I'm guessing we're all a little sick and tired of political ads and politics in general. We hear a lot about "mudslinging". People say it's "worse than ever".

I beg to differ.

After reading "Infamous Scribblers" (by Eric Burns), the so-called lies and distortions thrown our way today is nothing compared to what occurred back in the "Founding Fathers" days.

Newspapers were almost always one-sided, politically. It was the federalist vs. republican (non-capitalized) way of governing. Until the Sedition Act was passed to halt defamatory stories, no holds were barred. Here's but one example from the "Hudson Bee".

"Should the infidel Jefferson (Thomas) be elected to the Presidency, the seal of death is that moment set on our holy religion, our churches will be prostrated, and some infamous prostitute, under the title of the Goddess of Reason, will preside in the Sanctuaries now devoted to the Most High."

And again, about Jefferson from the Connecticut Courant: "Do you believe in the strangest of all paradoxes, that a spendthrift, a libertine, or an Atheist, characters which none of you would trust with the most trifling concern in you own private affairs, is qualified to make your laws and to govern you, and you posterity; to be entrusted with the treasure, the strength, and the destiny of the nation?"

And those weren't the worst accusations made! His affair with Sally Hemings (one fourth black) was much conjectured and vilified.

No president, not even George Washington, was excluded from the whipping post. It was very nasty and vitriolic. It's a good thing there was no radio or television back then!