Political Mythology (8/25/04)
by Dean Hartwell
Presidential campaigns have long given us myths about the candidates and the issues.
In 1972, for example, Richard Nixon falsely called his challenger, George McGovern, the candidate of “acid, amnesty and abortion.” John Kennedy in 1960 made up a “missile gap” between the United States and the Soviet Union to attack opponent Nixon, then the Vice-President. Going back further in history, supporters of William Henry Harrison spread the lie that he was born in a log cabin.
This presidential election has given us lies about Democratic Senator John Kerry from the supporters of President Bush. Whether these lies succeed in defining Kerry remains to be seen.
The first myth is that John Kerry voted for the war against Iraq.
In actuality, no such vote was taken in Congress. Instead, Kerry and a majority in both houses of Congress, voted to authorize President Bush to use force against Iraq, if necessary, to allow inspectors back into Iraq. President Bush chose to use force when he determined that Iraq had not complied with terms of the destruction of weapons of mass destruction.
There is a second myth that Kerry is a “tax and spend” liberal who has voted over 300 times for higher taxes while in the United States Senate.
This misleading charge fails to answer the question: “higher than what?” Republicans have produced a list of over 300 occasions in which Kerry allegedly voted for higher taxes. However, the list overwhelmingly includes Kerry’s votes to leave taxes unchanged as opposed to cutting them and votes in favor of alternative Democratic tax cuts that were less in extent than Republican versions (Source: www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=159).
Then there is the myth that Kerry is a flip-flopper who has cast conflicting votes on the war in Iraq.
The fact is, Kerry voted for an alternative measure which would have paid for the $87 billion President Bush asked for by rescinding tax cuts for the wealthy. He then, when that attempt failed, voted against the requested funding. (Source: http://www.politicalgateway.com/news/read.html?id=665)
As is so often the case, the one who makes the charge is guilty of it. President Bush has flip-flopped on the creation of the Homeland Security Department, nation building, tariffs, taking a role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the importance of finding bin Laden and several other issues (Source: www.dailykos.com/story/2004/3/7/213753/1954).
Lastly, opponents of Kerry have unfairly attacked his war record in Viet Nam by saying he did not earn his medals there.
This odious charge has been leveled by a group of veterans who did not serve with Kerry in Viet Nam. Those who did serve with him joined him onstage at the Democratic National Convention last month and all of them lauded his service.
Voters should dismiss this type of false campaigning and demand the truth from the candidates. Only then will we get leaders ready to serve us.