As I was reading Reagan on Leadership last night, I came across this quote which reminded me that politics has been a dirty business for a long time:

When Ronald Reagan first sought elective office, the governorship of California in 1966, many were openly skeptical of his candidacy for one reason: He was an actor. To be sure, he had had a successful career in radio, films, and television, and as a public speaker. Nonetheless, the incumbent governor whom Reagan eventually defeated viewed him as highly vulnerable in this regard. In a maneuver that was memorable even by the ever-declining standards of modern politics, Reagan's opponent commissioned a television advertisement in which he explained to a group of schoolchildren that John Wilkes Booth, Abraham Lincoln's assassin, was also an actor.

The ploy failed and is not that different than MoveOn's the "Bush=Hitler" movement, which I believe will also fail. This quote by Reagan demonstrates how comfortable he was in his own skin:

For years, I've heard the question: "How could an actor be President?" I've sometimes wondered how you could be President and not be an actor.