The Last Refuge of the Democrats
EDITORIAL The Last Refuge of the Democrats Democrats routinely complain that President Bush and his political team call them unpatriotic for criticizing Bush on the war in Iraq. Democratic senator...
...That, said Clark, showed Bush is "trying to strip us of our patriotism...
...Yet there was no such charge from Bush or his allies—no doubt, to Kerry's consternation...
...Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, Sen...
...When the White House said Durbin had disclosed classified information in a Senate speech, he responded by claiming that anyone who questioned Bush's case for war would be unfairly attacked...
...I know what the Bush apologists will say to this—that it is unpatriotic to question, to criticize, and to call for change," Kerry said...
...And there was evidence to support the charge...
...Democrats controlled the Senate at the time, and they voted against Bush's version of the new department 11 times, precisely because it weakened the prerogatives of a Democratic special interest, labor unions...
...Democrats were incensed by a recent Republican TV ad that says "people are attacking the president for attacking the terrorists...
...Graham said Bush's Iraq policy is "anti-patriotic at the core, because it's asking only one group of Americans, those soldiers in Iraq and their families, to pay the price of the occupation...
...The claim that Democrats are targets of a political low blow by being labeled unpatriotic has become a Democratic refrain...
...They are going to question your patriotism...
...Bush didn't...
...And you can see it in the way they attack the patriotism of those who question them...
...Democrats are selectively sensitive about TV ads...
...And today they blame Bush for failing to deliver on his promise to "change the tone" in Washington...
...In fact, he's never uttered the word "unpatriotic" in public in any context...
...But Democrats have convinced themselves they are victims...
...Democrats said he insinuated they were unpatriotic during the congressional debate on a department of homeland security in 2002...
...House majority leader Tom DeLay denounced Kennedy, but didn't accuse him of a lack of patriotism...
...Dick Durbin of Illinois, Sen...
...Yes, the tone needs changing...
...There is, however, one political figure who's been accused time and again of being unpatriotic: President Bush...
...And Dean has questioned the patriotism of Bush's attorney general, John Ashcroft...
...Unpatriotic...
...In this and every other case in which Democrats claim to have been smeared as unpatriotic, the facts don't bear them out...
...They remained completely passive when the NAACP aired a commercial in 2000 that accused Bush of killing James Byrd "all over again"—Byrd had been murdered by racist thugs—for refusing to sign a new hate crimes bill...
...I'm tired of seeing chief executives be permitted to take their millions or billions to Bermuda and leave the average American here at home stuck with the tax bill...
...This White House is going to turn to you and attack you," he said...
...Bush has never used the words "Democrat" and "unpatriotic" in the same sentence or in nearby sentences...
...Democratic senator John Kerry, a struggling presidential candidate, last week went one step further...
...Kennedy was upbraided by Republicans in September for claiming Bush had concocted the Iraq war for political gain...
...But it won't change if Democrats keep complaining, in order to discredit Bush, that their patriotism is being questioned—and then also claiming that the president is unpatriotic...
...I believe it is the essence of patriotism to hold this nation to a higher standard...
...His response: "There's no question that this White House sees political advantage in the war...
...But what Bush actually said in a speech was merely that "the Senate" was "more interested in special interests . . . and not interested in the security of the American people...
...Democratic presidential candidate Al Sharp-ton complained of Bush, "Real patriots don't put troops in harm's way on a flawed policy...
...They are wrong on both counts...
...Fred Barnes, for the Editors...
...Kerry was harsher...
...The accusers...
...It's been used by Senate minority leader Tom Daschle, Sen...
...Bob Graham of Florida, and presidential candidates Dick Gephardt, Wesley Clark, and Howard Dean...
...Addressing the Council on Foreign Relations, Kerry claimed to know ahead of time how the Bush crowd would react to his speech...
...But nobody called Kennedy or any other Democrat unpatriotic...
...Senate Republicans didn't...
...To shut off dissent from Bush's Iraq policy, they insist, the administration tars dissenters as unpatriotic...
...In a candidate debate last September, he said Bush "lives out a creed of greed for he and his friends...
...You know what I call that...
Vol. 9 • December 2003 • No. 14
