Dirty politics?

You know, I sometimes wonder if the term “politics” can actually be used without the word “dirty” in front of it and still be accurate.

I refer, of course, to the current run-up to the 2008 Presidential election, a campaign that gets dirtier with each passing day. As a small town pro-gun, non-religious, pro-freedom, small-government guy, my choice is clear – I’m supporting the McCain/Palin ticket.

The Sarah Palin pick as VP came as a complete shock to me – not because I had never heard of her, but because I never imagined the McCain campaign would spurn the usual gang of Beltway Boy idiots in favor of a truly inspired pick for his running mate.

Hmmm…bring in someone who actually, you know, has a connection with the people? Whoda thunk it?

And then the attacks started. By my imperfect recall, Palin has falsely been accused of:

• Covering up her daughter’s pregnancy by claiming Trig as her own.
• Banning scores of books from the local library.
• Claiming Iraq was a “mission from God.”
• Being a member of a secessionist movement.
• Hating gays.
• Being a stupid, hick PTA mom who should stick to organizing bake sales.
• Not getting adequate prenatal care (pushed as a rationale for her Down Syndrome son.)
• Firing someone who refused to fire her ex-brother in law, a sainted soul of a law enforcement officer who drank in his car, shot game illegally, tasered his stepson and, oh yeah, threatened to kill members of Palin’s family.
• Opposing any sex education in school except for abstinence.
• Wanting to convert the school science curriculum to creationism.
• Wanting to kill all the endangered wildlife in Alaska in favor of Big Oil.

To hear her opponents talk, she is a 10-foot tall, live-animal-wearing, toxic-sludge encrusted and Bible-thumping cyborg who has come back from the future to derail the campaign of humanity’s savior, His Excellency, Barack Obama.

Hmmmm…Sarah Connor…Sarah Palin…coincidence?

To be fair, the anointed one has also come under smear attacks. He has been accused of:

• Being a Muslim (false)
• Forcing sex-ed on kindergartners (a big stretch)
• Having no practical experience (oh, wait, that’s true.)
• Wanting to raise taxes (true again.)
• Wanting to increase the size of government (whoops, again true.)
• Being out of touch with “flyover country” (Also true – are you seeing a pattern here?)

And with the media taking Obama’s pronouncements on faith while poring over and distorting everything from the McCain campaign, look for the political atmosphere to degrade even further.

Fortunately, Big Media no longer has a secure hold on sources of information. Its blatant bias, prominently on display this election season, also ensures it will no longer be able to credibly lay claim to impartiality in its news coverage.

If McCain is critical in examining his opponent, a job media has abdicated, he’ll be accused of smearing. If not, the information never gets out and the voters have no idea who they’re voting for – a virtual shadow man crafted by the left wing to satisfy the various focus groups which comprise its constituency.

So it’s going to get uglier...but hopefully in that ugliness, some of the truth will get out. Enough, anyway, to give people clearer view of the choices – and not through the distorted prism of the media.