The month of August has been a political battlefield for Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and incumbent President Barack Obama, as each campaign trades negative – barbs with the other.
The high ideals associated with Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan joining the Republican ticket have all but disappeared in the days that followed the Romney campaign putting him on the ticket. Daily nips and jibes, all below the belt, have now become a daily event in the 2012 campaign thus far.
The past month has been something I am sure neither side has been proud of, but it is all in the name of American politics. In just the last few days the president of the United States joked about Romney strapping the family dog to the roof of his car during a road trip. Much to the delight of Republicans Vice President Joe Biden told an audience laden with minorities that Republicans, along with Wall Street, would “put y’all back in chains.”
“It certainly was an indelicate choice of words,” O’Malley said of Biden’s “chains” comment. O’Malley then argued that it’s especially ironic for Romney to bemoan a negative tone in the campaign. The Maryland Governor O’Malley, like McDonnell, is considered an early potential candidate for president in.
“Gov. Romney’s the sort of guy that you would never want to play pickup basketball with,” he said. “He’s always fouling and he’s always crying foul.”
The two contenders have mixed it up lately over Romney’s charge that Obama gutted welfare’s work requirement, and a pro-Obama ad came out essentially blaming Romney for a woman’s death from cancer. And this morning, there were fresh calls for Romney to release more of his tax returns.
Historically the summer before a presidential election has never been a particularly productive time for candidates, and trading barbs has become common place, this year’s campaign simply reflects the political realities in our country.
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) decried “horrific” character attacks on Romney, the Republican presidential nominee, while Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) stated a “very clear contrast” between Obama and Romney has come to light since Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan was added to the GOP ticket last week http://firstread.nbcnews.com.
All of this leaves voters wondering what’s next, and how many skeletons the candidates will try to shove back into their closets, only time will tell. The American public should be sure to use lots of hand sanitizer because things are going to get dirty from here on out.
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