Posted on 02/03/2008 11:09:47 PM PST by Marie2
With all of the primaries going on in the past month, you may have noticed that the presidential candidates are starting to get a little snarky with each other. What you may not know is that mudslinging isn’t exactly a new tactic. And I’m not talking as recent as Nixon and Kennedy… nope, the nasty rumors and talk of mistresses and morals go as far back as George Washington.
In case you’re wondering exactly how down-and-dirty these campaigns got, consider the fact that this is the only election in history where a vice president has run against the president he was currently serving under. You can imagine that things were a little tense in the White House in the months leading up to the election.
Jefferson hired a writer to pen insults rather than dirty his own hands (at least at first). One of his most creative lines said that Adams was a “hideous hermaphroditical character which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman.”
Adams’ Federalists carried things even further, asking voters, “Are you prepared to see your dwellings in flames… female chastity violated… children writhing on the pike? GREAT GOD OF COMPASSION AND JUSTICE, SHIELD MY COUNTRY FROM DESTRUCTION.” I bet the Federalists would be so very upset to know that Jefferson was immortalized in 1936 as one of America’s great presidents on Mount Rushmore.
After such a nasty election, Congress passed the Twelfth Amendment, stating that the nominee to get the second-most number of votes would no longer be elected vice president.
(Excerpt) Read more at neatorama.com ...
I think I'll relax now, when I used to get so aggravated at the mudslinging. It's hard to believe we are more civil these days.
I want one of them there shirts!
Reminds me of Hubert Humphrey’s quip: “We live in a country where anyone can grow up to become Vice President. It’s just a chance you have to take.”
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