Posted on 09/09/2004 9:14:32 PM PDT by crushelits
The Media Prepare Kerry's Excuse
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Well, it's not hard to see what the media are planning to write as the story of this campaign in the event John Kerry loses. Joe Klein begins to seed the story in Time.
The attacks on Kerry ranged from the reasonable—he certainly has empretzeled himself on Iraq—to the outrageous: Zell Miller's assertion that Kerry would take his orders from Paris. The Miller speech was the ugliest I've ever seen at a convention. It certainly trumped Pat Buchanan's 1992 "culture war" speech, in which the target was an abstract army of social liberals. This was a direct assault on the character and integrity of the Democratic nominee. And it followed a familiar G.O.P. attack pattern: like the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, Miller wasn't an official part of the Bush campaign. He claims to be a Democrat, and so, several Republicans told me, he was free to say anything he pleased. But Miller's speech wasn't the most disgraceful part of the G.O.P. show. That honor went to the Purple Heart Band-Aids ridiculing John Kerry's Vietnam wounds that were distributed by a past associate of Karl Rove's. It goes without saying that Rove had absolutely nothing to do with the idea—except perhaps for setting the scabrous tone of the Bush campaign.
Get it? The story is going to be that the Republicans were nasty and untruthful about John Kerry. Sound familiar? It's the same excuse the media offered for the defeat of John McCain in 2000, and Max Cleland's loss in 2002. And get how the "familiar G.O.P. attack pattern" manages to repeat the Kerry campaign's charge that the Swiftees are working hand in glove with the Republicans. And Klein's comment that Zell Miller "claims to be a Democrat" is ridiculous. Perhaps he would like to highlight that Ed Koch claims to be a Democrat as well? Note the usual job of connecting the dots; the Purple Heart Band-Aids were distributed by a past associate of Karl Rove's.
There's more. Klein simply labels as a lie the notion that there is any connection between the war in Iraq and the war on terror. Bush is deceptive, McCain presented a false choice, and oh, by the way, Kerry will not take orders from Paris.
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Don't forget the Willie Horton ads that were so nasty to poor Michael Dukakis. How about Dems just accept the fact the the country doesn't believe in the "ideas"???
Joe Klein: STFU!
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