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I was very fortunate NOT to have seen the interview with Michele Malkin, because I avoid Chris Matthews like a leper, but I just encountered a clip of her appearance there on-line, and my blood is boiling about it. It was almost as though she were put out because Matthews tried to get her to make the charges directly rather than simply allowing her to make her sleazy insinuations with a wink and a knowing look.
If there had ever been such charges brought against Kerry, then he would have had to defend himself against them, but quite clearly he has nothing to defend here; extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence. When Kennedy told the nation that the Soviets had missiles in Cuba, he showed us the pictures. If he had claimed that they had a base on the far side of the moon, he would have been expected to show pictures of that, too. The burden of proof here is quite clearly on Malkin, who prefers to rely on innuendo.
Imagine the indignation of the right-wing horde during the 1996 presidential campaign if Democrats had tried to insinuate that Bob Dole's arm had been incapacitated due to a self-inflicted wound. Yeah, Bob Dole's no war hero, that's for sure, just another yellow-belly who couldn't cut it and was willing to do anything to get sent back to his cushy bed at home. Did Dole do anything to prove that those wounds were not self-inflicted? Why did no one ever ask the question? Why haven't we asked that question of all the veterans of all of our recent wars? If you happen to visit a retirement home where a veteran of WWI lives, be sure to go out of your way to ask him that question. We'll prove to these veterans that we're on to them.
It's really hard to imagine that there are people out there who are so desperate for their world-view to be vindicated that they will latch on to even transparent lies and meritless attacks on the opposition if it will distract from the shortcomings of their own candidate. I must say, I like Kerry much better these days than I had at first, but I have no real emotional investment in his candidacy. In fact, I have much more visceral feelings about the prospect of Bush's defeat, but only after having seen his performance of the last four years. My emotional investment is in the future of my country, and I'm really beginning to believe that Bush, as a two-termer, will take us right to the precipice.
That being said, however, I would not lie about the man. Granted, you really wouldn't have to tell any lies, because in his case, the truth is spectacularly damning enough. But if we want to get back to true democracy, we must demand the truth, not only of others, but of ourselves as well. Discourse, whether political or otherwise, is always corrupted by lies, and that includes misleading implications and "spin." Politics should be a showcase for the competing visions of candidates to persuade voters as to who can better improve our lives. Is it any wonder that so few turn out to vote when shit like this starts to fly?
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