What is mudslinging?

I watched the Democratic debate from Nevada this week and I Mrs. Clinton accused a couple of her fellow condenters for the presidency of mudsling from the Republican playbook. Now I have studied some history and I have been interested in presidential campaigns. There was some real mud slinging. Candidates were often accused of horrible things, even rape and murder. One presidential candidate was even accused of being dead. I have always thought that those types of statements would be considered mudslinging.



But I never thought that telling the truth was mudslinging. If a candidate has taken both sides of an issue in one debate, let alone in front of different audiences, that there was the video to prove it, how could that be called mudslinging?



When I was a child, I heard this saying, "You can sure dish it out, but you can't take it." Mrs. Clinton's complaints of her rivals reminded me of that saying. She has no problem attacking them but can't deal with them attacking her. If she should become president will that be her approach to the enemies of the United States? Will she cry foul to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Vladimir Putin and pout about it? I don't think they would care.



I have a lot of other problems with Mrs. Clinton like her lack of openness and honesty, her wanting to govern by focus groups like her husband did. But she better be able to take a verbal punch, especially if it is factual, because if she can't and she's elected, we are in big trouble.