Crap detector needed for political campaigns

Finally, the river of crap has stopped.

The candidates and their campaigns, associations, federations and myriad organizations once again contributed to a seemingly endless stream of lies and deceit, losing all respectability in the process.

The other night I sat in front of the TV and watched six political ads run back to back. An ad from the Al Gore campaign was followed by one from the Bush camp, each candidate accusing the other of lying or exaggerating.

Back to back ads from Jane Harman and Steve Kuykendall, who are running against each other for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, had each campaign accusing the other of exactly the same wrong doing.

Who was telling the truth?

In many cases we were not told who's message it was.

A political ad, running about every 10 minutes on various news radio stations over the last two months, accused Harman and Adam Shiff of jeopardizing prescription drug plans currently in place. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a federation of big companies that does not release member names, sponsored the ad.

I suspect big drug companies that do not want new legislation that could hurt profits are behind it, but I am not given that information. Therefore, I cannot make an informed decision without doing investigative research.

Ernest Hemingway was once asked what key intellectual traits are important to a writer. He reportedly responded with, "A built-in, shock-proof crap detector." During any kind of political campaign this rings true. Candidates and campaigns spew crap and I have to sift through it to get at the truth.

But most Americans do not. Candidates tell bold-faced lies or twist the truth around to hide the facts, and voters take them at face value.

George "Dubya" Bush avoided answering countless pointed questions and Al Gore consistently exaggerated the truth, but this worked for Americans.

They did not seem to care if the candidates were telling the truth or answering the questions. In our advertising-based, fast-food culture, all that matters is the immediate message. If qualifications or intelligence were part of what mattered, lets be honest, no one would vote for someone like "Dubya."

But he is thought to be "presidential." That, to me, is crap.

Experience, knowledge and intelligence are what are required to do the job, but they are not what get candidates elected. Crap does.

American voters like smooth talkers who tell them what they want to hear. Very few seem to appreciate the power in finding the actual truth and taking that to the polls.

John Caldwell is a print journalism major at Cal State Long Beach.