John Kerry Launches a Negative Attack Against the American People
By Jonathan M. Stein
John Kerry has launched a negative attack against the American people themselves. In an embarrassing snafu, John Kerry, who did not realize his microphone was on, was caught telling a union worker, at a rally in Chicago, that his opponents are “the most crooked, you know, lying group of people I've ever seen.” This comment comes from a man who has made political hay from sanctimoniously upbraiding his detractors for “going negative.”
Forced to explain his outrageous comment, a comment certainly not becoming a man running for the highest office in the land, Kerry said, “I didn't say it about the Republicans, I said it about the attack dogs.” The Kerry campaign suggested that these “attack dogs” are those on the internet circulating pictures of John Kerry with Jane Fonda and internet-made ads attacking Kerry’s past. These “attack dogs” on the internet are none other than the American people who are constitutionally exercising their First Amendment freedoms of expression and association by criticizing Senator Kerry. Therefore, John Kerry has launched a negative attack against the American people and their constitutional rights – particularly their freedom of speech and association. This is nothing short of frightening behavior from a man who wants to be the lynchpin of the federal legislative process.
John Kerry has exercised his freedom of association. John Kerry freely associated with Jane Fonda during the Vietnam War. John Kerry freely associated with Vietnam Veterans Against the War – a radical fringe group that, amongst other things, lied about “atrocities” American Soldiers in Vietnam. John Kerry freely associated with ultra-liberal Senators, such as Ted Kennedy and his ilk. Now John Kerry seeks to suppress the constitutionally protected speech of those who would criticize his associations – associations that he undertook freely. John Kerry, apparently, has a problem with the First Amendment – while he enjoys, and exercises, the freedoms provided by that Amendment, he would like to prevent others (the very people he wishes to lead) from exercising those same freedoms.
John Kerry is a man who can dish it out. From the beginning, Kerry has accused President Bush of everything but kicking injured puppies. Kerry has disingenuously “blasted” the President for job loss that began under Clinton in 2000 and was exacerbated by the attack on the World Trade Center – for political gain. Kerry has irresponsibly accused the President of bizarre, absurd conspiracy theories regarding why we went to war in Iraq – a war he himself voted for, and an assertion that has not been challenged by the press. Kerry has illogically and erroneously claimed that an economy that grew at over a blazing 8% in the third quarter, and at over 4% last quarter, is the “worst since Herbert Hoover” – a claim that has been cheerfully parroted by the media, unchallenged, and unsubstantiated by the facts. The “attack dogs” of the Kerry campaign schemed and planted left-wing interest groups, such as Families for a Peaceful Tomorrow, funded by the Heinz Foundation, to attack President Bush’s innocuous campaign ads as “offensive to 9/11 families” – a dubious association that was, irresponsibly, not reported by the mainstream media – for political advantage. As Steve Schmidt, a Bush campaign spokesman averred, “John Kerry has run a relentlessly negative campaign from the very beginning, and this comment is completely consistent with that. . . . He has offered no plan or positive agenda for the country and has based his entire campaign on a series of false and inaccurate attacks.” So, John Kerry can dish it out, but he sure can’t take it. In fact, he would like to suppress any criticisms of his associations and voting record instead of providing substantive answers. Instead of attacking and responding to the messages, Kerry has consistently opted to attack the messengers. In the case, the messengers are the American people. A leader who wishes attack and demagogue his perceived enemies as he pleases, while being completely insulated from the criticisms and complaints of his subjects, is a fascist; like it or not, John Kerry, thus far, has run a campaign in the most abhorrent of fascist traditions.
A candidate for the American presidency who campaigns by attacking and smearing American citizens who disagree with him criticize him with purely factual information must never be allowed to sit in the Oval Office. A candidate who avails himself of all the freedoms provided by the First Amendment, but would deny them to his critics, is more than disgraceful – he is dangerous. |
