I'm saying it again. Please do not forget how brave candidates are!

[Pacifist Patriot]

Beto O'Rourke was attacked this week for being a super cool guy in the 90s and made out the better for it. That isn't always the case. Attacks can be brutal on a candidate and their family.

We have all seen negative ads in our mailboxes and on tv. We may have even just nodded our heads and accepted the information as true.

Only tonight, I learned that the unhinged twerp out in California who got fixated on me for some unfathomable reason didn't limit his harassment to Twitter. So grateful I didn't know conservative cave was a thing. My 101st Airborne WWII vet grandfather is probably spinning in his grave that the division produces morons like Kevin these days.

And I didn't even realize they brag about signing up for DU and disrupting. Silly me for trusting in humanity. I should know better in the Trump era, right? Side note: Thank you to the admins for catching these dweebs and tossing their butts into the cyber equivalent of a dust bin.

A friend of mine is running for a county level seat. Her opponent has done something this week to attack her that I believe warrants a criminal complaint. A county level seat! Please remember there is no basement on the right any more. No lows they will not sink below for any and all political positions.

When you volunteer for a candidate, email a candidate, FB message a candidate, tweet to a candidate, write to a candidate...every once in awhile thank them for their bravery. They are volunteering for public humiliation and vicious attack because they want to serve us and make our communities better. The exposure is brutal. They deserve our thanks. Frankly, after what I have seen, I consider it heroic and I don't use that adjective lightly. There is a tremendous amount of fear and trepidation they face every day and do it anyway. Especially first time candidates who had no idea what they were in for.

Unlike the cowardly attack dogs nipping at their heels, our candidates are brave. Period.

ETA: Point of clarification - I am no longer a candidate. I had to withdraw for medical reasons a few months ago.

[saidsimplesimon]

1. Yes, you are brave.

That is why cowards like Nunes are afraid and don't deserve any air time. Well done, PP

[Pacifist Patriot]

2. Oh not me!

I had to withdraw back in April under doctor's orders. I claim no bravery whatsoever. None!

I just learned of my friend's situation today and it inspired me to remind others how damned hard being a candidate is. The best make it look so easy and it is not at all.

[LisaM]

3. Yes....I had a friend who ran for office (a conservative, actually).

He didn't agree with some things on the Seattle City Council, so he threw his hat in the ring. He got on the Republican ticket (back when they still did it by party), and darned if he didn't get out there and knock on doorbells and meet a bunch of people. He didn't have any chance of getting elected in Seattle, but wow! did I give him credit for not just yapping, but doing something. I even wrote him a thank-you card to thank him for running. It does take guts.

[Pacifist Patriot]

4. That's cool!

[SWBTATTReg]

5. Good post! nt

[Trueblue Texan]

6. Absolutely agree!

It takes real courage to subject yourself to public scrutiny, then you've got all these right wing nut jobs who think they're some kind of hero for attacking candidates by any means. Politics has become a very high risk vocation. Another one of the social changes perpetuated to tear down democracy.

[oberliner]

7. "Beto O'Rourke was attacked this week for being a super cool guy in the 90s"

That's not entirely accurate.

[Pacifist Patriot]

8. No it's not.

But I think pretty much everyone would know what I'm talking about in terms of the reaction the hit piece generated.

[femmedem]

9. Yes. I ran for city council and it was brutal.

There was a vicious facebook group with anonymous administrators who would do half-baked research and post wild theories as facts, post belittling names and do nasty, sexist photoshopping. They had over 1000 followers in a very small city.

They were awful to any candidate who was the least bit progressive--and this was for volunteer city positions.

I don't regret doing it--I learned a lot, and it indirectly led to my next two jobs--but it scoured away my idealism about human nature.

[Honeycombe8]

10. Yes. I wouldn't be able to run for anything. I had too good a time back in the day.

We don't want people who were total dweebs and who haven't made mistakes or lived like a normal person. I don't, anyway.