What Happened To Character?

To me it seems that a person’s character means very little these days….it is more about the bolstered BS than what type of person is uttering the crap.

This made me think of Gary Hart, who I supported in 1984 and 1988, and his ‘scandal’ that ended his political career.

If you are too young to remember that election….or the person….

Hart first made a name for himself as the campaign manager for U.S. Sen. George McGovern’s run for the presidency in 1972. His organizational and fund-raising strategies enabled the liberal McGovern to capture the Democratic nomination. Two years after his candidate lost the general election to Richard Nixon, Hart was elected by Colorado voters to the U.S. Senate. By the time he won reelection in 1980, he was considerably more conservative than the long-haired Hart of the McGovern days.

Hart ran a close race against U.S. Sen. Walter Mondale for the 1984 Democratic presidential nomination. Although Hart won 26 states to Mondale’s 19, Mondale’s superior organization netted him enough delegates for the victory. Hart had gained momentum in the campaign until Mondale ridiculed his “new ideas” with the barb, “Where’s the beef?” which came from a TV commercial criticizing hamburgers that were more bun than beef.

Hart made a bid for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination. In 1987, exasperated by rumours of infidelity, Hart invitedNew York Times reporters to follow him and see for themselves that he was not unfaithful to his wife. In May of that year, with his wife, Lee, away in Colorado, Miami Herald reporters staked out Hart’s home in Washington, D.C., and spotted him leaving it with the model Donna Rice, who, they alleged, had stayed there overnight. The front-page story was published at a time when Hart already faced public doubts about his character. For a week he continued campaigning, but when the Washington Post threatened to release details about an affair with yet another woman, Hart quit the race. In December, however, he once again made headlines by dramatically announcing that he was back in the running for president, but after a disappointing finish in the New Hampshire primary, he withdrew from the race for the second and final time.

(britannica.com)

His character was in question and it made him choose the proper course.

Yes I know we could talk about Clinton….but why?

But those days are gone….now we have Congresspersons being fondled in theaters, people lying to get votes, just all around lousy character.