BY DAN
KENNEDY
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Monday, August 30, 2004
ROMNEY BEHAVES HIMSELF. Give
Mitt Romney this much: at least you can take him out in public. Our
silky-smooth governor always says exactly what he wants to say, and
no more. And he would never say anything that would call into
question his nice-guy reputation. Of course, there are those of us
who happen to think that waging war on poor families and gay couples
isn't something that a nice guy would do, but I'm talking about
manners here, not substance.
Anyway, I was watching this
morning's Fox & Friends a little while ago - yes, I am
spending a great deal of time with the Fox News Channel, for reasons
that will become evident later this week - when on came Romney for
some chit-chat. It wasn't long before E.D. Hill and boys were baiting
Romney with their favorite subject: the phony Swifties, whose lies
about John Kerry's military service are being kept alive at this
point solely by right-wing talk radio, the Internet, and the Fox News
Channel. (That is to say, by no one who has actually done any
reporting on the matter.)
Romney started off shakily, saying
that the whole thing was a "mistake ... on both sides of the aisle,"
adding that Kerry "really brought on a lot of this on himself" by
basing so much of his campaign on his record as a Vietnam War
veteran.
Really, Governor? Has Kerry
made too much of his military service? Probably, at least so far as
it has kept him from talking more specifically about what kind of a
president he would be. Does that mean it's his fault that he's
been subjected to weeks of lies about the medals he won and
circumstances under which he won them? Er, isn't the answer to that
obvious?
But then Romney settled down and
said:
But fundamentally John
Kerry served his country with honor and pride. He's heroic for
having fought there. Anybody who found themselves under enemy
fire, in harm's way, is someone whom I respect. And I think the
people who are attacking him for his Vietnam service are making a
mistake. I think it's wrong. I wish they wouldn't do so. I don't
know what it's going to do politically.
Not bad - similar to the position
that George W. Bush has taken, only a bit more fleshed-out and
coherent.
Naturally, Romney also attacked
Kerry for having "not followed the example of Bob Dole" in resigning
from the Senate (Kerry instead appears to have followed the example
of Bush, who did not resign as governor of Texas in 2000), and
for wanting to "go back to the politics of weakness and uncertainty
and vacillation." But obviously that's well within the bounds of
proper political discourse.
What's interesting about this - and
my apologies for taking so long to get to the point - is how the
Republicans are reaping the benefit of having it both ways with
regard to the lying Swifties. Their vicious accusations - which have
been almost entirely discredited - have presumably had a lot to do
with Kerry's recent drop in the polls. Meanwhile, Republicans such as
Bush and Romney take the high road.
You could give credit to Romney for
good manners. In fact, though, whether he knows it or not, he's
playing a role that only helps to further the Swifties' ongoing
assault on Kerry. After all, sliming is a lot less effective if it
ends up hitting the intended beneficiaries in the face. By denouncing that which is helping them, Bush and Romney are playing a very old game.
posted at 12:34 PM |
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Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
