It is hard to believe that during a war, the two sides fighting will discuss their tactics or their strategy for engagement. The idea is to destroy the enemy, not play by his agenda, or be intimidated by his suggestions of what you should and shouldn’t do.

To hear the two major political parties go on and on about how many debates there are, how many negative ads are being run, who is the nastiest and meanest is a little confusing.

Politics is a full contact sport… the only rules of engagement that are valid are the ones that get you elected.

The Democrats have shown this over and over, whether it means lying through your teeth, denying validated affairs to then casting stones at the other guy for daring to bring up the fact that you don’t have the character or the integrity to win.

If Al Gore’s people are ashamed of his record, then that is a great reason for the Republicans to run ads about it. If the Republicans are inconsistent or duplicitous, then by all means, let the voters know. But this wimpy whiny way of running a campaign is very annoying and shows a lack of leadership on both sides.

It is so funny to hear DNC Chairman Joe Andrew say, “The American people don’t want to see negative ads against Al Gore, they want to hear the truth about Mr. Bush’s record.” And that statement should work the other way . .. but Joe is not paid to say anything good about GW Bush, and well he shouldn’t. But he should then understand that Jim Nicholson has a job which includes contrasting the two candidates so that the republicans look best.

This is not rocket science . .. and for everyone to be upset that the parties are doing everything they can to put their guy in a good light, while they trash the other guy, means they don’t understand the political process. It’s the stuff sausage is made of. It’s not a pretty picture.