Democracy on Display

By Carl Bloice

Left Margin

It’s pretty clear now why they brought Karen Hughes
back from Texas. The campaign is getting rough even
before it’s officially started and the Bush campaign
needed someone with few - if any— scruples. Besides,
she just published a book that while it hasn’t exactly
earned critical acclaim, is enough to get her on cable
television. The things she says about other people are
the kinds of things CNN and Fox eat up. So, there she
was last week, repeatedly making statements about John
Kerry on the President’s behalf that normally wouldn’t
be part of intelligent conversation.
"When-did-you-stop- beating-your-wife" kind of talk.
Like: ``Now, I can understand if, out of conscience,
you take a principled stand, and you would decide that
you were so opposed to this that you would actually
throw your medals. But to pretend to do so — I think
that’s very revealing.’’

Revealing of what one might ask? It doesn’t matter. Use
your imagination. It wasn’t the first time out for the
former White House communications director. A few days
earlier, after Kerry had admitted using the word
"atrocity" to describe some of what he participated in
as a combatant in Vietnam, Hughes went on CNN to say,
"I wish we knew a little bit more about that. Did he
think he did commit them or not? And who else did? And
what was he really saying? Was he totally exaggerating?
Was he making it up?" Just in case the media people
didn’t get the message that this was hot stuff that
shouldn’t be passed up, she added, "I think the press
ought to follow some line of inquiry about that."

The intent of these remarks is clear: the President has
a problem of credibility. It appears he did skip out on
at least some of his duty with the National Guard, duty
that kept him away from the front lines in Vietnam. The
Democrats haven’t made much of the issue; they seem
content to let the question die. But it was still out
there; the elephant in the living room. Their tactical
response was to somehow tarnish Kerry’s military
record, which would be quite a feat considering the man
got more medals than most generals.

Still, a little innuendo here, a little there.

Republican Senator John McCain was livid on the floor
of the Senate April 28 as he decried the turn the
campaign had taken. He appealed for the Democrats and
the Republicans to come together and work out an
approach to what was clearly a deteriorating situation
in Iraq. He decried those who would call the President
as a "chickenhawk," saying that was no way to refer to
the Commander and Chief at such a perilous moment. As
is too often the case, CNN got the meaning of his
outcry wrong: they summarized it as an attack on the
Democrats. But John Kerry never called George a
chickenhawk, though one senator did use that word
during Senate debate, referring to Vice President Dick
Chaney. Otherwise, you pretty much have to go to the
Internet to find that language. No, if I heard him
right, McCain was pleading for an end to the mutual
recriminations from both sides that suggest disloyalty
or cowardness.

If things continue in this direction, it could really
get nasty.

The White House probably wasn’t listening. The day
before, Hughes trotted out again. This time she was
well on the way to real down and dirty. When the
somewhere-around-one-million pro-choice demonstrators
gathered in the nation’s capital Sunday, she was back
on the air. Same show: CNN’s "Late Edition." Asked how
she thought the issue of abortion would play out in
this year’s Presidential election, Hughes replied, ""I
think after September 11, the American people are
valuing life more and realizing that we need policies
to value the dignity and worth of every life. And I
think those are the kind of policies that the American
people can support, particularly at a time when we’re
facing an enemy, and really the fundamental difference
between us and the terror network we fight is that we
value every life."

On April 26, eight members of Congress sent a message
to the White House, which said, in part, "Mr.
President, you came to office by promising to be ’a
uniter, not a divider.’ Your aide’s comments have the
potential to be extremely divisive by invoking the war
on terrorism. It is cheap and distasteful politics and
we ask you to take a stand against it." Talk about
baying at the moon.

Pro-Choice advocates and women’s movement leaders were
of course outraged. "This kind of cynical, ugly and
mean-spirited partisan rhetoric not only demeans those
who attended the march, but also the vast majority of
Americans who support reproductive health and abortion
rights," said Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist
Majority. Her organization and Planned Parenthood, the
co-sponsor of the march, demanded an apology. Of course
none was forthcoming.

I guess it’s a good thing none of this was on
Aljezzera. Or, maybe not. But I can imagine myself and
my family gathered around the tube in Aden or Fallujah,
all of us thinking: "So this is that democracy they’re
talking about?"

But what about us here at home? My favorite cartoon of
the week pictures a couple watching the telly -
probably CNN - from which is emanating the charges and
countercharges about military medals and guard duty.
The wife turns to the husband and asks, "Have they said
anything about Iraq or the economy?"