Founding Father Campaign Slurs

[m42]

Negative campaigning in America was sired by two lifelong friends, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Back in 1776, the dynamic duo combined powers to help claim America's independence, and they had nothing but love and respect for one another. But by 1800, party politics had so distanced the pair that, for the first and last time in U.S. history, a president found himself running against his vice president.

Things got ugly fast. Jefferson's camp accused President Adams of having a "hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman."

In return, Adams' men called Vice President Jefferson "a mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/08/22/mf.campaign.slurs.slogans/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

[John Scott]

Talk about mud-slinging. I'm surprised. Seriously.

[m42]

Talk about mud-slinging. I'm surprised. Seriously.

I think we've been conditioned to place our forefathers on high pedestals and view them with the highest regard. I guess it's somewhat of a relief. They were just as human and flawed as the rest of us.

[DSieve]

The men who founded this country sacrificed everything they owned for their cause. Some of them might have been scoundrels (or prone to the same flaws as the rest of us), but their words (relating to political philosophy, the Constitution, etc.) are their true legacy and it's amazing when viewed in the context of world history how they were successful in creating a democratic republic after shedding the shackles of tyranny. That has not happened very often.

[firetown]

Just as truth persists, however, so does friendship. Twelve years after the vicious election of 1800, Adams and Jefferson began writing letters to each other and became friends again. They remained pen pals for the rest of their lives and passed away on the same day, July 4, 1826. It was the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

This however is good to know.

[Couloir]

Here's a link at some of the firsts in US campaign mudslinging.

http://www.cracked.com/article_16680_5-presidential-elections-even-dumber-than-this-one-somehow.html

[kerrin]

Part of me kind of enjoys the "mud-slinging," enough of this political correctness garbage.