BY DAN
KENNEDY
Notes and observations on
the press, politics, culture, technology, and more. To sign up for
e-mail delivery, click
here. To send
an e-mail to Dan Kennedy, click
here.
For bio, published work, and links to other blogs, visit
www.dankennedy.net.
For information on Dan Kennedy's book, Little People: Learning to
See the World Through My Daughter's Eyes (Rodale, October 2003),
click
here.
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
SMEARING KERRY'S SERVICE.
There has always been something uniquely John Kerry-ish about the matter
of whether it was his medals or his ribbons that he threw over the
fence at that antiwar rally in Washington more than three decades
ago, or even whether medals and ribbons are or are not the same
thing. As Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi
writes
today, "A person watching Kerry run for president wants to shake him
and say, 'Stop, please stop.'"
Still, ABC News's "exclusive"
on Good Morning America yesterday is an utter disgrace - an
attempt to make something out of nothing, and to impugn the integrity
and patriotism of someone who came to oppose an immoral war in which
he had fought. Tom Oliphant's eyewitness
account in today's
Globe ought to put this non-story to rest.
"God, they're doing the bidding of
the Republican National Committee," the Globe's Patrick Healy
quotes
Kerry as saying of ABC. Kerry's right, and it's frighteningly
reminiscent of the way that the media took dictation from the
Republicans in going after Al Gore four years ago.
Yet Healy also undermines Kerry's
ability to defend himself by getting something else half-right. In
response to the ABC/GOP smear, Healy writes, "Kerry turned the issue
against the president, saying for the first time that Bush was far
more vulnerable on matters of Vietnam-era choices because of
questions about whether he completed his service in the Texas Air
National Guard. 'He owes America an explanation about whether or not
he showed up for duty in the National Guard. Prove it,' Kerry told
NBC." Healy then adds:
Kerry has said for months
that he would not question the president's Texas Air National
Guard record even as his allies, such as the Democratic National
Committee chairman, Terry McAuliffe, and former US senator Max
Cleland, suggested Bush had been "AWOL" at times in the early '70s
and may not have completed his Guard service. Kerry said that, as
a Vietnam veteran, he had come to terms with others' decisions
about serving their country during the Vietnam era, and once
defended President Clinton for not serving.
And then this, farther down in the
article:
Republicans, meanwhile,
pounced on Kerry's comments about Bush yesterday, noting his past
pledge not to criticize the military service of other members of
the Vietnam generation. "It's another example of John Kerry saying
one thing and doing another: He said he would never question the
president's honorable service in the National Guard, but now he is
lashing out," said Steve Schmidt, a spokesman for the Bush
campaign. "It is a purely venomous political attack, and the
American people will reject it."
Now, I can't cite chapter and
verse. But I've followed this pretty closely, and it seems to me that
Kerry has always said the issue he considered out of bounds was
Bush's decision to serve in the Texas Air National Guard rather than
opt for potentially more hazardous duty in the US military. To my
knowledge, though, Kerry has never said he would not question
whether Bush didn't serve in the National Guard. (Oof. Triple
negative. Sorry.) Those are two completely different issues. Choosing to serve in the Guard is one thing; blowing it off is quite another. And if
the Republicans are going to attack Kerry's military service, it is
absurd to think that Kerry shouldn't fight back.
E.J. Dionne has a terrific
column
in today's Washington Post on the Republicans' loathsome
attempts to smear Kerry's military record, noting that Bush's fellow
Republican John McCain has come to Kerry's defense. Asks Dionne: "Now
that McCain has spoken, will Bush have the guts to endorse or condemn
the attacks on Kerry's service? Or will he just sit by silently,
hoping the assaults do their work while he evades
responsibility?"
Sadly, I think we already know the
answer.
SEVERIN'S WORDS. The
Boston Globe has obtained a transcript
of WTKK Radio (96.9 FM) talk-show host Jay Severin's remarks of last
Thursday, which he both defended and expressed "regret" for
yesterday
afternoon.
There appears to be something for
everyone. On the one hand, Severin was right about what he actually
said. He did not say, "I've got an idea, let's kill all
Muslims," as claimed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR), which has called for his firing. As Severin correctly said
yesterday, his actual words to a caller were, "You think we should
befriend them; I think we should kill them."
On the other hand, Severin offered
virtually no context, at least according to the Globe report,
by Michael Rosenwald. At one point, Severin is quoted as having said,
"My suspicion is that the majority of Muslims in the United States,
who regard themselves as Muslims first and not as Americans really at
all, see an American map one day where this is the United States of
Islam, not the United States of America. I think it pays to harbor
those suspicions."
That doesn't sound like someone who
was only advocating the killing of Islamist terrorists.
posted at 8:50 AM |
|
link
MEDIA LOG ARCHIVES
Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
