Rusty Saber: Even politicians get bum rap sometimes

Some groups get a bum rap, otherwise known as undeserved criticism.

Some critics would have us believe that police officers spend more time in doughnut shops than patrolling the streets and fighting crime.

Cops hanging out in doughnut shops is standard thoughtless joke fodder. Just this week, I saw this bumper sticker that read "Bad cop! No more doughnuts!" This is a bum rap. I wanted to ask the driver how he would like to spend eight-hour work shifts in a car, getting out only when something is wrong, dealing with people who place at some point on a spectrum from completely innocent, to wild-eyed, cop-hating, gun-toting felon?

Whatever the bumper sticker guy does for a living, I'll bet he takes regular breaks. Everyone does. Don't police officers deserve a break? Of course they do. Since their office is a patrol car that's supposed to be on the streets most of the time, their breaks are brief.

Officers are never truly off-duty, thus doughnut shops provide quick service and an easy exit if called to an emergency. It's clear to me that police officers get a bum rap. Perhaps police cars need bumper stickers that say: "Bad (fill in the career). No more coffee breaks."

Elementary and secondary school teachers get a bum rap. Any time teachers ask for a raise in pay, certain school experts (at one time or another, everyone attended school, which makes them experts) will loudly proclaim that teachers don't deserve pay raises because they work only nine months a year.

It is true, academic school years are nine months long. Are teachers paid for 12 months but work only nine? Not so. Just the opposite; if actually paid on the basis of a full year, teacher salaries would be up where they should be, considering their levels of education.

Most teachers would be content it they were paid for 12 months.

Besides, nine months seems like 12 to teachers who have more students, class preparation and paper grading than quality learning dictates.

Add to the mix the bureaucratic busy work laid on them and most thoughtful observers agree: Regardless of the length of the school year, teachers' salaries are a bargain.

It isn't like teachers spend summers frolicking on Waikiki Beach; they are expected to take summer school courses to update their credentials. It may come as a surprise to some people that teachers don't make up lesson plans as they walk into the classroom. Teachers are responsible for the students every school day. Massive advance preparation goes into a school year, especially today, when new technological innovations in teaching seemingly come on line every year. It takes a lot of teachers' "free summer leisure time" to master these innovations. Don't add to the injustice by giving teachers a bum rap.

This probably will come as a really big shock, but politicians who use campaign attack ads get a bum rap. I hate attack ads more than just about anybody, but politicians use them because they work.

Post-election analysis often points out that certain candidates were defeated because they stayed out of the gutter and didn't respond to attack ads with attack ads of their own. If bad raps are to be handed out for attack ads, voters are to blame.

I don't believe any candidate actually wants to run a commercial saying something like: "Gene Clodhopper wants to throw elderly people out of their homes, starve our children, ruin our schools, and poison our water and our air. Your angelic candidate, Elvis Smirdley, stands for every good and decent thing you can think of, and a few you haven't thought of."

Nor does his opponent really want to run this response: "Elvis Smirdley tells sleazy lies about Gene Clodhopper. What can you expect from a man who beats his wife, wants to repeal child labor laws, doesn't bathe, refuses to use a deodorant and has bad breath. If elected, he'll be in jail before he is sworn in. Keep it clean, elect Clean Gene Clodhopper!" Politicians get a lot of deserved raps, but not for attack ads.

The cartoon icon from the past, Pogo, said it best: "We have met the enemy and he is us."

(Joe McAdoo is former chairman of the communication department at Drury University and a Springfield public relations consultant.)