Imagine Kerry As A Republican And Bush As A Democrat
By Monte Kuligowski (10/31/04)
Can you imagine if it were the other way around during this presidential campaign? Let’s play out a scenario where Kerry is a Republican and Bush is a Democrat. If Kerry were in Bush’s Republican shoes, what do you suppose the media’s news reporting would look like? It’s not hard to make some reasonable inferences, based upon the media’s 2004 campaign coverage.
We’ve seen Old Media pulling out their hair over trying to get Bush to see things the liberal way. They’ve been obsessed in their effort to pry out a confession from Bush that the Iraq War was a mistake. At a not-too-distant press conference, liberal reporters lined up, one after another, in an attempt to get the president to admit that he made mistakes over Iraq. Then we saw the “neutral” media use an innocent citizen to ask a loaded question at the second debate. Believing that Bush made so many mistakes, ABC News’ Charlie Gibson vicariously demanded that the president admit a minimum of three mistakes at the national debate.
Sen. Kerry, so far as I know, hasn’t been pressured to admit any mistakes. Imagine, conversely, that Kerry carried an ominous “R” after his name. It doesn’t require great imagination to picture an audience member from the second debate asking our imaginary Republican senator about his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1971. You know – the slanderous testimony where he betrayed his comrades still fighting in Vietnam; where he accused fellow soldiers and sailors of being war criminals, raping and maiming the Vietnamese people and burning villages in Genghis Khan-type fashion. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine the following question: “Sen. Kerry, upon returning to the U.S. from Vietnam you led the anti-war protest movement and appeared before a Senate Committee and said the following (quote is read). As you know, thousands of veterans feel you’ve slandered them and betrayed your country. Will you admit a mistake was made and offer an apology tonight?”
“Well, that’s not a fair area of inquiry,” a liberal reader might utter indignantly. But, oh, my liberal friend, that’s only true when the media’s protecting a fellow Democrat. Had it been a Republican Sen. Kerry who uttered such words under oath against his country and troops, the ink factories would be working overtime to meet media demand. Fake documents were used to claim Bush violated the law. In Sen. Kerry’s case, fake documents don’t need to be created. The public has his sworn testimony on record. Where are the charges that Sen. Kerry committed perjury before the Senate 30 years ago? As outlandish as Kerry’s words were, the media won’t even quote them, much less challenge them.
Consider Dan Rather’s “journalism.” Even with the use of made-up documents aside, what was it that Mr. Rather was trying to prove? His charge was that Bush failed to complete his military commitment. But Bush’s real military records reveal that the president was honorably discharged. Sen. Kerry’s original Naval Reserve discharge in 1972 was subject to a review by a board of officers. And the public still doesn’t know whether the military issued a less than honorable discharge in 1972. We do know that in 1977 President Carter signed EO 4483 (to protect war protesters like John Kerry) which apparently made Kerry’s upgrade to “honorable discharge” possible on Feb. 16, 1978. Where is the media inquiry over the nature of Kerry’s original military discharge? Our Republican Sen. Kerry surely would face the same media pressure as Bush to sign standard form 180 to release “all” of his records. If Kerry were running as a Republican, I can safely say we would know every detail of his war protesting days and exactly what type of military discharge his insurrection warranted.
Next, the media ignored the Swift Vets for Truth (and other veteran groups against Kerry) as long as they possibly could. After they could no longer ignore them, they rushed to Kerry’s defense, trying their best to discredit honorable vets. Imagine our Republican Sen. Kerry having hundreds (and really thousands, if you count all vet groups beyond the Swiftees) of veterans speaking out against him. Do you suppose for a second that ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, et al, would refuse to report their claims? How many “60 Minutes” interviews and round table discussions would have taken place with the vets by now? I have a funny feeling that things wouldn’t have gone quite so well for a Republican Sen. Kerry.
And I can’t imagine Ted Kopple and “Nightline” going out of their way in a shocking attempt to help our imaginary Republican senator with an incredible interview of Communist soldiers in the jungles of Vietnam. Just when we thought Dan Rather’s journalism couldn’t be topped, alas, meet Ted and company. The “Nightline” report proved that there is no mountain too high, no ocean too wide and no jungle too dense for the liberal media to traverse in order to assist a fellow Democrat.
Finally, President Bush’s foreign and domestic policies have been condemned by the Kerry campaign and dittoed by the media on a daily basis. Not so amazingly we’ve heard very little from the media about the policy positions of Sen. Kerry. Of course, if he were Sen. Kerry (R-Mass.), things would be a little different. How about the following for a debate question: “Sen. Kerry, you’ve been in the Senate now for 20 years. Would you please list three of your most notable legislative proposals that were signed into law?” After the silence, followed by a change in subject, this follow up question could be used: “Well, then, could you just name your single greatest accomplishment in the Senate?”
The media fervently protect Kerry from the charge that he is an extreme liberal from Massachusetts. When Bush calls Kerry a liberal, liberal reporters respond by saying the Republicans are using fear tactics. But how would the media treat a Republican Sen. Kerry? Oh, that’s right. I almost forgot. If he were a Republican, he wouldn’t be an extreme liberal from Massachusetts.
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