The Republican convention and John Kerry The republican convention is finally over. In my lifetime I can't remember a more frightening show. There were two themes. The first was the mythology of 9/11. Repeatedly, they congratulated themselves for behaving wonderfully during and after the attacks. They were sending the message that somehow they were superior beings who saved the day. They did not save the day. The day was saved by the cops and firemen, many of whom were lost, who went into those buildings to rescue people. The day was saved by hundreds of unnamed heroes who helped their fellow human beings out of the buildings.
Mayor Giuliani was a calming influence and provided needed leadership on the day of the attacks. He was the ideal media presence. But he told the convention audience that when he saw the first building coming down he said, "Thank God George Bush is President". It was the stupidest lie in a convention of lies. On what basis of achievement could George Bush have created such confidence. Any one in his right mind would have said. "My god we've been attacked and we have an untested President of no experience!"
On what basis could Giuliani even have such a thought. For that matter on what basis did the republican party elders annoint George Bush with the nomination in 2000. When they had John McCain, a hero of astonishing achievement in their party, how could they name this person who had never succeeded at anything in his life? He had name recognition and his father's connections and money. So from the beginning, even before the primary process began, the party's calculation was cynical. They believed they could sell him and that was the reason they nominated him. Though, because they did not believe he could actually do the job, they put Dick Cheney in to hold his hand.
Out of the luck of birth and position was created a President. Out of the terrorist attack was created the myth of George Bush, the great President, and they played it for four nights like the background music of a horror movie.
The second theme was to insult John Kerry repeatedly. Except for John McCain every politician that spoke took his shots. John Kerry has given them ammunition. He runs as a Senator with all the baggage of having been a legislator where every bill is voted upon numerous times for different arcane reasons. Anyone can impune the record of a legislator. Zell Miller, the rogue Democrat turned Republican demagogue read the list of weapons systems opposed by John Kerry. He asked if John Kerry would fight a war with spitballs and got a rousing ovation from the partisan crowd. There was no debate here, no one to ask how the B1 bomber could be used to root out the insurgents in Bagdad? There was no one to point out that Dick Cheney had opposed these same systems while he was defense secretary? The whole speech, nearly hysterical in tone, was designed and presented to shock. Then came Vice President Cheney. After Miller's ragged fortissimo furioso his smooth adagio like tone sounded almost reassuring, if you didn't listen to his words. Mr. Cheney spoke of driving the Taliban from power. "even though just as the convention got under way, at least seven people, including two Americans, were killed by Taliban fighters in Kabul" *
Then finally on Thursday night came Bush, as smooth as any snake oil salesman. The following is a quote from a column by Maureen Dowd about one if his more clever lies:
Painting himself as the noble agent for "the transformational power of liberty" abroad, he said "there have always been doubters" when America uses its "strength" to "advance freedom": "In 1946, 18 months after the fall of Berlin to Allied forces, a journalist in The New York Times wrote this: 'Germany is a land in an acute stage of economic, political and moral crisis. European capitals are frightened. In every military headquarters, one meets alarmed officials doing their utmost to deal with the consequences of the occupation policy that they admit has failed.' End quote. Maybe that same person's still around, writing editorials."
She isn't. Anne O'Hare McCormick, who died in 1954, was The Times's pioneering foreign affairs correspondent who covered the real Axis of Evil, interviewing Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini and Patton. She was hardly a left-wing radical or defeatist. In 1937, she became the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in journalism, and she was the first woman to be a member of The Times's editorial board.
The president distorted the columnist's dispatch. The "moral crisis" and failure she described were in the British and French sectors. She reported that the Americans were doing better because of their policy to "encourage initiative and develop self-government." She wanted the U.S. to commit more troops and stay the course - not cut and run.
Mr. Bush Swift-boated her.*
I am reminded of the schoolyard at P.S. 85 in the Bronx when I was seven years old. There were bands of roving boys who went about bullying. Though there was occasional violence, the preferred method was verbal harassment. Picking on some attribute of weakness in a victim they went after him. They did everything they could to create a scene of crying or running away so they could launch the ultimate barb of "chicken" to ruin the poor boy's life. I was victimized only occasionally. Some were attacked often enough to become destroyed persons afraid to come to school. I recall a couple of boys who dissappeared. Those bullies with their tactics seem to have joined the Republican party.
John Kerry reminds me of the victims. I saw him at a rally after George Bush's convention speech. He started out with the following. "The Vice President called me unfit for public office. Let me ask you this. What qualifies you for office more, five deferments or two tours of duty in Vietnam?" The retort of a victimized child. "Nyah, "Nyah", drowned out by by the media who repeated the Republican lies endlesly. The Republican bullies have learned they don't have to follow the victim around. The media hyenas will do it for them.
My candidate, John Kerry, does not know how to strike back successfully. He always describes himself as a fighter, but he does not fight. He has given the Republicans much ammunition with which to hurt him politically. He must now fight back with winning blows. He must get out in the street with his shirtsleeves rolled up. He must forget Vietnam and yell back. "Oh yeah!, you lost 3 million jobs" "Oh yeah!, you sent the troops into Iraq and forgot to close the border with Iran". "Oh yeah!, you railroaded the patriot act through congress with your republican friends and you have hundreds maybe thousands of people imprisoned only on the word of your Attorney General and no citizen is safe from unwarranted arrest or investigation". "Oh yeah!, Since you appeared in your flight suit and declared 'mission accomplished' we have lost nearly a thousand soldiers with thousands wounded and uncounted numbers of Iraqis killed or wounded." "Oh yeah!, Our Marines have been sent into battle repeatedly and had to stop before victory was achieved for political considerations your administration does not know how to manage." "Oh yeah! the U.S. Marines now act under the orders of Prime Minster Alawi of Iraq!"
John Kerry is in a brawl and he has to brawl. He has to dust off his M-16, stop talking about Vietnam and fight.
He has to throw back one-liner grenades and force George Bush on the defensive. He has to give a speech where the most rousing line is not the first but near the end like a real politician rallying a crowd to give money and go out and work for him. He can't be President any other way. He has to get into that arena. He took on the responsibility of accepting our nomination. He has seen the character of the opposition, naked in all its barbaric fury, now he has to do what it takes to win.
Melvyn Polatchek
Maureen Dows article of Saturday Sept 4, 2004 ttp://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/05/opinion/05dowd.html?hp
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