I love politcs. I know that convention dictates that we all disparage politics, belittling the people who engage in it and questioning the sanity of those who closely follow it, but my three-year run as a blogger makes demurrals less than believable. Democracies run on politics, and I feel strongly that citizens need to engage the processes in order to achieve a truly representative government.

With all of this comes a wide range of behaviors in political campaigns. Some, such as Mark Kennedy's latest advertisement, demonstrate the honor that many politicians truly have in their efforts to provide leadership. Others, such as Patty Wetterling, remind us that some will sacrifice honesty for winning if necessary.

And then we have the George Allen - James Webb campaign for the Senate seat in Virginia, which I think may have set a record for mudslinging.

This contest started off badly and never really recovered. After the primaries, Allen made the "macaca" mistake and then took too long to apologize for it. Rather than let the incident speak for itself, the Webb campaign decided to start grilling Allen's schoolmates for any bad words Allen might have said. When that didn't stick, they went after his mother's heritage, forcing her to reveal family secrets publicly and humiliating her. It was a disgusting display, and many people on both sides of the political divide recognized the gutter-dwelling nature of Webb's campaign.

And rather than let that speak for itself, the Allen campaign decided to fight fire with fire -- and wound up burning everything. A little over a month ago, the Allen campaign collected a series of quotes from the novels of James Webb, including the one depicting a sexual assault on a young boy, and wanted to have someone release them in order to answer the tactics of the Webb campaign. As the Allen campaign states today, Webb had used his status as a best-selling author as a qualification of sorts for the office, asking voters to read his work. The Democrats have often used novels written by Scooter Libby and other Republicans for criticism. Had a Republican written that one passage, it would have made all three network news shows the same day it was discovered. All of that context matters, but only if one is interested in playing these games.

I was not. I politely declined to publish these excerpts. Others did, and that's their choice.

Was this fair game? Yes. Does it demonstrate the kind of politics in which I want to engage? Not even close.

I'm interested in issues and policy, not mindless vendettas, and that's what this race has become -- one vendetta after another. Both sides have engaged in it, and both sides need to stop and evaluate how they have represented themselves, their parties, and the State of Virginia. I don't think that works of fiction, especially scenes taken out of context, give any enlightenment to the policy position of the candidates. I've written fiction, and plan to do so again in the future. If I depict a brutal murder, does that make me a potential murderer? If I write about a rape, does that make me a potential rapist? I think not, and the notion that this is in any way relevant to the policies of import to Virginians insults the voters both candidates want to convince to support them. It's as relevant as whether Allen's mother may have Jewish heritage or which candidate said the N-word the most during their lifetimes: not at all.

I'm about policies and issues, not about candidate's mothers and the novels they write or read. I attempted to focus on that with Senator Allen yesterday and today, and I believe we succeeded. It can be done with honor and respect, and both candidates have the capability, but someone has to stop the silliness. I still believe in George Allen, and I hope that he shows the mettle to do so. For that matter, I hope Webb does as well.

Unfortunately, the silliness continued later today, as the DSCC took the opportunity to pull out fiction from people not even involved in the race in order to attempt to humiliate Republicans. Sad, sad, sad. Fighting fire with fire doesn't put out fires, gentlemen. To put out a fire, one has to get a big hose and lots of water to clean things up. Neither side seems willing to do so, and it's put a torch to Virginia's hopes for a debate on the issues that matter most to the state.

I still love politics, but I tell you, it has its moments ...

UPDATE: Allahpundit at Hot Air, Michelle Malkin, and Charles at LGF all agree -- both sides need to put an end to the personal attacks and start talking about policy. So does Glenn.

UPDATE II: Let me be clear about this -- I still support George Allen. I know the people at his campaign and they're good people who have allowed themselves to get stuck in a mudslinging war. In my opinion, they have been more sinned against than sinned, and they didn't start the poo-flinging. Going after a person's mother creates an emotional environment where bad decisions get made. I'm hoping that they all take a deep breath and stick to the winning issues that Senator Allen talked about in his interview. That's why I wrote this post, and I hope the Allen campaign understands it.

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