Did I call it or did I call it? The hard right wing of the Republican Party wants to change the Vice Presidential Nominee from Sarah Palin to… well… anyone other than Sarah Palin. Seriously, she is good at delivering a line and reading from a script, or even memorizing lines for a debate, but she is not at all who you want in a spin room talking to reporters who may ask a question like, oh say… “Do you know ANY other Supreme Court decisions?” How about we give you a clue, “The State of Alaska versus The Exxon Corporation” that you just commented about a few months ago.

It is bad enough the Republicans have gone from issues to mud, but she is just an embarrassment and she was the first decision of a possible Republican President. I think that alone should have every voter out there running to the Democratic side of the ballot, but what do I know. I just can’t believe there are so many people out there still buying the rhetoric that Mrs. Palin and Mr. McCain are slinging.

I think it really got scary for me to day when in the audience of a Republican Campaign stop, with Sarah doing her doom and gloom bit, someone called out that Obama was a terrorist. The absurdity and ferocity of the shout out and agreement from the crowd should scare the living shit out of people. What are they (the Republicans) after, a lynch mob? But it did not stop there. Elsewhere on the road in a McCain crowd, when McCain asked what we should do about Obama, someone else yelled out “Kill him”. Again there were cheers of agreement.

I am truly scared for this country right now.

Maybe it is the strain of the economy that is leading people to cheer such violent suggestions, but you got to know talk like this will stick in some sicko’s mind and he (or she) will take it upon him/herself to be the right hand of God and the Republican Party. Seriously, I can see it happening. (Maybe I am sick.)

Do John McCain and Sarah Palin not understand the incredible power of their positions and that from that lofty perch they can make things happen? No, they did not call Obama a terrorist, and no they did not suggest killing him, but they between the rhetoric and NOT condemning the sediments, some may see it as a tacit affirmation of terrible action. They (McCain/Palin) will not be held responsible, it will be the fault of the deluded perpetrator, but there will always be the question of if they (McCain/Palin) didn’t egg it on to some extent.

Now of course the Republican Campaign is nothing but lies and smear with John McCain himself saying he endorses every one of the ads. I have to wonder if he really believes all the crap he is putting on the airways and if he is proud of his behavior. After all if was just this past April that he said he abhorred this type of campaigning, but here he is doing it. I find myself turning down the sound every time I see one of those commercials come on.

The one thing I can say if that the Democratic Party is not as bad in regards to negative advertising. Sure, they still have their moments of taking things out of context, but it just is not as slimy as what the Republican are putting out. Oddly enough I think I know the reason… naïveté. Barack is still kinda new to big politics and campaigns. While he understands it all from a mental standpoint he is of the opinion that he can succeed with a campaign that is not just another campaign. Since he hasn’t been taught that it is not correct campaigning he does it anyways, and for me that is ok. Why should we expect our candidates to campaign in the same manner as all that preceded? How do we know that his new approach to campaigning is not more correct for the times or for his personality. Certainly he is being successful so far… and more power to him.

All I know is that there are 27 days left until it is all over and we can all take a deep breath and relax until it starts again on January 21, 2009.

Something has to change though, the only people being kept in coin for all this are the pundits and spin doctors. Maybe we should pass a few laws…

So, what would I do to make the next campaign better? Well, let’s see…

First off I would force spin doctors only to talk about their candidate. Now if they want to slam their own candidate that is fine by me, it will be the last time we see the witless fool, but no talking about the other guy. Seriously, when you ask these guys anything about their guy, they can’t answer or change the subject. I truly love it when Chris Mathews corners one these guys till he has to answer and in the end he simply can’t because he hasn’t a clue… that’s fun but I would give it up in a heartbeat for straight forward spin that doesn’t stink of mud and slime.

Second would be to do something about campaign advertising. Once again we come into the territory of spin so the same rules apply. Ads should only highlight the virtues and accomplishments and plans and visions of the candidate. That should remove a lot of the stink from the campaigns.

Three: smear and trash talk can be limited to the stump speeches. Why? Will if you want to rile your base, go ahead, but we as viewers are not generally your base and for our sakes you can keep that talk to a live venue. The stuff that does make it on the news we can deal with, but if the spin doctors are tamed, and the ads are pacified I would bet the stump speeches will not be as bad either because then the speeches will be out of context with the rest of the message. Sure it may go over well in the Convention Speeches, but then again, those speeches are meant to be different anyway.

Four… Want to sling mud, fine, do it in press releases. However (and you knoew there had to be a however) all claims must be accompanied by the triple veried sources that can in turn be veried by independent journalist. If a press release does not conform or the information is deemed to be wrong or unverifiable there should be a fine… say $1000. For each success inaccuracy the fine is doubled. The fine can go to a charity of the opposing candidate’s choice. In the case of multiple candidates, it is split and funds distributed. Fines come from the candidate’s general fund.

Five: No government sponsored campaigning. All candidates must raise their own funds. I know that sounds unfair to the third party candidates, but if you are serious as a third party candidate you would have to eat into their (the Dems and Reps) base anyway, thus garnering their funds. See, it is fair after all. Basically I do not want to pay for supporting failed candidates and campaigns. I don’t want to pay for any of these leaches dinners, much less their beach houses. If they want the job, they need to do it on their own without my help. Personally I think these campaigns are a huge waste of time. I would love to see several televised debates, articles in the paper and web, and of course the old whistle stop tours would be good. As long as we are not spending money on something that does not pay for itself. I do not see the value gained by having huge campaigns, not in a land that has information so freely available.

So there you have it… 5 suggestions to make our lives less stressful and more successful. You think they will do any of them?