Rove always uses smear campaigns and obviously the Bush campaign was secretly running the smearvets. But the press swung to the right and gave the smear campaign equal time.
Letting bald-faced liars like O'Neill and his gang on TV getting the same amount of time as honest commentators was criminal.
That's what made the smear campaign work. McCain called them dishonest and dishonorable, but guys like Dole got on TV and said "gee, maybe it's true", lying through his teeth for partisan reasons. Then the non-stop rightwing talk radio and blast, blast, blast "weak on defense", "flip-flopper". As if.
Meanwhile, Bushies discussed zero serious issues, just slogans and spin, and his campaign concentrated 100% on bolstering the one big smear. We are under attack and we can't trust Kerry because he's "French". How absurd was that? But millions fell for it because they were hoodwinked, confused and weak-minded.
Kerry weak on defense? Not at all. The opposite. It is Bush who is inept, thoughtless and wrong on defense, though he deficit spends us to the moon. He has proven that. Kerry would be terrific on national defense. Super smart and experienced. But the smear campaign was like a stinky smokebomb obliterating all truth. That's how fascist types always come into power, by obliterating the truth.
Also, Bush cehated, using various types of election fraud. So in fact, Kerry may have won but we may never know it. |
