Does a politicians distant past matter?

This is not about Democrats or Republicans, it's about both.

Does it really matter if they did something 10+, 20+ years ago.

I'm not for racist people representing me, but I really wonder, is anyone free of
doing something stupid, maybe out of character in their teens and 20's.

Are we going to hold everyone to their youthful indiscretions? Shoot, there is some stuff I'd be
totally embarrassed about that I did in my teens.

All the digging up ancient history is starting to get old. I think it is truly different if it is something people did recently, even 5 years.
But all this searching and searching for anything. Maybe we have swung too far with the pendulum, will there even be one person free of anything suspect?

The only thing that matters in the now is policy and integrity. Nobody is perfect especially politicians.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I think there should be a statute of limitations on it.

Unless it was a murder, everything over 7 years should be off limits.

Both sides of the political spectrum are guilty of this.

And leave the damn family out of it... I'm not responsible for something my father or son does.

I am nowhere near the person I was when I was say seventeen. Well, maybe I actually am now, it was all the years between that I was different. I think they call that Alzheimer disease.

Now since you regress back when we get alzhiemer disease, does that mean I have to revert back to using the slide rule to do things? Things just don't add up the same way now as they used to add up

a reply to: JAGStorm


I find this incident about the Virginia Governor disturbing beyond belief. A case of extreme posturing and double standards.

If he had been a Republican I would fully expect all Republicans to say, "That was 1984. It was legal to pose for pictures then, and it is legal to pose for pictures today. No crime. No reason to resign. No reason to impeach. Period."

But since he's a Democrat, all democrat politicians call for resignation or impeachment because they want to be seen as having a higher standard, the moral high ground.

My position is: I've got nothing to say about it because I am not a Virginia voter.

I said bad things in 1969. I assume that some witnesses are still alive. I guess I can never run for office. I did a bad thing in 1989 of which at least one witness is alive. I can never run for office.

I am more concerned with illegals, law breakers and corporate greed then what some person did 30 years ago, assuming it is over.

When I was 8, I grabbed my next door neighbor's P##$y. It was a Mynx, and it was mean, and I stuffed it in somebody's mailbox. But now, I just ignore cats. So peeps can change. IMO

"If he had been a Republican I would fully expect all Republicans to say, "That was 1984. It was legal to pose for pictures then, and it is legal to pose for pictures today. No crime. No reason to resign. No reason to impeach. Period."

That's true, but it's also true if Northam were a Republican--the Dems would be clamoring for his resignation.


The sad truth of being in public office is this: if you do something wrong, don't get caught. Because of this, I think it would be impossible--especially in the current political climate--to avoid being tried in the Court of Public Opinion because we're so polarized as a society.

Many people *drool* over scandal and bad press. They're addicted to it, I'm sure.

It's why so-called 'reality TV' is popular: watching two people chew on each other is entertainment for a huge slice of society.

a reply to: pthena

I said bad things in 1969. I assume that some witnesses are still alive. I guess I can never run for office. I did a bad thing in 1989 of which at least one witness is alive. I can never run for office.

This... exactly.

I'll go out on a limb and say that NOBODY is who they were 20-30 years ago.

Are we not allowed to learn, to evolve as a person if we run for an office?

I was homeless for a time after I got out of the military. Did things I regret and learned from.

Then I started climbing upward, slowly but surely.

I'm a completely different person now, but would never run for any kind of office.

Which my personal friends think is a damn shame, because they like the way I think and would help to get me into a political position.

a reply to: Lumenari

What if was determined that a 44 year-old U.S. President wasn't born in the USA?

originally posted by: lakenheath24
When I was 8, I grabbed my next door neighbor's P##$y. It was a Mynx, and it was mean, and I stuffed it in somebody's mailbox. But now, I just ignore cats. So peeps can change. IMO

We used to bring stray cats home when I was a child and give them to my dad's black lab to "play" with.

Then we would feed them to our pig.

So I'm assuming no PETA seal of approval for me..

originally posted by: pthena
a reply to: JAGStorm


I find this incident about the Virginia Governor disturbing beyond belief. A case of extreme posturing and double standards.

If he had been a Republican I would fully expect all Republicans to say, "That was 1984. It was legal to pose for pictures then, and it is legal to pose for pictures today. No crime. No reason to resign. No reason to impeach. Period."

But since he's a Democrat, all democrat politicians call for resignation or impeachment because they want to be seen as having a higher standard, the moral high ground.

My position is: I've got nothing to say about it because I am not a Virginia voter.

I said bad things in 1969. I assume that some witnesses are still alive. I guess I can never run for office. I did a bad thing in 1989 of which at least one witness is alive. I can never run for office.

I hear ya on that.

originally posted by: carewemust
a reply to: Lumenari

What if was determined that a 44 year-old U.S. President wasn't born in the USA?

I think that the law should be followed and possibly wasn't.

However, was that something that he was personally responsible for?

I think you know the answer to that.

a reply to: Lumenari

That is evil. I used to keep lightning bugs in a jar. Til they died. No kidding. I am ashamed now, but I was 8. Still, no excuse.

a reply to: JAGStorm


I need to ask myself a lot of questions before I can honestly answer this one.

originally posted by: lakenheath24
a reply to: Lumenari

That is evil. I used to keep lightning bugs in a jar. Til they died. No kidding. I am ashamed now, but I was 8. Still, no excuse.

I raised quail with my dad's help as a kid.

Feral cats were the bane of my life.

Nowadays, I let the neighbor's cats just wander my property... keeps the mice down.

If they get near my chicken coop I shoot them.

~shrug~

a reply to: Lumenari

I LOVE chickens....my grandpops gave me a hen with 12 biddys(Southern term I think). Anyway, they are buttholes to one another. I felt bad for the one at the bottom of the totem pole and fed her more. Next thing I know, she I dropping bad attitude on the others. I learned a lot from my chickens.

Do you wring their necks or just chop em off. Pops showed me how to just wring their necks. Thing is, it was winter in Ohio, and these headless chickens ran all over the backyard, bleedin all over the snow. It looked like a massacre. But damn, they tasted good.

a reply to: lakenheath24

The axe thing traumatized me as a kid.

I use a killing cone.

Killing Cone Article

And I have so wandered from the topic it's insane.

Sorry Jag...

a reply to: Lumenari

If he faked his birth certificate more than 7 years before registering as a Presidential candidate, that crime would have occurred too long ago. maybe..

a reply to: lakenheath24

But damn, they tasted good.

Remember when chickens were little and they tasted so good. Now they are huge and rubbery and taste awful!
I've seen chicken breasts that look like 40DD!

And I have so wandered from the topic it's insane. Sorry Jag...

Just imagine, maybe someday one of our grandkids/ great grandkids will be a politician someday and they will bring up this thread!