"the issues" have always been egregious to american politicians...if you start talking issues you might have to address them realistically and no one wants to hear that...reality is a tough place to be and the proles, so goes the thinking in elite circles, are too dull-witted to effectively deal with it...so, if the issues are off limits, all that's left is personality...the federalist writer william cobbet wrote, "once a man comes forward a s a candidate for public office every action of his life, public or private, becomes the subject of public discussion."...and so the smear campaign was born...the 1800 presidential election set the precedent that turned presidential elections away from the unpalatable "issues" and towards back fence gossip...and religion has always been a hot topic for slander...in 1800 the gazette of the united states wrote..."THE GRAND QUESTION STATED. At the present and solemn and momentous epoch, the only question to be asked by every American, laying his hand on his heart is 'shall I continue in allegiance to GOD AND A RELIGIOUS PRESIDENT; or impiously declare for JEFFERSON AND NO GOD!!!"
donny is dusting off the federalist tradition of libel and it is getting air time because it is low entertainment with a long history of acceptance in american politics...an effective way to diminish your opponent ( and i have to ask if anyone else sees irony in donny's appeal to religion ) while seizing the bible thumping high ground...there's nothing new in this...there has been nothing new in donny's presidency...another example of the grand tradition of the american political smear...and, incidentally, we are back to fear as a motivator in making political decisions in electoral politics..."hide your bibles, the atheists are on the prowl" is another layer of anxiety in these already anxious times...if they can induce you to think emotionally, they win
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