The title of today's column is a phrase coined by William Safire and given to Vice-President Spiro Agnew during the Nixon Administration to describe the press; the idea being that the press always looks at the negative and never at the positive. We continue to hear those same criticisms today, thirty five years later. Only today, it not only applies to journalists but to politicians as well.

The current presidential campaign has turned nasty and will most likely stay that way. Each of the three remaining candidates have made missteps and faux pas' and that will most likely continue. Just in the past week, Barack Obama has been harangued over racist and unpatriotic statements made by his Trinity United Church of Christ minister. Obama was in the congregation for some of these tirades and evidently made no attempt to speak to the minister about toning down his remarks.

John McCain has misspoken three times during his visit to Iraq and Afghanistan, requiring fellow Sen. Joseph Liebermann to correct him publicly by whispering in his ear each time, and Hillary Clinton has decided that perhaps the only way to win the Democratic nomination is by trying to convince delegates already pledged to Obama by the popular votes in their home districts to change their loyalty and re-pledge to her. According to DNC rules, this last ploy is permitted, but most experts believe if already pledged delegates do that, it will end the chances of putting a Democrat in the White House in 2009.

It's especially interesting to listen to the journalists. It's difficult, if not impossible, for them to hide their biases. For example, when you hear right-wing talk show hosts and columnists like Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and Pat Buchanan speak about supporting Hillary Clinton over John McCain, it doesn't take much insight to see that this posturing is due to the perception on their part that she will be a much easier foe for the Republicans to defeat in November than Barack Obama because of her consistently high negative poll ratings. Other journalists slobbered over the eloquence of Barack Obama until he overtook Clinton in the polls, then turned against him the next day. The obvious ploy here is to generate interest in their television shows or their newspaper or magazine columns through controversy. They appear to be much more interested in ratings and readership than who the next president is going to be.

Others say regardless of the historic precedent of the first woman to have a serious chance to be President of the United States, that significance is overshadowed by the fact that if she is nominated, elected and then re-elected four years from now, that would mean we have had a Bush or a Clinton in the White House for the past 28 consecutive years. A country of three hundred million people governed by only two families for almost three decades is a pill many Americans would find hard to swallow, plus it would put husband Bill back in the White House too and who knows what his role would be.

Adding fuel to the fire is racism, sexism, and ageism. Barack Obama is half-white, half-black but the racists in society see him as all black, all the time. His experience is thin; working as a community organizer in Chicago, a state legislator in Illinois, and one term in the United States Senate. Hillary Clinton is obviously a woman and many sexists will find it impossible to vote for a woman, regardless of her credentials and qualifications, once they step foot in the voting booth. And speaking of qualifications, she continually talks about her thirty five years of experience but, in fact, is serving only her second term in the U.S. Senate, the only elected office she's ever held, and is the author of the almost universally criticized health care plan when she was the First Lady during her husband's administration. John McCain, if elected, would be the oldest President ever on his inauguration day and many people who believe older Americans are over the hill will have a difficult time punching his ticket when election day rolls around. Plus he's prepared to stay in Iraq for 100 years, a continuation of the Bush plan which 62 percent of the American people disagree with.

Those are the choices we have, except for perennial candidate Ralph Nader, who received only 0.4 percent of the vote in the 2004 Presidential election.

A black man, a white woman, or an old white guy. These are the choices the electorate has decided on. Pick one and cross your fingers.