Reply #137: the candidates and the process

[welshTerrier2]

we are constantly forced to balance the individual candidates, including their knowledge, their experience and their hearts, against each candidate's skill as a politician ...

to the extent that our system encourages us to place more focus on "campaign style", we must then place less focus on the issues ... we have only so much "focus" available ... it is no small thing that "marketing" plays such a substantial role in our political process ... that "kucinich" is "ugly", or Gore is "boring" diverts our attention from the issues at hand ...

and that's too bad ...

I have no disagreement with the assessments, allegations really, that you've levelled against some of the non-Dean candidates ... they're in a competition with Dean and they have selected a "petty, sniping style" to get at him ... i don't think this helps our cause at all ... to some extent, I feel some of the non-Deans have been politically naive ...

still, I hate to see bold pronouncements of a shift towards Dean based on such shallow premises ... surely there must be far more robust reasons to support him ...

i'm afraid our country will never approach its real potential as long as "slick campaign tactics" carry so much influence with the voters ... the real problems, and the real solutions, become too easily obscured ...