Various sources today report yet another round of childish personal attacks, insults, and name calling from today’s GOP “Wrestlemania” show. The excerpt that struck me is this:
…
Earlier Tuesday, Trump had criticized Rafael Cruz, calling him “disgraceful” after he urged evangelical voters in Indiana to reject his son’s rival.Trump also referenced a report from the tabloid National Enquirer — without naming the publication — which alleged that it had identified Rafael Cruz in a photo with Lee Harvey Oswald months prior to the JFK assassination. CNN has not independently confirmed that report.
“And (Ted Cruz’s) father, you know, was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald’s, you know, being shot. I mean the whole thing is ridiculous,” Trump said in an interview on “Fox and Friends.” “I mean what was he doing with Lee Harvey Oswald, shortly before the death? Before the shooting? It’s horrible.”
I don’t know and I don’t care what Rafael Cruz did or did not do more than fifty years ago. Since Mr. Trump is citing a “National Enquirer” report, my reaction is that the assertion is about as credible as those of the countless women who, according to the same source, have been abducted by aliens during the same period (funny how those aliens seem so smitten by American women).
This rubbish literally sickens me. It is also the reason that I feel so strongly that NO DEMOCRAT should stoop to these rhetorical tactics. Mr. Trump’s attacks on various members of Mr. Cruz’s family are vile, boorish, and exemplify why Mr. Trump has no business holding ANY elective office. I get that some voters respond to them. In my view, that response is an indictment of those voters.
I am reminded of the much-publicized video-taped execution of Daniel Pearl. That, too, was applauded by some segments of the Muslim community. That, too, provoked some Americans to urge that we respond in kind — thereby doing exactly what the terrorists wanted.
The terrorists who executed Daniel Pearl were the bad guys. Those of us who refuse to respond in kind were the good guys. The attacks from Mr. Trump on the family and associates of his opponents mark him as a bad guy. The in-kind responses from the other GOP candidates mark them as bad guys.
We Democrats are the good guys. Personal attacks on family members are well outside the envelope of acceptable behavior from any Democrat, explicitly including our candidates and their supporters.
I’m sad to see them stop fighting.
Does that make me a bad person?
n/t
…Kasich didn’t stay in until the states ceded to him by Cruz, but maybe he figured that Cruz not winning IN was a harbinger of his own luck in the other states.