re: #407 Walter L. Newton

I said public office, that means elected, geeessshhh.

Public office is not synonymous with elections at all. Most ‘public offices’ are completely undemocratic appointees. Regardless, Sheriffs, Judges are often elected. A police sheriff under your definition is a ‘career politician’, in that he gets paid to do a job to which he was either elected or appointed to do on behalf of the public.

Regardless, the discussion is over semantics. A ‘career politician’ evokes a certain quality of political connectedness. An insider, with political clout. A Rumsfeld, or Cheney. It is a criticism, more than a simple statement of fact.

You can apply ‘career politician’ to a lot of people that have technically made a career out of public service rather that be elected or appointed office that don’t warrant the moniker, being that every politician in America is a career politician, as they all get paid for their service.