First lady says anti-Kerry ads are fair
Well, I guess this goes to show that no one could reasonably accuse Laura Bush of having a grip on reality. Or being able to distinguish between right and wrong, for that matter.
First lady Laura Bush said Sunday that campaign advertisements accusing Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry of lying about his Vietnam War record were fair.
In an interview with Time magazine released Sunday, Mrs. Bush said ads by a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth criticizing Kerry were no different from attack ads that have been aimed at President Bush.
"Do I think they're unfair? Not really. There have been millions of terrible ads against my husband,'' Mrs. Bush told Time.
So, if we're to follow Mrs. Bush logic, such as it is, fair is fair- unless it's unfair. Of course, it's really only unfair if it's directed at her husband. Anything directed at her husband's opponent is by definition fair and reasonable, because "millions" of "unfair" commercials have been directed at her husband.
Unfortunately, Mrs. Bush's absence of anything resembling logical thought is hardly limited to herself. Unfortunately, too much of the Republican Party thinks along the same lines. Anything goes if it is directed at John Kerry, but if the same tactics are employed against Our Sainted President, voices will be raised to the Heavens in paroxysms of righteous indignation.
Of course, left unspoken is that Democrats have a significant advantage over Republicans when it comes to 527 fundraising, which is the only reason Republicans are whining. Republicans may talk about a "level playing field", but what they're really after is to eliminate an avenue in which they have been unable to compete.
Needless to say, the Kerry campaign is not at all happy with this open display of hypocrisy.
The Kerry campaign criticized Mrs. Bush's remarks and accused the Bush organization of coordinating with the Swift Boat Veterans, which is barred under campaign finance rules.
"Mrs. Bush's statement in support of the Swift Boat smear ads is more sad evidence that these attacks have been coordinated from the top down at the White House,'' Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said.
The Bush campaign has denied colluding with the Swift Boat Veterans on the ads. But its case was hurt this past week when a top lawyer for the Bush campaign, Benjamin Ginsberg, resigned after disclosing he was providing legal advice to the veteran's group....
President Bush has said the ads attacking Kerry should be stopped, along with those being aired by other such 527 groups, so named for the section of the tax code under which they are organized.
The White House Thursday said it would file a lawsuit to try to force the Federal Election Commission to crack down on the groups. Bush has said he does not believe Kerry lied about his record, but he has refused to condemn the ads directly.
I guess we can safely assume that "hypocrisy" is not part of the Republican vocabulary- unless they are accusing Democrats of it, of course. Bush demands that 527 ads be stopped, and yet he refuses to refute the ads that are the most egregious perversion of the truth- those put out by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Why? Well, perhaps because they seem to be having their desired effect. After all, this is a man who was willing to do whatever it took to steal the 2000 election. Should we really be surprised that he is up to his old tricks?
WE DESERVE BETTER.
