Tacky Kerry, Slick Edwards

I was struck by a line from John Kerry the other night during the Nine's debate. It was an unnecessary attack on John Ashcroft:

Tuesday night Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry -- who at least has the good grace to acknowledge his vote in favor of the Patriot Act -- noted, as he surveyed the debate audience, that there were "people from every background, every creed, every color, every belief, every religion. This is, indeed, John Ashcroft's worst nightmare here." Mr. Kerry got his laugh, but he sullied himself in the process.

What is the point of such a slur? It was unnecessary, unkind and, as far as I can tell, unrelated to any actual action or statement of Ashcroft's. It was simply a cheap shot at man who is an easy target because he is widely disliked by the left.

As the WaPo editorial cited above put it, Ashcroft has become (especially in that debate) an "all-purpose bogeyman".

Interestingly, I could only find two references to that quote via a Google News search, the editorial quoted above, and a column in the Progressive.

And, the intro to the editorial is worth noting as well, as it shows some serious hypocrisy on the part of John Edwards:

I SUPPORT DRAMATIC revision of the Patriot Act. The last thing we should be doing is turning over our privacy, our liberties, our freedom, our constitutional rights to John Ashcroft." So said North Carolina Sen. John Edwards during the Democratic presidential candidates debate in Baltimore Tuesday night. Surely, then, Mr. Edwards voted against the anti-terrorism law rushed through Congress after Sept. 11? Well, no. When he rose on the Senate floor to speak on the proposal two years ago, he said: "The bill is not perfect, but it is a good bill, it is important for the nation, and I am pleased to support it." Indeed, Mr. Edwards voted against all four amendments offered by Democratic Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) to ameliorate some of the civil liberties concerns that Mr. Edwards now seems to feel so keenly -- and that the Democratic audiences he is wooing respond to with such fervor.

Source: Source: Patriot (Act) Games

Posted by Steven Taylor at September 11, 2024 03:23 PM | TrackBack