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Friday, October 22, 2004
This is All That They've Got
Bush's whole campaign is based on taking statements by Kerry out of context and then shooting down the straw man. E.J. Dionne today writes about the latest example:
Begin with Bush's distortions of Kerry's record on terrorism. Here's Bush
in Mason City, Iowa, on Wednesday: "Senator Kerry was recently asked how
September the 11th had changed him. He replied, 'It didn't change me much at
all.' And this unchanged worldview becomes obvious when he calls the war against
terror primarily an intelligence and law enforcement operation, rather than what
I believe: a war which requires the full use of American power to keep us
secure."
By taking seven of Kerry's words out of a much longer statement, Bush
twisted his opponent's position beyond recognition. Here is journalist Matt
Bai's account, in the New York Times Magazine article Bush was citing, of what
Kerry actually said when he was asked how Sept. 11 had changed him:
"I mean, it didn't change me much at all. It just sort of accelerated,
confirmed in me, the urgency of doing the things I thought we needed to be
doing. I mean, to me, it wasn't as transformational as it was a kind of anger, a
frustration and an urgency that we weren't doing the kinds of things necessary
to prevent it and to deal with it." Bai added: "Kerry did allow that he, like
other Americans, felt less safe after 9/11." Not exactly the guy Bush described.
I challenge someone to defend the President here. Go ahead -- click on the comment. Feel free. No takers?
It's just one intellectually dishonest statement after another. And that's all Bush has to run on.
If this is what they'll say to hold on to power, imagine what they'll do if they keep it.
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