9/19/2004: Three-year-old campaigner cries

[Undertoad]

I swore up and down that I'd try to avoid this as an IotD, because it's so bloody partisan, but then I realized that it's kinda non-partisan when you think about it.

Once wolf posted this item in the "Humor in the Campaigns" thread, I was ready to post this shot there but then I realized it's downright UNhumorous by any account, and not suitable for the thread.

What it is: the man in the center is a Bush supporter. Edwards was making a stop at his local airport so he packed some Bush signs into his bag and headed off to the event, with his kids in tow. (One kid eleven years old, the other, three.) When he got there the Kerry/Edwards supporter guy tore up their sign and the girl busted out in tears, and an AP photographer caught the whole thing.

The ensuing online flame war could have been predicted from miles away. This really says nothing about any candidate, any party, or any set of supporters. It's an isolated event. It doesn't mean much and both sides are trying to assign it too much meaning.

I'd rather not pay attention at all. But what interests me is the question of whether the man had any business carting his three-year-old into the hornet's nest. It's ok for him to do it, that's fine, I hope he does, that's part of how the whole thing works. But at age 3, it seems like the kid is a prop or, worse, a human shield. It's good if the kids get something out of it -- seeing political activity up close. But are they kinda in harm's way here?