- Leave no sucker punch unthrown. That seems to be the
scorched earth mantra of the GOP campaign as it heads into the final rounds.
But if you're thinking these guys can't go any lower, guess again. George
Bush doesn't just have his head buried in the sand - he's let his integrity
sink below sea level, as well.
-
- The latest dirty blows are a contemptible one-two combination
with which Team Bush has portrayed John Kerry as both the enemy of God
and, if not exactly the ally of al-Qaida, then at least the terrorists'
candidate of choice. To hear them tell it, a vote for Kerry is a vote against
God and Country. Talk about hitting way, way below the belt.
-
- Let's start with God.
-
- It was http://65.54.184.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=2e0748c470c5451c
- 7e346e57aefa704e&lat=1096493118&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%
- 2enytimes%2ecom%2f2004%2f09%2f24%2fpolitics%2fcampaign%2f24bible%2ehtml
- revealed last week that the Republican Party has sent
out an incendiary mass mailing warning that, if elected, "liberals"
(and I'll give you one guess which presidential candidate that includes)
will try to - I kid you not - ban the Bible.
-
- The http://65.54.184.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=b19f5a518ae2fe07711abc434
- 6d8d78b&lat=1096493118&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2esteveclemons%2
- ecom%2fGOPMailer%2ehtm
- full-color flyer features a picture of the Bible with
the word "Banned" stamped across it, and a photo of a man, on
bended knee, placing a wedding band on the hand of another man, accompanied
by the word "Allowed."
-
- Clearly, Bush and the GOP have taken their Bible-thumping
ways to a whole new level: Now they're using the Good Book to try to bash
in the skulls of their opponents.
-
- This "God is on our side" attack is all the
more outrageous because it's not coming from some shadowy 527 committee
that Bush can publicly - albeit disingenuously - distance himself from
but, rather, from deep in the heart of the Bush-run Republican National
Committee. The president's team has undoubtedly "approved this message."
-
- They've also used the official Georgewbush.com campaign
website to attack Kerry, a Catholic, as being
- http://65.54.184.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=3f4db167e5776536
- dacbe31d0704d5fe&lat=1096493118&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2f
- www%2egeorgewbush%2ecom%2fCatholics%2fComparison%2easpx%3farea%3d2
- Wrong for Catholics", while an RNC website,
- http://65.54.184.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=dc6c20fb19cc40fcd9bacd34c006ca
- 65&lat=1096493118&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fkerrywrongforcatholics%2ecom%2f
- KerryWrongForCatholics.com, slams him for not being loyal
enough to the Pope. We've certainly come a long way since another JFK had
to assure voters in 1960 that he wouldn't take orders from the Vatican.
-
- The idea that Kerry and the Democrats are anti-Bible
and that Bush has a hot line to The Man Upstairs is both offensive and
patently absurd. One look at the latest statistics showing the rise in
the number of Americans living in poverty proves that Republicans - who,
contrary to their claims, do not hold a copyright on the Bible - have grotesquely
perverted its core teachings.
-
- As Rev. Jim Wallis, the editor of Sojourners magazine,
told me: "It's a bitter irony: these people accuse Democrats of wanting
to ban the Bible, then proceed to utterly ignore the vast majority of its
contents when it comes to questions of social justice, war and peace, and
protecting the environment."
-
- Perhaps the holy rollers in the Bush camp should crack
open a Bible and see what it has to say about caring for the poor (Matthew
25:40), caring for the Earth (Genesis 2:15), and caring for human rights
(Genesis 1:27). I've got a hunch Jesus wouldn't be too thrilled with Bush's
first term.
-
- And while they're acquainting themselves with the Book
they purport to defend, the Bushies might also want to have a look at John
8:32 to see what it has to say about the moral imperative of telling the
truth. Instead, they are doing everything in their power to convince nervous
voters that a vote for John Kerry is a vote for another 9/11. It's the
latest vile twist in the Bush-Cheney "all fear, all the time"
campaign strategy, and the last desperate gasp of an administration utterly
clueless about how to actually win the war on terror.
-
- The fear-mongering has been relentless and revolting
- bottoming out with a sewer-level attack ad put together by a 527 largely
financed by a pair of longtime Bush-backers. The TV spot shows pictures
of Osama bin Laden, 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta, the Chechen school murderers,
and the Madrid train bombings and asks: "These people want to kill
us. Would you trust Kerry up against these fanatic killers?"
-
- Somewhere - and I don't think it's heaven - Lee Atwater
is smiling.
-
- And lest you think this line of attack doesn't have the
Karl Rove seal of approval, just look at the long line of Bush surrogates
lining up to parrot the "al-Qaida wants Kerry to win" talking
point - including Sen. Orrin Hatch, the increasingly embarrassing House
Speaker Dennis Hastert, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, and
the hatchet-man-in-chief, Dick Cheney. They've all been echoing Hatch's
claim that terrorists "are going to throw everything they can between
now and the election to try and elect Kerry."
-
- What's next, a photo of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi sporting
a Kerry-Edwards campaign button?
-
- This "terrorists for Kerry" routine is as laughable
as it is loathsome. Why in the world would the terrorists want to get rid
of George Bush? He is their dream president, after all: a man who has alienated
our allies, isolated us and united the Muslim world against us.
-
- The president's preemptive invasion of Iraq has been
such a boon to al-Qaida that the British ambassador to Italy called him
the terrorist organization's "best recruiting sergeant." Even
Bush's good buddy, Pakistani President Musharraf (a guy who can't afford
to share W's delusions when it comes to matters of security), said last
week that the war in Iraq has made the world "more dangerous"
and "further complicated" the war on terror.
-
- Of course, the spinmeisters in the Bush camp would rather
you never hear any of this, which is why they've been so quick to smear
as unpatriotic anyone painting a less than rosy picture of Iraq - going
so far as to imply that Kerry, by merely questioning the president's policies,
has given aid and comfort to our enemies.
-
- What a load of gutless garbage. As Thomas Jefferson made
clear, "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." But Bush
can't seem to grasp that this country is too strong to be endangered by
the truth - and that, indeed, hiding the truth, the hallmark of his administration,
is what is making us weaker and less secure.
-
- I know the president hates to read, but with the debates
looming, maybe he should dust off his library card and brush up on his
American history. And on the Bible.
-
- © 2004 ARIANNA HUFFINGTON.
- DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
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