Nothing unusual about gutter politics

To say this has been a nasty presidential campaign, especially on the Republican side, is an understatement, but it's certainly not unusual in American politics.

The name-calling and personal attacks ramped up during last Thursday's debate as Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz tried to topple front-runner Donald Trump.

Hopefully most young children were out of earshot when the verbal shots were flying.

Trump countered hard. He said judging from the way Rubio sweats, the pressures of the Oval Office would be too much for Florida senator.

"He looked like he just came out of a swimming pool. He was a mess," Trump said of Rubio's perspiring under the debate lights.

Rubio shot back with his own analysis of Trump backstage at the debate.

"He was having a meltdown," Rubio said of Trump. "First he had this little makeup thing, applying makeup around his mustache, because he had one of those sweat mustaches. Then he asked for a full-length mirror. I don't know why, because the podium goes up to here. Maybe he was making sure his pants weren't wet. I don't know."

Trump has been using slash-and-burn personal attacks from the beginning of the campaign, first calling Sen. John McCain a "loser" and "dummy" and no war hero in Vietnam, then disparaging Carly Fiorina about her looks and repeatedly picking on Jeb Bush for being a low-energy candidate. Both Fiorina and Bush have left the race.

Before Trump's charges in this campaign, the most famous on-camera sweat occurred in 1960 when Democratic Sen. John F. Kennedy and Republican Vice President Richard M. Nixon faced each other in the first televised presidential debate in U.S. history. More than 77 million people - two-thirds of the adult population at the time - tuned in for that debate, which ushered in a new era in presidential politics.

It proved how a well-crafted public image and maximum media exposure are essential ingredients for winning the White House.

While Kennedy was well-rested and looked fresh, Nixon, who suffered a bout of the flu and was still running a low fever from a knee infection, looked drained, frail and sweaty.

Most radio listeners determined the debate was a draw or even pronounced Nixon the victor. The charismatic Kennedy, however, won over the 70 million television viewers by a large margin.

Gutter politics have been a part of our nation since the beginning. Many historians consider the 1828 race between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson to be the nastiest contest in American history.

Some of the slurs being hurled would have made Donald Trump blush. John Quincy Adams was labeled a pimp, and Andrew Jackson's wife was called a slut.

Adams' handlers said Jackson had the personality of a dictator, was too uneducated to be president, and accused him of marrying his wife before she was divorced from her first husband.

Since divorce was considered a scandal at the time, the Federalists put a target on the back of first lady Rachel Jackson, labeling her a "dirty black wench," a "convicted adulteress" and charging that she was prone to "open and notorious lewdness."

During the 1864 election, opponents claimed that Abraham Lincoln would institute interracial marriage if re-elected. One magazine published a master list of insults being lobbed at the president, including Liar, Thief, Braggart, Buffoon, Usurper, Monster, Ignoramus Abe, Old Scoundrel, Perjurer, Robber, Swindler, Tyrant, Fiend, Butcher.

Our current campaign has certainly seen some ugly infighting among the candidates, but judging from our history, it's pretty much politics as usual.

By Jim Zbick | tneditor@tnonline.com