Last Friday in my email box I received the first bit of
encouragement from the Bush Campaign in a while. Thus far, the
campaign has not been all that effective in attacking John Kerry.
Yes, they have run a lot of attack ads that have had some success
in driving up Kerry’s negatives. But so far they’ve been using a
bow and arrow when a rifle is nearby.
Now, however, it seems that the guns are about to be blazing.
The email provided me with a link to a new Bush video, and it is
outstanding. Titled “Kerry’s Coalition of the Wild-Eyed,” it links
Kerry with the extremism currently rampant in certain sectors of
the Democratic Party. It shows Al Gore howling, “How dare they drag
the good name of the United States through the mud of Saddam
Hussein’s torture prison!” and Howard Dean screeching, “I want my
country back!” It also has a clip of Michael Moore’s Oscar
acceptance speech and the two ads from MoveOn.org comparing Bush to
Hitler. Upon seeing it, all I could think was, “It is about
time!”
The Democrats have been engaged in courtship of left-wing
extremism for some months now, and no one has held them
accountable. William Kristol recently noted how inept the Bush
Campaign has been at using such extremism as a weapon against
Kerry:
Kennedy last month hyperventilated about Abu Ghraib:
“We now learn that Saddam’s torture chambers reopened under new
management: U.S. management.” Kerry, asked about that statement the
next day, said, “He’s my friend and I respect him, but I don’t
agree with the framing of that.” The framing? But that was
that — no follow-up from the Bush campaign to wrap that comment by
his buddy Ted around Kerry’s neck and to cause him days of
discomfort.
The new Bush video suggests that is about to change.
It would be nice if the media could be counted on to ask Kerry
to dissociate himself from such zealotry. They certainly had no
problem asking Barry Goldwater if he would denounce the John Birch
Society. In an August 1964 article titled “Sick, Sick, Sick”
journalist Kenneth Crawford panned Goldwater as “disingenuous” when
Goldwater said he wouldn’t denounce the Birchers because he “knew
that some members didn’t agree with [Birch Society President
Robert] Welch.” Crawford went on to describe the extremism of the
Birchers, which, interestingly enough, included a comparison of
John F. Kennedy to Hitler.
Yet the media on its own will not raise the issue of the Kerry
Campaign’s closeness to extremism, so the Bush Campaign must. It
could start by pointing out that Teresa Heinz-Kerry visited a
Kerry/MoveOn house party in San Francisco last December. At the
party she handed out an “Asses of Evil” pin that contained the
pictures of Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Ashcroft. Later she “took a call”
from her Senator husband, who proceeded to speak to the assembled
group. On the way out, she took some “Condoleezza Rice Crispies
Bars” with her. (Does the NAACP know about this? And would it even
care?)
Here are some questions that the Bush Campaign should encourage
the press to direct at Kerry. “Does your wife support MoveOn.org?”
“Will you or Teresa attend any more MoveOn.org events?” “Do you
denounce the MoveOn.org ads comparing President Bush to Hitler?”
“Do you agree with MoveOn.org that President Bush ‘deliberately
misled’ America about Iraq?” And if they are in a really
mischievous mood, the Bush Campaign could suggest asking, “Did your
wife give you any of the Condoleezza Rice Crispies Bars”?
Here are some other questions that the Bush Campaign should
propose: “Back in November, George Soros said ‘When I hear Bush
say, “You’re either with us or against us,” it reminds me of the
Germans.’ Do you think that is appropriate, Senator Kerry?” “Al
Gore recently compared Bush’s staff to ‘Brown Shirts.’ Should Gore
apologize for that remark?” “After seeing Michael Moore’s movie
Fahrenheit 9/11, DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe recently
said that he believed Moore’s premise that Bush invaded Afghanistan
not to avenge the terrorist attacks but to ensure that a natural
gas pipeline could be built there. Do you agree with Terry
McAuliffe?”
Kerry and the Democrats have not distanced themselves from
left-wing extremism; at times, they have even embraced it. The Bush
Campaign needs to start raising the extremism issue, encouraging
the media to ask Kerry if he will denounce it. To get the ball
rolling, the Bush Campaign should make an ad buy with the new
video. It can’t come too soon.
