如今的政治有一件事是肯定的：就在你以为政治言论已经低到不能再低的时候，总有某位候选人把下限再往下拉。本周，那个令人尴尬至极、“我真不敢相信他居然会说出这种话”的终身成就奖，颁给了俄亥俄州共和党州长候选人维韦克·拉马斯瓦米。以前并不是这样的。自1968年我第一次走进竞选办公室的大门起，我就一直是个政治迷：那是在旧金山，为总统候选人、参议员尤金·麦卡锡（民主党-明尼苏达州）助选。
One thing for sure about politics these days. Just when you think political rhetoric could sink no lower, some candidate takes things to a new low. This week, the all-time, cringeworthy, I-can’t-believe-he-would-actually-say-that award goes to Ohio Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy. It didn’t used to be that way. I’ve been a political junkie since 1968, when I first walked through the doors of a campaign office: in San Francisco, for presidential candidate Sen. Eugene McCarthy (D-Minn.).
关于政治，我早年就学到了两件事。第一，它很重要。它不只是关乎赢得选举，还关乎决定我们想要什么样的城市、州或国家，我们是什么样的人，以及我们希望由谁来代表我们。第二，尽管政治是硬碰硬的较量，而不是打豆袋游戏，但多少还保留着一些文明礼貌。你可以强烈反对你的对手，但你从不撒谎，从不进行人身侮辱，也从不攻击对手的家人。
Two things I learned early on about politics. One, it’s important. It’s about more than winning elections. It’s about deciding what kind of city, state or country we want, what kind of people we are and whom we want to represent us. Two, even though politics is hardball and not beanbag, there was still some sense of civility. You could disagree with your opponent strongly, but you never lied, never engaged in personal insults, and never attacked members of an opponent’s family.
当然，这一切随着特朗普总统而改变了，他打破了所有规则。他侮辱同为共和党人的候选人：“小马可”鲁比奥；“撒谎的泰德”克鲁兹；“低能量”杰布·布什。他谎称自己赢得了2016年的普选。他指控前总统贝拉克·奥巴马“叛国”，称其“操纵”了2016年和2020年的选举。几乎没有哪个批评过他的民主党人或共和党人没被特朗普侮辱、嘲弄或造谣过。
All that changed, of course, with President Trump, who broke all the rules. He insulted fellow Republican candidates: “Little Marco” Rubio; “Lyin’ Ted” Cruz; “Low Energy” Jeb Bush. He lied about winning the popular vote in 2016. He accused former President Barack Obama of “treason” for “rigging” the 2016 and 2020 elections. There’s hardly a Democratic or Republican critic of his that Trump hasn’t insulted, ridiculed or lied about.
在他那种政治风格之下，再也没有底线了。无论多么令人作呕，什么都可以干得出来。而在特朗普这场奔向阴沟的竞赛中，没有人比维韦克·拉马斯瓦米拥抱得更彻底。上周，拉马斯瓦米发布了一则电视广告，创下了政治的新低。广告中，民主党候选人艾米·阿克顿医生的母亲唐娜·阿瑟直视镜头，对选民说：“别让她成为你们的州长。……”“她是个骗子。”
Under his brand of politics, there is no bottom anymore. No matter how disgusting, anything goes. And nobody has embraced Trump’s race to the gutter more than Vivek Ramaswamy. In a new low for politics, Ramaswamy released a television ad last week in which Donna Arthur, mother of Democratic candidate Dr. Amy Acton, looks into the camera and tells voters: “Don’t let her become your governor. ... She is a liar.”
把对手的母亲“空降”进州长竞选本身就已错得离谱，而阿克顿与其母亲的关系性质，更让拉马斯瓦米的这则广告令人发指。阿克顿的继父因涉嫌强奸阿克顿被起诉后，阿瑟失去了阿克顿和她弟弟的监护权。事实无可争议。根据警方和法庭文件，1978年7月，阿克顿的生父向当局举报后，克莱迪斯·阿瑟因涉嫌强奸当时年仅12岁的继女被捕并被起诉。
Parachuting his opponent’s mother into the governor’s race is wrong enough, but the nature of the relationship between Acton and her mother makes Ramaswamy’s ad truly despicable. Arthur lost custody of Acton and her brother after her husband, the children’s stepfather, was indicted for raping Acton. There’s no dispute about the facts. According to police and court documents, Cledith Arthur was arrested and charged with the rape of his stepdaughter, then 12, in July 1978, after Acton's biological father reported him to authorities.
据称虐待发生在1976年12月至1978年4月期间。州政府部门将阿克顿和她弟弟从家中带走，安置在寄养家庭。此后大约50年里，阿克顿再未与母亲说过话。克莱迪斯·阿瑟对指控不认罪。1978年9月，大陪审团对其提出起诉，但他未出席法庭听证会。阿克顿的母亲选择留在丈夫身边，并协助他逃避执法部门追捕，直到他在2004年去世。
The abuse allegedly happened from December 1976 to April 1978. State authorities removed Acton and her brother from their home and placed them in foster care. Acton has not spoken to her mother since, in roughly 50 years. Cledith Arthur pleaded not guilty. He was indicted by a grand jury in September 1978, but failed to show at a court hearing. Acton’s mother stayed with her husband and helped him escape law enforcement authorities until he died in 2004.
还算政治界存有一丝体面的迹象是，拉马斯瓦米利用一个家庭的悲剧史、把一个站在女儿强奸犯一边的女性包装成竞选代言人，甚至触怒了他的俄亥俄州共和党同僚。俄亥俄州州长迈克·德怀恩（共和党）表示拉马斯瓦米应撤下该广告。正在竞选连任的参议员约翰·赫斯特德（共和党-俄亥俄州）和州务卿弗兰克·拉罗斯（共和党）也谴责了该广告。
As a sign there’s still some decency left in politics, Ramaswamy’s decision to exploit a family’s tragic history and present a woman who sided with her daughter’s rapist as a spokesperson for his campaign even offended his fellow Ohio Republicans. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said Ramaswamy should take down the ad. Sen. John Husted (R-Ohio), running for reelection, and Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) also condemned the ad.
事实上，许多共和党人对拉马斯瓦米的“妈妈骗子”广告感到愤怒。但万斯没有。特朗普也没有。最近刚出版回忆录庆祝自己皈依天主教的万斯，让共和党人“别再抱怨了”。他说，我们反而应该感谢拉马斯瓦米“有胆量播一则电视广告，直指痛点、如实揭露”。特朗普则称赞该广告“击中要害”，不仅表示喜欢，还说他嫉妒这则广告。
In fact, many Republicans were outraged by Ramaswamy’s “mommy liar” ad. But not JD Vance. And not Trump. Vance, who recently wrote a book celebrating his conversion to Catholicism, told Republicans to “stop whining.”Instead, he said, we should thank Ramaswamy for having “the audacity to run a TV commercial which calls it out like it is.”For his part, Trump praised the ad, saying it was like “hitting pay dirt.”He not only liked the ad, he said he was jealous about it.
他在爱荷华州的竞选集会上说：“我只希望我当时也能有一个那样的广告来对付对手。”看着拉马斯瓦米、万斯和特朗普在泥潭中打滚，让人想起1954年陆军-麦卡锡听证会上的那个历史性时刻，当时律师约瑟夫·韦尔奇作为美国陆军的首席法律顾问，对抗参议员约瑟夫·麦卡锡（共和党-威斯康星州）关于五角大楼渗透共产分子的指控。
He told an Iowa campaign rally: “I only wish I could have had an ad like that against somebody.”Watching Ramaswamy, Vance and Trump wallow in the dirt recalls that historic moment in the Army-McCarthy hearings of 1954, where attorney Joseph Welch served as chief counsel for the U.S. Army against Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s (R-Wis.) charges that the Pentagon was riddled with communists.
当麦卡锡还指控韦尔奇律师事务所的一名年轻成员是共产分子时，韦尔奇提出了那个终结麦卡锡职业生涯、至今仍回荡在耳边的著名问题：“先生，你难道没有一点体面感吗？”不，约瑟夫·麦卡锡当时没有一点体面感。而今天，拉马斯瓦米、万斯或特朗普也没有。比尔·普雷斯是《比尔·普雷斯播客》的主持人。他是《从左翼视角：交火中的一生》的作者。
When McCarthy also accused a young member of Welch’s law firm of being a communist, Welch asked the famous question that ended McCarthy’s career and still echoes today: “Have you no sense of decency, sir?”No, Joseph McCarthy had no sense of decency then. And neither does Ramaswamy, Vance or Trump today. Bill Press is host of The Bill Press Pod. He is the author of “From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.”