I've been noticing a lot of talk over the last fews days that now that both parties have focused on their candidate of choice that the real ugliness has just begun. The 'ugliness' I'm referring to is the smear campaigns that always focus on the nonsense issues. We've all seen this sort of thing before and it always seems to distract us all - at least partially- from the significant issues. It happens the same way a magician conceals his slight of hand with an artful distraction.
The media- from the sensational to the legitimate- is the worst instigator of this type of nonsense, and we the public, enable them. Their reasons are obvious- sensational stories grab viewers and tht equals ratings. Our reasons for allowing this to go on are less obvious.
From rumors to half truths to merely wild speculation, this sort of thing grows until it takes on a life of it's own then shockingly gets reported as "news". Senator Obama was commenting on this phenomenon just recently in relation to stories about virtually everything concerning him and his campaign. Not only is it unfair to the person involved, it's unfair to those who are basing their decisions on these so called "news" stories.
Since we don't have a lot of control over the press and their accuracy and fact checking skills, we all need to be a bit more discerning in what we choose to give weight to.
It's my hope in this critical time in history that we remain focused on what is important and not allow ourselves to be distracted by hype.