This is going to be the nastiest Presidential campaign ever. You can get a feel for it by some of

[mfcorey1]

trolls who have invaded progressive websites including Democratic Underground. Stay vigilant. It is a part of the tactics of the right. They will take swiftboating to a new level. Just collecting my thoughts.

[provis99]

1. It couldn't be as nasty as the Adams-Jefferson campaign in 1800.

Jefferson accused Adams of having a "hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman."

Adams accused Jefferson of being "a mean-spirited, low-lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian squaw, sired by a Virginia mulatto father."

Adams also got called a fool, a hypocrite, a criminal, and a tyrant, while Jefferson was called a weakling, an atheist, a libertine, and a coward.

There's even more vicious stuff at:
http://articles.cnn.com/2008-08-22/living/mf.campaign.slurs.slogans_1_jefferson-family-sally-hemings-vice-president-jefferson?_s=PM:LIVING

[gateley]

2. Must come with the territory. Wow. nt

[cliffordu]

3. SO: We're going back to OLD SKOOL.

this really is going to be ugly.

[WCGreen]

4. It was a lot worse in the older days when the national media didn't dominate the news....

A lot of stuff that gets caught now went unchecked up until about 1972.

Awful stuff, racist stuff that was spread out in areas of the country where people weren't tied into the national media.

[Bucky]

5. Maybe I'm just getting jaded. So far, it's not been as bad as 2008

although for sheer meanness even the loathsome & openly racist 2008 smears on Obama didn't seem as harsh as the 1992 attacks on the Clintons. This year, I just don't think the Republicans' hearts are all that into their usual character assassination m.o. Maybe that's just because their short term memories, forgetting how bad rule under Dubya was, have allowed them to believe that there's some actual issues to run on (e.g., how bad the Obama Presidency has been screwing up the economy since 2006).

[Poll_Blind]

6. LOL! "Hatchet-faced nutmeg peddler!"

PB