Republicans should have thought twice about making personal lives an issue

[ck4829]

In the 2008 race for the White House, the most personal details of a candidate's life -- from divorce to drug use to disease -- can become public issues and campaign-trail fodder.

Privacy is a relative term for the crowded field of presidential contenders, as marital histories, family feuds and medical traumas take their place next to health care and foreign policy as high-profile campaign topics.

From the multiple marriages of former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to the cancer prognosis of former Sen. John Edwards's wife, Elizabeth, intensely personal and sometimes painful experiences are now headline news.

"Any presidential candidate must expect that all aspects of their lives are now open for public inspection in a way they weren't 20 or 30 years ago," said Steven Schier, a political analyst at Carleton College in Minnesota.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070327/pl_nm/usa_politics_private_dc

[Atman]

1. Thought TWICE? I'm still waiting for the first time.

:shrug:

,

[Cassandra]

3. I was thinking that, too.

Thinking twice requires having thought at least once. :-)

[paparush]

2. Why wasn't Bush's private life a 2000/2004 issue? DWI, cocaine,

failed businesses, FTC investigations, Laura's drunk driving homicide, etc...

[SoCalDem]

4. Because our "Librul press" covered for him..why? He seemed like a fun guy!

and he had a "story".. they love "stories"..Son of a president, brother of another governor..His mother would be wife of and mother of a president..

They knew they could have so many interesting "stories" if he became president.. If Gore had been allowed to take office, it would just be "son of senator becomes president"..ho hum..and we all know that Gore was a Bore.. The media told us :eyes:

Gore as president would have been business as usual..y'know..just the boring stuff like running a country, maintaining friendly alliances, policy....work... serious stuff..

with *² we would get the nicknames..the accent, the joking around... you know.. the fun!

[WinkyDink]

5. 1969-1988 Sens. Kennedy, Eagleton, and Hart (not to mention Mrs. Dukakis)

all had their personal lives in the news (understandably, re: Chappaquiddick).
So Clinton wasn't nearly the first, although he was arguably the most egregiously treated.

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. And the press slaughtered Gore in 2000

but dipshit was hands off.

[Lobster Martini]

6. Another rant about dumb journalists

It is easier to write about a candidate's divorces, parking tickets or whatever, that it is to analyze position statements or past votes. It's also really lame journalism. But to write a lame story about the effect of lame journalism on a Presidential campaign is so lame I'll have to make up a new word.

No one cared what Kennedy did with Marilyn Monroe, and they were right to not care. I want a President who will make my life a little better, or the country a little better, or maybe the other way around depending on how bitchy I feel on a given day. Whenever I see a purported "news" story about a candidate's personal life, I will write six words to the editor: Who bloody well cares? Get smarter.

[Aviation Pro]

8. In our bored, my-God-I-need-to-be-amused, world....

...personal lives are easy to report on. We've simply become a nation of dolts because the opposite is too tough.

Go Sanjaya, you talentless twit!