BY DAN
KENNEDY
Notes and observations on
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click
here.
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
THE LAST REFUGE. The idea
that anyone not on his side isn't patriotic has been a consistent,
ugly theme of George W. Bush and his presidency. So I was struck by
these words, which Bush spoke during a
campaign rally yesterday in
Derry, New Hampshire:
Our work in Iraq is hard
work. There are people there who want to stop the march to
democracy, that's what they're trying to do. They want us to
leave. They want us to quit. Our work in Iraq is absolutely
essential - Iraq - essential for our country's security. For our
children and grandchildren to grow up in a safer world, we must
defeat the terrorists and the insurgents, and complete our mission
in rebuilding Iraq as a stable democracy.
I'm going to New York after
this, and in the next couple of days I'll be meeting with Prime
Minister Allawi, the prime minister of Iraq.
He is a strong and determined
leader. He understands the stakes in this battle. I hope the
American people will listen carefully to his assessment of the
situation in his country. We must show resolve and determination.
Mixed signals are the wrong signals to send to the enemy. Mixed
signals are the wrong signals to send to the people in Iraq. Mixed
signals are the wrong signals to send to our allies. And mixed
signals are the wrong signals to send to our troops in
combat.
Obviously the president is talking
about John Kerry. But what does he mean? I'll grant that one way to
read this is as criticism of Kerry's own tortuous rhetoric on Iraq,
which Bush has managed to characterize neatly and inaccurately as
"flip-flopping." (Kerry went a long way toward untangling
his views
yesterday.)
For instance, a few paragraphs
before this Bush said, "He [Kerry] also changed his mind and
decided that our efforts in Iraq are now a distraction from the war
on terror, when he earlier acknowledged that confronting Saddam
Hussein was critical to the war on terror. And he's criticizing our
reconstruction efforts, when he voted against the money to pay for
the reconstruction."
But I would argue that Bush
intended a darker meaning as well. Look at what he said again. "Mixed
signals are the wrong signals to send to the enemy ... to our troops
in combat." This is harsh stuff - Zell Miller with a human face. This
is close to denying that anyone has a right to criticize Bush's war
policies because, after all, Bush is a wartime president, and the
country is at war.
As Samuel Johnson once observed,
patriotism is the last
refuge of a scoundrel. For
Bush to insinuate that Kerry, by making the case for what he would do
differently, is helping our enemies and harming our troops is
reprehensible. It's also, sadly, business as usual.
I'D RATHER NOT. I'm getting
tired of the story surrounding the inauthentic
Jerry Killian memos. Media
Log readers know I'd concluded they were probably fakes within a
couple of days of the original broadcast on 60 Minutes, nearly
two weeks ago.
This will be devastating to CBS's
credibility, but no worse than what the New York Times went
through with Jayson Blair, or USA Today with Jack
Kelley.
With that, two
observations:
- I thought Dan
Rather's apology last night
was complete and sincere. I was impressed that he said, "I want to
say, personally and directly, I'm sorry." His concession came many
days later than it should have, but not too late, if you
define "too late" as meaning that he's going to have to resign. But
it certainly wouldn't surprise me if, at some decent interval after
the election, the 72-year-old anchor retires.
- Since Rather took personal
responsibility last night, I hope that CBS stands by that and doesn't
try to whack anyone below him. John Ellis has some hilarious - and
chilling - advice for Mary Mapes, who produced the story that made
use of the Killian memos: "Call your lawyer immediately. DO NOT,
under any circumstances, allow CBS counsel to represent your
interests." There's lots of other good stuff, so start
here and scroll
down.
posted at 1:14 PM |
4 comments
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4 Comments:
I hear lots of calls for Rather's resignation (Not just from the blogosphere - I heard it on a WBZ radio clip this morning with media critic Birnbaum? and Gary LaPierre.)
So why aren't there similar calls for resignations regarding the NIger yellowcake memo hoax? Bush? Powell? Someone?
I am wondering when the media will do a story on how the White House decided within 24 hours that a faxed copy of a document was a forgery, but it took them several months to figure out that the Niger document was a forgery. Just wondering!
In any mention of John Ellis, don't forget to report who he is. He is a first cousin of George W. Bush. Take anything he says about this campaign with a major grain of salt.
One can disagree with the President and support the intentions of what he does at the same time. The Democrats "disgree with us is a crime" attutude could lead us to another war. A Cival War! One witch the US may not be able to recover from.
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Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
