From: Lynn Wigglesworth <lynnw1366 AT hotmail.com>
To: <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [Homestead] For a laugh
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:28:37 -0400
Dirty politics have been around as long as the country has:
Stuck In the Muck
Mudslinging Isn't New. Here's the Messy Truth.
By Libby Copeland
Washington Post Staff Writer
You want to talk dirty politics? Oh, we'll talk dirty. We'll talk about
. . . 1800!
Thomas Jefferson was attacked by ministers who accused him of being an
"infidel" and an "unbeliever." A Federalist cartoon depicted him as a
drunken anarchist, and the president of Yale warned that if Jefferson
came to power, "we may see our wives and daughters the victims of legal
prostitution." A Connecticut newspaper warned that his election would
mean "murder, robbery, rape, adultery and incest will openly be taught
and practiced" -- though the paper, which is now the Hartford Courant,
did apologize some years later.