Is The Information Age Killing Genial Maine Elections?
I had always been told growing up that Maine politics was something different and special. Contrary to other states, elections in Maine were viewed as civil contests of substance, generally pitting good people vs. good people, with tame attack ads, and mostly constructive, positive campaigning.
Yes, even in the most tame political environment, you will always find some sketchy things going on, but in Maine they were the exception, not the rule. Rarely – if ever – would you ever see an ad like this, and if you did it would be roundly attacked as bitter partisan garbage.
The reasons for this were plentiful.
First of all,the candidates who run in Maine are less corrupt, and throwing mud at them makes little sense. Earlier today I was trying to think of the last huge political scandal that erupted in the state of Maine – sleeping with interns, pay to play, trips to Argentina to see your mistress, stealing pennies out of the Shriner’s jar at the convenience store – but I simply could not think of anything. Go search in Google, you won’t find anything either.
Maine has consistently ranked as one of the least corrupt states, politically. We just don’t have “green balloons” type scandals happen here. Maine pols are certainly not perfect, and there are always rumors about a particular ethical problem or seedy affair, but they never amount to anything.
Some of them probably should – but the larger point is that most people who seek office in Maine are down to earth folks who aren’t particularly evil.
Second, the media in the state is simply a different culture than you find in states like Massachusetts, California, New York or Illinois. For you baseball fans, the difference is like moving from the New York Yankees to say the Colorado Rockies.
The microscope you are under in New York is so intense that it borders on the absurd, while you could potentially get caught snorting cocaine off a hooker’s back in Denver, and none of the sports writers would even bother writing about it. In short, the specter of the media spotlight is much harsher in some places than others.
In Maine, political reporting is light. Much has been made about the decline in both bodies and raw coverage, with now only five reporters covering the Maine House of Representatives and Maine Senate – in the entire state.
But more than that, Maine political reporting has tended to subscribe to the pre-Nixon style of political reporting – that is, covering campaigns, horse races, ideas and debates, but staying away from personal scandals and issues that are viewed as outside of the scope of a politicians job.
I have little doubt they would cover something if it reached a certain threshold of public consciousness, but they simply do not chase down those stories. Maine political reporting is much less tabloid and rumor mongering than most other states.
Third, there are simply no partisan generals that really whip up the hyperbolic, slanderous, mud-slinging activity of the populous like in other states. Sure, there are talk radio hosts, but let’s be honest, there are no state wide icons, and most people who listen are tuning into national shows rather than local ones.
Maine simply does not have any state level Sean Hannity or Ed Schultz to stoke the fires and drive grossly one sided messaging. The local talk show hosts that people do listen to are nice guys who people respect and engage in reasonable debate – they simply don’t throw elbows in the same way.
Fourth, the electorate is simply different. Mainers are independent minded, respect reasonable, well measured candidates, and react very poorly to what they view as spite-filled partisan demagoguery. Thus, much of the type of politics which traditionally thrives in other states will actually turn off voters here.
But, from where I am sitting, that is beginning to change, and the growth of the internet may be to blame.
Take, for example, the tone of conversation here on Pine Tree Politics. Go to really any article about one of the candidates, and watch unfold the bloodbath. What you will see is any number of the supporters of one candidate or another, unleashing a myriad of complaints about whatever candidate they choose to target at the time, often time descending into what can only be described as slander. We hear personal attacks, rumors, unsubstantiated claims, character assassination, and broad assumptions made about everything from a candidates motivation to their beliefs.
It is hardly a phenomenon seen just here. It can be regularly seen in politically oriented message boards, other blogs, email exchanges, and now on social networks like Facebook and Twitter.
Indeed, some of the most vile, disrespectful and hate filled things I have seen said about Maine politicos has happened on these new mediums, particularly Twitter. The level of discussion and “debate” during the fight over gay marriage, for example, was quite literally embarrassing.
Why?
Anonymity, the physical disconnect of digital communication, a focus on speed and reaction over substance and thought, just to name a few.
In Maine, politicians and political conversations used to happen person to person. Candidates who did not meet voters and shake their hands got nowhere, and those politicians who succeeded were good at the retail politics of face to face hand interactions. Saturating media markets with commercials didn’t get you any where near the response that marching in Fourth of July parades or going door to door personally would.
But this is now being replaced by the low attention span, stimulus response nature of online communications. I can’t spend too much time bemoaning this as it is the backbone of my chosen profession, but none the less, it is shifting the focus of all political conversation in Maine to one that is more reactionary, more hyperbolic, less civil, and in virtually every respect, less nice.
Now the debate is being driven by anonymous web videos attacking a candidate, and the pit of doom that is internet comment sections.
I spoke with some friends of mine (in both parties) last week, and picked their brains about the state of the gubernatorial race, and almost to a person I noticed the poison that had infected our discourse. Their attention was on the rumors, gossip, negative attacks and tabloid style conversations about the race, and virtually nothing else.
I grew up in Maine, and remember vividly the conversation that would take place before the growth of the internet. Yes, they were partisan, and yes they were sometimes silly, but the level of animosity and the spread of superficial, unsubstantiated garbage was nothing like it is now.
I worry that such a course is making us lose sight of what politics should really be about, and in the process the thing that has made Maine politics special over the years – a respectful, reasonable conversation between candidates and voters that does not descend into a slimy mud-hole – is lost.
That only increases cynicism, distrust, anger and doubt, and in most cases, for no reason other than reactionary garbage that we used to reject. But, we no longer sit face to face and talk about things in a sensible way, so the personal connection and the ability to reach a detente of sentiment is gone, which is sending our discourse into the sewer.
I know that politics is a dirty business, and even in the best of times in Maine, there have always been attack ads, negative stories, and undesirable political conversations – what I am lamenting is the emerging dominance of that type of attitude in our discourse, so that we can no longer have any sort of constructive conversation.
Indeed, just today the reaction to my very mild piece on Steve Rowe’s chaotic campaign – an article which was really nothing more than an examination of counterproductive campaign tactics from the point of view of a political operative and made no slanderous claim about Rowe (a man I find very intelligent and nice, actually) – set off a string of angry commentary and personal attacks on yours truly.
Is that really where we want to take conversations like this?
One of my favorite things in the world to do is call up one of my best friends from college – a Democrat of unimpeachable progressive bona fides – and talk about politics. Somehow we are always able to talk about the problems in our own party, the negatives of our own candidates, and vice versa, without being either offended or descend into an argument. It is old fashioned, reasonable, Maine-style political conversation – fair, deferential and above all, substantive.
I’m afraid we are collectively losing our ability to talk to each other like that. I hope that as this campaign moves forward, we can all try to keep that in mind, and give Maine an election to be proud of.
Popularity: 26% [?]
Do not lose hope, you young of heart! O, though the spring muds may furrow your brow, though every polite doff of your cap release to the winds yet more hair from that little spot, there, right at the top, be not disheartened!
Youth of Maine, when confronted with a thousand charging Texans, running low on ammunition, doubled over with hunger, and blinded by his own sweat, did Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain falter? Did he turn to his seargeant-at-arms and recall wistfully the days when the 20th Maine, well equipped, drilled splendidly on the manicured lawns of Falmouth Foreside? No, he did not!
When Chester Greenwood, pestered by a veritable sandstorm of spring midges, confounded by a churning sea of available textile materials from which he would craft his genius, gentle youth, did Chester Greenwood throw up his hands? Did he tip his wooden chair back away from the kitchen stove and say “Aw, to hell with it, I’ll just pull my damn hat down lower?” No, he did not!
And in the raging Baltimore summer of 1997, did Mike Bordick take his eye off the ball, look up at the giant neon screen, shamelessly broadcasting his embarrassing .236 average to a city on the verge of riot with playoff fever, and drop his bat to the ground, or sadly walk back to the dugout and hang up his spikes? Well, I think we all know the answer to that question.
My point, Matthew, is that Mainers don’t give up on Mainers. And Mainers don’t sweat the small stuff (well, Chamberlain may have been a poor example, but I had to build the drama first). Yeah, the posts on your site have gotten nasty. Some dude is anonymous and so there’s no accountability for what he says. Honestly? It’s fine. It’ll be fine. As Billy Joel says,
the good ol’ days weren’t all that good, and tomorrow ain’t as bad as it seems.
I think once the candidates start solidifying their policy stances a little bit better, once the specific issues for this campaign shake themselves out, we’ll have something else to talk about.
And again, I certainly mean no offense, but what percentage of the Maine population reads these things on here? It’s fun for us, it’s potentially a great forum for rational discourse, it’s an excellent feeder mechanism for investigative journalism, but really are the anonymous posts in the comment section indicative of the character of the larger polity? I don’t think so, really.
It’s like we’re in a small town meeting where that one guy who has to debate every point, you think, jeez, my dad never had to deal with knuckleheads like this, and he stands out. But go to a bigger forum, like, say, the Windsor Fair. If you can even hear the knuckleheads, you mostly ignore them.
You’re right that in a small unregulated forum that baseness stands out. But zoom out, or make folks own their own commentary, and you’ve got a different story. I don’t think that Maine politics has anywhere close to migrated to the internet yet. And I don’t think the electorate has changed its character.
But I would be extremely curious to get some of the candidates’ take on this, wouldn’t you?
The point isn’t that the internet has consumed the population so much that everyone participates.
But politics is driven by a small cadre of people. What people hear about politics, candidates, and elections usually is a pyramid… a few at the top, spread to a few more below, all the way down, in what amounts to a large game of telephone, so that by the time it gets to the general unengaged voter the impression is made, and it all started with that small group.
The problem I am seeing is that our conversations among that small group that drives the narrative are being turned by this particular brand of poisonous garbage… I don’t see any way how a Bill Cohen or George Mitchell – people who essentially the entire state respects and likes regardless of party – could even exist with this level of toxicity.
You are selling short the power of the few who drive political discourse. It really is a frighteningly small number of people who provide direction which then spills down the ladder to everyone else.
Commentary that simply would never have existed about a candidate in the past is now part of the consciousness of the activist community, and it spreads like wildfire.
I find it sad to watch.
My thesis was never that pajama wearing basement dwellers have taken over the state – it is that they are driving what we talk about and how, and because they are, it is turning decidedly negative, with less substantive discussion, and very little leeway given to anyone.
Leeway: the original word comes from the shipping trade and if one had leeway, that ship could move freely with the knowledge that it would not ground. I have watched as, on a national level, various publications, then various radio stations, then various television networks, and now the internet have not given leeway to any politicians. In fact, it seems that leeway is the thing that supposedly lets corruption happen so — “if we don’t give ‘em leeway they won’t act out.” I’m afraid we’ve reached the point where no leeway means that the ship has grounded. And, that rising tide that lifts all boats? Well, it might be a constant nudging by thoughtful commentators whose sophistication has to reach a higher level than all of those “pundits” who believe leeway or any such looseness makes for no news.
Referring to childhood, as you have here, might remind us all that as adults we’re supposed to be above the fray of bickering and petty nastiness. Keep reminding us; in every vehicle that has a voice we need to hear this stuff so we can consciously make leeway matter again. The end result of constant reminders might be the good news that the ship is once again moving and helping our democracy progress.
And you’re forgetting that the only thing that perpetuates this poison, that passes the message on down the pyramid, is the attention that you and I and the half dozen other folks who might possibly be interested in something a little more tempered, a little more tepid, and a little more respectful. So I guess I’m saying that it’s like your teacher said about that kid in first grade. Ignore him and he’ll stop.
Have your rational, respectful dialogue, and let that guy make a fool out of himself. He might get a bunch of attention at first, because he’s loud, and he interrupts. But over time, society always has gotten sick of that type of behavior.
And especially Maine society. So don’t be sad. Instead, laugh at my Mike Bordick reference.
Senator Snowe seems very much like your Mitchell and your Cohen…didn’t she get, like, over 70% of the vote? Sounds like respect to me…
As you alluded to above, the internet is a big megaphone so Angry Bill Hertz from Holden can reach thousands. But if the angry outliers, who were always there, have their message amplified, isn’t the reach of the rational masses similarly amplified? If the internet is the great equalizer, by saying that the jerks now have a larger share of the floor, you’re basically arguing that they’re either a larger percentage of the population than they were, or that they’re more energetic and are willing to put more obsessive energy into their fetid rants. I just don’t believe that either are the case.
For some reason, possibly because this media is, in fact, new, and exciting, you and I are paying them more attention than we would if they were sitting next to us at town meeting. I really think if they’re driving the political discourse, it’s our fault.
and the half dozen other folks who might possibly be interested in something a little more tempered, a little more tepid, and a little more respectful are paying them.
I get excited.
I love Maine.
That is all.
No matter where we go today there is politics and misconstrued information. How does one get a handle on knowing the truth verse the misleading info? How do we express Maine concerns when the leaders make change in our laws? How do we inform the public of changes in Maine system? With computers and social networks today people are able to communicate and express themselves more than ever. It’s difficult to keep blogs informative and respectful sometimes when people really want to express themselves and no two people are alike so we get a few that are pretty vocal an that’s fine but we also need to remember to respect others reading the info. Direct pointing makes it sometimes hard to wanna read the news these days. Sometimes our technology really has raised many issues beyond the studies to prove otherwise. Keeping an open mind is one of the best solutions today. Listen to what people have to say or offer an think about it. Life is what it is and the choices we make. We make a difference!
Civility in debate is important, and no Maine politician will get far whom the public feels falls short in that regard. But policies can also be uncivil. And a candidate promoting such uncivil policies may use a pleasant demeanor to deflect harder analysis and criticism.
Thus, civility, in my view, is a bit broader than some might at first define. In judging whether something is civil, one immediate element comes to mind as part of a criteria for deciding: is it true?
Well written, Matt.
And I am happy to read that you keep close contact with your Democrat counterpart. As conservative icon Bill Buckley said of his close personal relationships with liberals John Kenneth Galbraith and Steve Allen,”Like Lord Action, I believe one should vote with the Tories and drink with the Socialists.”
Leave a comment!
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