Is “dirty politics” an integral part of Democracy?

“I am sick of the kind of dishonest campaigns that we see when people go out and fake somebody else’s material for the purpose of causing trouble 24 hours before a primary,” he said. “This is not worthy of our children and grandchildren. It’s not worthy of America. It’s not funny. It’s not a game.”

This seemingly trivial manner brings about a question to the fundamental philosophical question, “Do politicians themselves have to be virtuous? Or do we merely care about the outcome during their term?” In a very Greek-philosophy way, we are asking, “Does it matter if a sophist (one that is a clever-speaker but is deceptive) rules, or a philosopher king (a virtuous man)?” Despite the dominating notion of Liberty and freedoms, it seems that society still unconsciously perceive democracies to be driven by virtuous people, with high moral standards, and will promote a positive image of the society. With this implied expectation of politicians, it makes it inevitable that the media will delve into personal lives and perhaps infringe on their privacies.