Not Even the Nastiest

Taking a little history break today after working through the fun of Hurricane Isaac (and more on that over the weekend).

Enjoyed reviewing for my American History 2020 before the hurricane break just how nasty Presidential politics have been and that no matter how bad you think it is now -- this is neither unprecedented or unusual.

Dick Polman of the Philadelphia Inquirer did us the service of reviewing the original Presidential campaign -- the election of 1800.  Remember, George Washington didn't find himself in too terribly deep in partisanship, but with the Father of the Nation off the scene and Thomas Jefferson ready to rev things up against John Adams, well, it went nasty fast.

These are great reminders that no matter how noble we recall our past leaders, they were competitive politicians.

I used some of the back-biting comments in Polman's column for a We're History episode about a year ago.

So until one side calls the other "a hideous hermaphroditical character" or a "son of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father", let's just say today's politics are just par for the course.