Michael Crowley, the associate editor of the (liberal) The New Republic, wrote in the (very liberal) Slate Magazine today on the Democratic myth that Max Cleland's patriotism was somehow attacked in the 2002 elections.
http://slate.msn.com/id/2098171/
"But at the end of the day, Cleland was still a vote for Tom Daschle to be Senate leader. And so Bush set out to eliminate him. The president visited Georgia six times in support of Cleland's challenger, Republican Rep. Saxby Chambliss, turning the election into a referendum on the president's popularity. Most of Chambliss' attacks were based on Cleland's most "liberal" votes on social issues like partial-birth abortion. But in the race's closing weeks, Bush and Chambliss hammered at the fact that Cleland was voting with Senate Democrats against Bush's proposed Homeland Security Department because of its infamous provision limiting union rights. The message was that Cleland was kowtowing to big labor at the cost of protecting America. Most famously, Chambliss ran a vicious ad on Cleland's homeland security votes featuring images of Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. In the popular liberal mythology, the ad disgustingly questioned Cleland's patriotism. "To this day I am motivated by—and I will be throughout this campaign—the most craven moment I've ever seen in politics, when the Republican Party challenged this man's patriotism in the last campaign," John Kerry has said.
But that's not what happened. The ad, though sleazy in its use of Osama and Saddam, didn't question Cleland's patriotism. It questioned his political courage and judgment. It focused narrowly on his behavior in office and his actual votes against the Homeland Security Department. With images of Bin Laden and Saddam flashing onscreen, a narrator declared that, "As America faces terrorists and extremist dictators, Max Cleland runs television ads claiming he has the courage to lead." The ad then listed Cleland's votes against the Homeland Security Department and said he was stalling "the president's vital homeland security efforts." It concluded: "Max Cleland says he has the courage to lead, but the record proves Max Cleland is just misleading."
I don't know. In the aftermath of 9-11, running an ad using Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein to slime your opponent most definitely DOES qualify in my (admittedly biased liberal and therefore completely untrustworthy mind) as questioning Cleland's patriotism. What the hell else could it be? Saying that it's questioning his "political courage and judgment" is bullshit. In the public's mind it is CLEARLY questioning his devotion to the USA. It's not just "sleazy"--it's filthy and loathesome.
And for Bush to attack Cleland on delaying the Department of Homeland Security--which Bush himself had to be BULLIED into supporting--is nearly as despicable.
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Tom Beck
my LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/tomfodw/
"I always knew I'd see the first man on the Moon. I never thought I'd see the last." - Dr. Jerry Pournelle
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