Politicians' kids learn to weather media criticism

When Ann Coulter implied that she wanted to call John Edwards a "faggot" during a speech at a Conservative Political Action Conference earlier this month, the audience reacted with confusion: some clapped, some laughed, some gasped.

As politicians, bloggers and TV talking heads hurried to parse Coulter's comments about the former Democratic senator from North Carolina and current presidential candidate, no one sought the opinion of one player in the melodrama: Edwards' daughter, Cate Edwards '04.

But if the press had asked for her response, Edwards said, she would have told them she objected more to Coulter's tone than to her target. "That comment did not offend me because it was talking about my dad," she said in an interview. "I just think that kind of hateful language ... should not be tolerated in political discourse or anywhere in this country."

Edwards is one of several University students and alumni who are children of prominent politicians, and who consequently must cope with their parents' constant vulnerability to the slings and arrows of public discourse.

Perhaps because of the frequency of these attacks, however, many of these political offspring said they've learned to stop taking jabs aimed at their parents personally.

"Things on the news and stuff aren't that big of a deal at all," said Bryan Frist '10, son of former Senate majority leader Bill Frist '74 (R-Tenn.). "It's part of the game."

Joe Franken '07, son of political comedian Al Franken, who recently announced his candidacy for a U.S. Senate seat from Minnesota, said he tries to distinguish between negative comments that stem from objections to his father's views and attacks that are more personally vicious. Most of the insulting statements that target his father, he said, are "responses to his political views and how he expresses them. It has nothing to do with his personality." If the people making derogatory comments actually sat down with his father for an hour, Franken added, they would be won over by the elder Franken's affability and personal charm, though political differences might still exist.

But some comments and advertisements cannot be dismissed completely, said Mary Marshall '10, the daughter of Georgia Democrat Jim Marshall '72, who narrowly won reelection to his House seat in November's midterm elections.

"If they're false, you don't want to get petty about it," she said. "[But] it's not one of those things where you can just turn the other cheek and move on." Marshall is also a member of The Daily Princetonian Editorial Board.

Edwards said it was more difficult for her to brush off attacks on her father at the beginning of his political career, prompting her to isolate herself from political discourse while at Princeton — especially leading up to the 2004 presidential election, when her father ran for vice president on the Democratic ticket.

But, with a growing amount of today's political discourse characterized by provocative attack ads and negative news coverage, it may be increasingly difficult to avoid being splashed by political mudslinging.

Analysts say the media only magnifies this tendency by "disproportionately" covering negative ads. Vanderbilt politics professor John Geer GS '86, the author of "In Defense of Negativity," also noted that these ads tend to be rebroadcast alongside television news stories about them, which heightens their visibility.

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Such exposure gives candidates an added incentive to employ ad hominem attacks against their opponents, Geer said. Along with the growing polarization of major political parties, he added, this helps explain the upswing in negative advertising over the last 40 years.

Still, Geer argued that negative attacks — when appropriately conducted — play an "underappreciated" role in America's political system. "If you want to change the status quo," he said, "the first requirement to do so is to lay out what's wrong with it." Since candidates will always try to present themselves in the best light possible, he said, it is in the best interest of the public to receive a "mix" of negative and positive information.

But Edwards, like Franken, said she distinguishes between policy disagreements and personal attacks. In the former case, she said, the debate is legitimate and should be recognized. "One of the great things about this country is there is a diverse set of beliefs," she said. "When I hear people talk about Dad's policies, that's a totally different field [from personal attacks.]"

Some politicians and their families say they are amused by the distortions contained in negative ads, however. Marshall recalled a portrayal of her father in dark glasses in what she called an "over-dramatized" ad reminiscent of a horror movie. Such attack ads are so "ridiculous-looking," she said, that they can't be taken seriously.

Franken said he reacts similarly to the more outlandish charges levied against his father. "[People say] he's a scumbag, he's insane, he's angry — things that are so ridiculous," he said. "That's why it doesn't bother me. It's just funny to see."