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Do we sometimes dump on politicians *too much*?

Do we sometimes dump on politicians *too much*?

  • Yes, we need to step back and be reasonable.

    Votes: 6 35.3%

  • No, they deserve what they get and more.

    Votes: 9 52.9%

  • Other.

    Votes: 2 11.8%
  • Total voters
    17
radcen

radcen

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Do we sometimes dump on politicians *too much*?

Case in point: The recent Ft Hood shooting. Texas Senator John Cornyn was criticized as being "pathetic" for going to Ft Hood and appearing at a press conference, and so on. The criticism was for him being there and contributing nothing, and pandering to the cameras. Ok, for the most part I don't necessarily disagree with that, but... what the hell was he supposed to do?!? If he goes he's slammed for going and self-aggrandizing. If he doesn't go any reasonable person knows full well that he'd be slammed for not caring. Seriously, it's a no-win situation, and sometimes I think we place too high of an expectation on our elected representatives.

Politicians deserve a lot of scorn, but sometimes we need to lighten up a bit, too.
 
radcen said:
Do we sometimes dump on politicians *too much*?

Case in point: The recent Ft Hood shooting. Texas Senator John Cornyn was criticized as being "pathetic" for going to Ft Hood and appearing at a press conference, and so on. The criticism was for him being there and contributing nothing, and pandering to the cameras. Ok, for the most part I don't necessarily disagree with that, but... what the hell was he supposed to do?!? If he goes he's slammed for going and self-aggrandizing. If he doesn't go any reasonable person knows full well that he'd be slammed for not caring. Seriously, it's a no-win situation, and sometimes I think we place too high of an expectation on our elected representatives.

Politicians deserve a lot of scorn, but sometimes we need to lighten up a bit, too.
Click to expand...

I agree with this, and think that this is in large part the reason why we have bad candidates. When politicians are the target of every conceivable attack the mind can imagine, highly intelligent and qualified candidates are chased away leaving narcissistic megalomaniacs in their place.
 
radcen said:
Do we sometimes dump on politicians *too much*?

Case in point: The recent Ft Hood shooting. Texas Senator John Cornyn was criticized as being "pathetic" for going to Ft Hood and appearing at a press conference, and so on. The criticism was for him being there and contributing nothing, and pandering to the cameras. Ok, for the most part I don't necessarily disagree with that, but... what the hell was he supposed to do?!? If he goes he's slammed for going and self-aggrandizing. If he doesn't go any reasonable person knows full well that he'd be slammed for not caring. Seriously, it's a no-win situation, and sometimes I think we place too high of an expectation on our elected representatives.

Politicians deserve a lot of scorn, but sometimes we need to lighten up a bit, too.
Click to expand...

If the senator or the governor did not have a press conference, people would beetch about that. Politicians are damed if they do, and damed if they don't,
I purposely misspelled the profanity.
 
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AJiveMan said:
If the senator or the governor did not have a press conference, people would bitch about that. Politicians are damed if they do, and damed if they don't,
I purposely misspelled the profanity.
Click to expand...

So you censored yourself on "damn," but not on "bitch?"
 
For the most part, the path to an elected office requires a lot of dedication and patriotism. For the most part, they are good people. But they're representing the interests of a lot of different people, trying to keep their jobs, and are beholden to whichever forces will help them keep their office. They're mostly good people in a very difficult situation. Some really are crooks, some abuse their power for personal gain, and some have really despicable ideas. But most don't deserve the scorn and scandal they get.
 
No we do not dump on politicians too much. Well dump on is probably the wrong word. We don't actually hold them accountable enough. However things like the example given show that we hold them accountable and dump on them many many times for the wrong things.
 
To a degree, US politicians are celebritised. More focus is given to their private lives and public moments than their actual political histories, such as voting records and introduced legislation. The scrutiny is fine, but it's focus needs to be shifted.
 
Sometimes we dump on them when they don't deserve it but it's much more common for them to not get dumped on when they do deserve it. Overall, they don't get dumped on enough.
 
Cardinal said:
I agree with this, and think that this is in large part the reason why we have bad candidates. When politicians are the target of every conceivable attack the mind can imagine, highly intelligent and qualified candidates are chased away leaving narcissistic megalomaniacs in their place.
Click to expand...
NO ONE is perfect, particularly the people !
This "perfectionism" and extremism are problems.
The politician is SUPPOSED to represent the people, ALL of the people, , NOT just those of his choosing ...either the rich or the poor.
The people should know this, rather than "dumping" so quickly..
Both sides (poli and people) need to conserve with respect and tolerance and civilty...
Maybe tomorrow....
 
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radcen said:
Do we sometimes dump on politicians *too much*?

Case in point: The recent Ft Hood shooting. Texas Senator John Cornyn was criticized as being "pathetic" for going to Ft Hood and appearing at a press conference, and so on. The criticism was for him being there and contributing nothing, and pandering to the cameras. Ok, for the most part I don't necessarily disagree with that, but... what the hell was he supposed to do?!? If he goes he's slammed for going and self-aggrandizing. If he doesn't go any reasonable person knows full well that he'd be slammed for not caring. Seriously, it's a no-win situation, and sometimes I think we place too high of an expectation on our elected representatives.

Politicians deserve a lot of scorn, but sometimes we need to lighten up a bit, too.
Click to expand...

There's nothing wrong with any politician going to Ft. Hood, particularly a politician who serves the jurisdiction, but that's a lot different from going and making appearances or "being seen". Lots of politicians do things behind the scenes, without fanfare or accolades. If a politician's only contribution to the circumstances was to provide a photo-op for himself and for the media, then he deserves all the scorn he gets - the media should get some too.
 
Censoring, by anyone is dangerous, maybe better that it should stop, as no man seems to be able to administer censorship...
YES, it will be shocking at first, but man(adults) can prevail..
 
I don't think they are dumped on enough. Whistleblowers reveal political skullduggery and whistleblowers are prosecuted and the politicians get off scot free. When that reverses, then will I say politicians are overly criticized. It is a culture of illegality and collusion and at the present time Big Money has so much influence that we are properly 'CORPORATISM" and not a Republic or a democracy.
 
The chief problem could be that we, as a nation, look to politicians to solve problems they are totally unfit, unprepared, and unable to solve. No single person or government entity can solve all the problems we sometimes expect them to. It would be refreshing if we allowed and demanded that they solve the problems they can, though.
 
They can't be dumped on too much.
 
Having read many of the comments so far, I think I'd have to agree that we don't dump on politicians *too much", but that we often do dump on them for the wrong stuff. For petty inconsequential stuff.

Our memories are also way too short, but that's a different topic for a different thread.
 
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