BY DAN
KENNEDY
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Friday, May 28, 2004
KERRY SPEAKS. Tim Grieve has
a longish, highly worthwhile Q&A with John Kerry in Salon
today. Read the
whole thing, but I
especially liked how Kerry responded to Republican charges that he's
a "flip-flopper":
Q: As you know, the
Republican line on you is that you're a "flip-flopper." Do you
think the White House really views you that way, or is this just
an intellectually dishonest political exercise?
A: Of course it is. It's not
only intellectually dishonest, it's shallow beyond belief. It's
exactly what they said about Bill Clinton, it's exactly what they
said about Al Gore, it's exactly what they said about John McCain.
It is the standard operating approach of Republicans who have
nothing to say for themselves, so all they do is try to brand
somebody else.
Q: Well, it's not exactly
what they did to McCain. Nobody's accused you of having an
illegitimate love child.
A: Not yet. I'm waiting for
those. That's probably August or September.
I'll tell you what. What's
really so craven about it is that they pick something that they
implement badly and screw up, like Iraq or No Child Left Behind or
the Patriot Act. And when you point out that they screwed it up,
they say that you're "flip-flopping."
But they, on the other
hand, break a promise to have no deficit, break a promise not to
invade Social Security, break a promise to fund No Child Left
Behind, break a promise to introduce the four-pollutant bill and
move forward on the environment, break a promise to deal with the
real health issues and prescription drugs, break a promise of
humility in American foreign policy. I mean, you start running
down the list - I've never seen a grander array of flip-flops.
This is the biggest "say one thing, do another" administration in
modern history.
Q: So maybe when you voted to
authorize the use of force in Iraq, you were agreeing to never
raise any questions about how the president used the power he was
given.
A: I didn't sign off on that.
This is the biggest "my way or the highway" crowd we've ever had
in Washington. They have no interest in legitimate governance.
They have all the interest in power, favor, privilege, perks and
reelection.
Caveat: it is true that Kerry has a
maddening habit of nuancing things so finely that he can claim to
hold numerous positions on many issues. But that's not the same thing
as being a flip-flopper, and the Republicans know it. And it's
amazing the way that Kerry's enemies will mischaracterize reality in
order to shoe-horn it into that paradigm.
Yesterday Bob Somerby rightly
whacked
the Boston Herald for referring to Kerry's dalliance with not
formally accepting the Democratic nomination in Boston - an idea
driven wholly by a weird technicality in campaign-finance
regulations, and which Kerry ultimately rejected - as a
"flip-flop."
Today the Herald is back
with a
really stupid editorial
(although not as stupid as another editorial, headlined - I'm not
making this up - "How
Dare Al Gore Disgrace This Nation")
that concludes: "Ah, yes, another decisive moment from a man who is
increasingly behaving like New England weather. You know, if you
don't like it, just wait a minute, it'll change." In the print
edition, the editorial is illustrated with a photo of Kerry as some
sort of a two-faced monster.
HERALD BRAIN DRAIN
CONTINUES. Veteran staff reporter Robin
Washington is leaving to
become editorial-page editor of the Duluth News Tribune. And
recently promoted investigative editor Maggie
Mulvihill has been named to
a Nieman Fellowship.
posted at 11:23 AM |
1 comments
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1 Comments:
don't know if you've seen this gem, but check out ken johnson's column from this past sunday's eagle-tribune. it's more of the usual from old ken.
Al Gore descends into madness
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Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
