Regardless of what party you belong to, we have to remember that all of these people are POLITICANS. Every single one of them is doing whatever they can to feather their own nest at the expense of the American people. Even George Washington, during the Second Continental Congress in 1775, acted like a politican - he dressed in his military uniform (and stood 6' 4") while sitting as a member of Congress from Virginia. When John Adams proposed that Washington be appointed as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army (at Washington's suggestion), he was approved because he "looked the part".
Whichever individual the opposing side attacks virgorously through the media or through their own speeches is the person that side fears the most. For Republicans, it's Obama and Pelosi. For Democrats, it's Palin and Limbaugh. By contrast, the individual the opposing side approves of the most or who gets the most positive press is the one that side hopes is their opposition for the upcoming debate/election. For Republicans, I haven't heard of anyone that they approve. For Democrats, it was McCain in 2008.
Actually, LM, the "look" applies to anyone in politics - as I described above with Washington. It applied in 1960 when Nixon won the verbal (radio) debate but Kennedy won the visual (television) debate. In 2008, Obama had the "young, articulate, clean" look (as stated in the Los Angeles Times) as opposed to HRC's 60-year old female look and McCain's 70-year old male look. Romney and Brown may have the "look" as well, and I know Palin has the look. But, the upcoming elections may be ones of actually looking at the issues and how each candidate articulates their views of the issues (one can only hope) instead of how well the candidates look.
Originally Posted by fritz3552
I can agree with this. But I also think that it's a natural human quality for each of us to believe that we are the better informed, and that those who vote contrary to our beliefs are ignorant or devoid of sound reasoning, when it is often the case that those others simply have a different value set.
Take health care for example. Most of us would agree that it is a good thing to rein in the skyrocketing cost of care and insurance, but we get so wrapped up in putting each other down for our beliefs about what is the best way to achieve that goal, that we end up denigrating the discussion to emotional responses about "socialist liberals" vs. "heartless conservatives."
We derail the discussion of the true merits of what is the best, most sound, and most practical way of achieving our shared goal. The media doesn't help because it would rather "hot button" the discussion with inflammatory soundbites to sell papers or airtime, or use so-called pundits who are little more than entertainers who merely stir the pot even more, rather than cover a dispassionate intellectual discussion of the merits of one approach over another. And we are complicit by letting the politicians and media bait us into the childish fight in the sandbox.
As long as we fail to reach a common understanding, the politicians, media, and pundits have job security while we continue to suffer, get more frustrated, and fight each other even more.