more crudely, before I vote for someone, I want to know "who owns them". Of course, some are more "own-able" than others, but those that contribute a lot have at least a reasonable expectation that the candidate will set policies which favor their most major supporters.