Attack tactics reduces credibility

I was watching a segment on CNN recently about Barack Obama's health care plan and saw something that, well, stunned me.
It was a shot of a group of protesters holding signs and among them was a girl that couldn't have been more than eight years old. She was holding a sign that said, "Obama Lies, Grandma Dies."
While the sign itself is pretty over the top (nobody is going to advocate any kind of medical system that would deliberately kill off old people), it was the fact that some adults chose to use an eight-year-old to get their point across that seemed outrageous.
But let's face it, the stunt worked.
Having a little girl hold a sign with such an angry, vitriolic message couldn't help but grab people's and the media's attention.
Why is this really necessary?
Certainly, there are people who don't want any kind of government involvement in health insurance. That's their political stance and they should fight for it.
It's good that people stand up for what they believe in politically but the real problem in the United States, and it could get worse here, is this attitude that the best way to attack the other side (i.e. right or left wings) is to assault individuals with slurs, falsehoods and personal attacks. It's silly and it's one of the major reasons politics and politicians are viewed so poorly by so many.
Politics should be about open debate between two or more sides. And that debate should be advanced with the sides putting forward their ideas and suggestions along with counterarguments to their opponents' ideas. But to just attack someone because they're on the opposite side is childish and pointless.
Accusing someone of lying because they want to kill grandmothers is obviously specious and is just used to develop a falsehood. It does not appropriately contribute to a debate. And to exploit a child to further that attack is just ridiculous.
But that's what is happening in a country that continues to be violently polarized politically.
This kind of attack is not exclusive to one side. Both sides throw a lot of garbage around south of the border.
That's my big fear about this country. All political sides in Canada can get pretty charged up, and there's certainly similar types of attacks, but they are more rare, or at least toned down, here. We still try to have some semblance of a debate. But the attacks are getting worse and I just don't want to see Canada's political scene turn into that of the U.S.
While the various sides think these types of attacks help further their goals, that kind of poisoned political atmosphere does no one any good.

Jason Small can be reached at 691-1255.