Lileks' Perspective

Because he puts it much better than i could, here is Lileks' take on the question of which side is taking the high road and which side the low road in this election.

People say all sorts of things in elections. The underlings and infantry fire the cheap shots, and let the big dogs lope along the high road. But when the top officials of the party start slinging the slander, we’ve entered a different era. And no one seems to notice, because the story becomes the charge, not the nature of the accusation.

Accusing one’s opponent of treason is a personal attack. Al Gore accused Bush of 'betraying this country.' Reasonable people could say he misled the country, or misruled the country, and make the argument to support the assertion, but 'betrayed' is a word that has a special quality when talking about the President of the United States. I’ve heard General Wesley Clark question the President’s patriotism, and insist that his religious beliefs were misguided, because the Democratic Party is the party that truly hews to Christian doctrines. . . . And of course we heard Governor Dean insert the 'Bush was warned' meme into the body politic.

There’s nothing comparable on the other side. Nothing. I mean, the Bush team runs an ad that has a second of 9/11 footage, and his opponents pitch a carefully staged fit – because that’s all they have.

i agree. it's the Democrats who've sunk to "Willie Horton" style campaigning, and they've been doing it for months, unopposed.