Clean Political Campaigns, is it possible?

As Joe Biden has said a few times in this campaign in response to Sarah Palin, I am sick and tired of the negative ads, voter fraud tactics, basically all of the crap that has been going on for the last eight years. I don't need the McCain-Palin ticket to tell me their opinion (ok lies) of Barack Obama and Joe Biden. What I want is each campaign to tell me what they would do to help me, the little guy in Minneapolis. Which one of their policies would lower my taxes or improve my health benefits? Will they be able to do anything about the economy in the first 100 days of their administration?

Aren't most Americans intelligent enough to do their homework and research each candidate to decide on their own who they should cast their one and only vote for? I know there are those among us, those who have not been blessed with the ability to gain a higher education, a good paying job, where the political ads, the news and Presidential / Vice Presidential debates are their only access to information about the candidates and they are the ones who we should be worrying about. For the rest of us we can go online and do our own fact checking while some have to rely on their local news or a cable news channel for this.

For me personally, I may be the only one, who wouldn't mind hearing John McCain's real plans for the economy, health care, the war in Iraq, why he REALLY had to choose Sarah Palin. If he would answer those questions truthfully it would make the task of researching who the best candidate is easier. Barack Obama isn't afraid to tell anyone and everyone his plans and direction for the country. McCain - Palin only want to tell me why Barack Obama is bad for America. Guess what, in life I won't do business with someone who trashes his competition because I think that is just plain wrong, why would I do something different when picking my President. That's right, My President. The winner won't be the Democratic / Democratic Party President. He won't be the Republican / Republican Party President. He will be MY President, YOUR President, OUR President, The President Of The United States Of America. The minute he puts his hand on the bible and repeats those words, he becomes OUR President, and he should start acting like it. He, and one day She, should start acting like it the day they decide to run for the job.

Last week, John McCain was here in Minnesota in Lakeville which is South of Minneapolis. My wife and I were watching the news on cable and hadn't heard who made the two comments McCain had to refute. A few minutes later, I think on Countdown with Keith Olberman, we heard the bad news the misinformed where fellow Minnesotans. I thought to myself, I'm glad I'm a transplant. I was born and raised in Iowa, moved to Minneapolis after marriage to be with my wife. I was embarrassed because I live here, my wife was embarrassed because she was raised here. We both agreed it was going to happen somewhere but it did not have to happen here. Then, much to my embarrassment, I come to find out a priest in Iowa is praying to God Barack Obama doesn't win the election. Back to being embarrassed, this time for being from Iowa, anyone have a paper bag to hide my head? And let's not forget about the hate filled comments from those in the crowd at some of the McCain - Palin rallies. It is just plain wrong neither McCain or Palin to stop mid sentence and calm the crowd down. Their lack of response, in my mind, is just as bad if not worse than the person who shouted the comments. Each had the power to stop their speech, tell the idiot to shut up and that kind of hate speech had no place in their campaign and move on. But what they did was passively approve the hatred, encouraged it, fed in to it.

Do I think there will ever be clean Presidential campaigns? Probably not, at least not in my lifetime.

Remember though... ugly presidential campaigns have been going on forever - some of the ugliest campaigns were in the early 1800's, when John Adams spread rumors that Thomas Jefferson was dead. Well McCain has one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel.

And our founding fathers were sure that the American people were intelligent enough to decide for themselves - which is why in the beginning, our Senators were not elected by the general populace (that would come later). So the more things change the more they stay the same.

When you barely make min wage, and are barely making enough to survive, finding out info on our candidates can be a luxury. Many people assume that the media can be trusted...ha... so they think the nightly news is enough. Unfortunately we know its not.