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Harsh words then:
Negative campaigning in America was sired by two lifelong friends, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Back in 1776, the dynamic duo combined powers to help claim America’s independence, and they had nothing but love and respect for one another. But by 1800, party politics had so distanced the pair that, for the first and last time in U.S. history, a president found himself running against his vice president.
Things got ugly fast. Jefferson’s camp accused President Adams of having a “hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman.”
And now:
On Sunday morning, BuzzFeed correspondent Michael Hastings emailed Philippe Reines, Hillary Clinton’s longtime aide and personal spokesman at the State Department, asking a series of pointed questions about State’s handling of the Benghazi fiasco, and Reines’ over-the-top attack on CNN. The exchange quickly got personal, with Reines calling Hastings an “unmitigated asshole” before an exchange of harsh words on both sides.
The exchange concluded with Reines writing that Hastings should “Fuck Off” and “Have a nice life.”
It’s not what you say — everybody gets angry and flies off the handle now and then. And tempers are sure to flare in an election year. But it is still how you say it, and I’m afraid by that measure we’re a nation in decline.
The reason that was the last time a vice president and a president ran against each other is that the 12th amendment passed in 1804. Until then, the president was the candidate with the most votes, and the vice president was the candidate with the second-most votes, that is, the president’s clearest opponent during the previous election.
For example, if we didn’t have the 12th amendment, our current president would be Barack Obama and our vice president would be John McCain.
Makes White House office politics a lot more fun.
By that measure, we’ve been in terminal decline since H.L. Mencken died.
I won’t argue against that.
No, no, no. It’s “Have a nice day.”
This message has been brought to you by Mick Foley and thumbtacks.