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Slouching Toward the Election; Unravelling Toxic Right Wing Spin on Kerry

 

by Michael Arvey

 

OpEdNews.com

 

Yet another skewed and distorted column recently in the press by conservative disinformationalist J.R. Labbe, Perspective, 9/9/04, "Kerry has vets seeing red." My oh my,  there they go again. Kerry's a commie sympathizer? Must be because of that fake photo that was disseminated a while back of Kerry with Jane Fonda at a 60s protest rally. Or perhaps because Kerry simply spoke of what was on the minds of many soldiers at the time--atrocities by the liberators fighting for democracy. Flash to 2004, Abu Ghraib. Disdain behaviors that buck international law and you're labeled a Saddam or a terrorist sympathizer--never mind issues of right and wrong, or of US troops fighting there to begin with.  Using such a yardstick of logic, we could posit that George Bush, who in 2001 signed into law the U.S.-Vietnam trade agreement, should be labeled a real-time commie supporter. They may be commies, but if they trade with us, they must be good commies. Incidentally, John Kerry managed the floor debate for that bill. Let's not even mention the U.S. trade deficit with Communist China.

 

Labbe lumbers on to assail Kerry's Vietnam history and how we hear more about that than his legislative history. Well, who's fault is that? The Bushites started it to divert attention away from his own not-reporting-for-duty days, and it's now backfiring on them. Then there's the tiresome implication that Kerry's Senate record lacks substance and that he hasn't  introduced  any major legislation. So what? Who says he's supposed to be an FDR or a Lyndon Johnson? Even if he were, the Labbes of America would hate the legislation. Ironically, the Bushites' major legislation was the anti-Constitution, otherwise known as the Patriot Act,  which fooled a bushel of Senators and Congress persons.

 

Facts, however, are wondrous items. Some slouch, that Kerry. He's sponsored and co-sponsored hundreds of legislative bills: 108th Congress, 48 sponsored, 450 co-sponsored. 107th Congress, 146 sponsored, 467 co-sponsored. 106th Congress, 63 sponsored, 473 co-sponsored. 105th Congress, 40 sponsored, 10 co-sponsored. 104th Congress, 92 sponsored, 233 co-sponsored. Take S.1991, (2003) e.g.--a bill Kerry sponsored to require the reimbursement of members of the Armed Forces for the costs of purchasing body armor. And who mislead the country into war with soldiers lacking adequate protection? Or take Kerry's S.1067, (1997) a bill to prohibit U.S. military assistance and arms transfers to undemocratic governments. Remember Rummy shaking hands with Iraq's Hitler? Of course, we hear over and over about Kerry's flip-flop vote for the $87 billion for emergency Iraq funds. As Anthony Wade points out, what the Bushites omit is that Kerry supported the bill version that would ferret out the $20 billion marked for Halliburton without better accountability. Halliburton remains unable to account for $8 billion of those monies. Kerry also voted war powers upon Bush on the condition war was a last option and the U.S. was supported by the international community (not merely a flimsy coalition).

 

Labbe bolsters her case with vote-smart.org data that Kerry is "squarely in league with the nation's liberal ideologues" to prove he's a flip-flopper.  An ideologue, or a legislator responsive to average persons, small businesses, small manufacturers, veterans, etc? Bush himself has proved to be the ultimate flip-flopper. But that's another round.

 

Michael Arvey writes from Colorado.