The Bush 'Smear' Machine

[dArKeR]

(Weekly Standard) A staple of Democratic rhetoric these days is the charge that a "Republican attack machine" is smearing John Kerry. Is it really true that Republicans are impugning Kerry's military service in Vietnam and questioning his patriotism? Seeking an answer, my colleague at Fox News, Morton Kondracke, asked the Democratic National Committee to supply evidence of Republican mudslinging. Send me the worst of the smears by the Republican National Committee or President Bush's reelection campaign, Kondracke said.

What the DNC produced didn't come close to substantiating the charge of smears about Kerry's military record or patriotism. The Democratic committee couldn't cite anyone from the RNC or the Bush campaign -- or the White House for that matter -- who had criticized Kerry for his service in Vietnam or raised doubts about his patriotism. For the most part, what the DNC called smears were attacks on Kerry's antiwar activity after he left the Navy.

The DNC document bore this headline: "As Bush's Approval Rating Drops … the Rove-Gillespie Smear Machine Moves Into Full Gear." Karl Rove is a White House official and political adviser to Bush. Ed Gillespie is chairman of the RNC. No quotes from Rove were cited. Gillespie was blamed for allegedly spreading lies about Kerry's protest on the Mall in Washington as a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Gillespie was reported to have said that Kerry claimed to have spent the night on the Mall with other veterans when he really stayed in a friend's apartment. Whether true or not, this doesn't touch on Kerry's military service or patriotism.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/05/03/opinion/main615239.shtml

[tom_paine]

1. Oh Christ, why didn't you tell me that piece was written by Bushevik Fred

Barnes?

I wasted my time reading that.

I could have just as easily have dug our the 1936 German version

"The Jews accused our Fuhrer of all sorts of things. When I asked Zionists of Germany for examples, their responses fell far short of proving their ridiculous assertion."

"Just like a Jew, isn't it?"

Fred Barnes is the moral equivalent of a Der Sturmer Scribe.

No more, no less.

[rock]

2. Well put, Tom

[Cocoa]

3. how dare Kerry suggest such a thing!

That poor Karl Rove, to have to endure such accusations. :cry: