http://www.blogforamerica.com/When Democrats Attack Democrats
On Thursday, the New York Times reported that George Bush would begin attacking us in January. We already know from the RNC ad in Iowa and New Hampshire that George Bush and Karl Rove will use fearmongering to attack Dean.
But using the war on terror for political gain is not just George Bush’s game. Some Democrats have now taken their strategy of acting like Bush Lite to a new low—launching an ad in South Carolina and New Hampshire that uses images of Osama bin Laden to attack Howard Dean’s commitment to defending America.
The ad was bought and paid for by Americans for Jobs, Health Care and Progressive Values, an organization that doesn’t have to reveal the identity of its donors—and it is one of the most despicable attack ads ever launched.
The ad shows a magazine with Bin Laden on the cover. As the camera zooms in, a narrator says:
“We live in a very dangerous world. And there are those who wake up every morning determined to destroy western civilization. Americans want a President who can face the dangers ahead. But Howard Dean has no military or foreign policy experience. And Howard Dean just cannot compete with George Bush on foreign policy. It’s time for Democrats to think about that… and think about it now.”
The ad could have been bought and paid for by George Bush, but it wasn’t—it was bought and paid for by a secretive group of unnamed Democrats who will do anything to stop Dean.
Who are the Americans for Jobs, Health Care and Progressive Values? Their press secretary is Robert Gibbs—who, until recently, worked on John Kerry’s campaign. Their Treasurer is David Jones, who used to raise money for Dick Gephardt. The president of the organization, Former Congressman Edward Feighan, was one of the earliest $2,000 contributors to Dick Gephardt’s presidential campaign.
And as their press release says, they plan to air this ad in other early primary states, and they’ve bought “over $400,000 of airtime in Iowa for ads focusing on Howard Dean’s positions on the issues of guns, Medicare cuts and NAFTA.”
We know John Kerry’s been attacking Dean on guns, and Dick Gephardt’s been attacking Dean on Medicare and NAFTA. And just two months ago the New York Times reported that, “at least at a staff level, the Gephardt and Kerry campaigns… are sharing information about Dr. Dean that helps fuel each another's attacks.”
Maybe it’s all a coincidence that this new secretive group-- founded just last month-- has picked up the same line of attack that Kerry and Gephardt have been using for months.
We hope that their campaigns would have nothing to do with this ad—the type of ad that Senator Kerry denounced as “political hate speech” when one like it was used against Senator Max Cleland in the 2002 election.
Will the Kerry and Gephardt campaigns, as well as the other campaigns, now step forward as Kerry did for Cleland and denounce this ad, as all Democrats should do?
Under any circumstances, using Osama bin Laden to attack Howard Dean is despicable. It is especially hypocritical if the attack comes from those who supported the war in Iraq.
Osama bin Laden is still at large because the President turned his attention away from al Qaeda to pursue his war with Iraq—the war that every major candidate for the nomination except for Howard Dean supported. John Kerry voted for it. Dick Gephardt wrote the Iraq resolution and stood beside George Bush in the Rose Garden when the president signed it.
As Vice President Al Gore said this week when he endorsed Howard Dean, “It was Osama bin Laden that attacked us… so don't tell me that because Howard Dean was the only major candidate who was right about that war, that that somehow calls his judgment into question on foreign policy.”
There’s one thing that even the most cynical political operative knows is true: hateful attack ads like this might push someone down in the polls, but they do so by discouraging people from voting at all. People see this mud being slung around and they give up. It’s the same politics of the past that has led to more than 50% of Americans not voting at all.
But our campaign isn’t just about winning this election. It’s about restoring our democracy. We welcome an open debate about policy, about the merits of going to war with Iraq instead of pursuing the war on terror. But all Democrats in this election should join Howard Dean and stand up for democracy. They should be standing up for the participation of everyone, instead of pursuing tactics that breed cynicism and discourage Americans from voting.
You can show that we're going to keep fighting. Contribute to our campaign. We need to fight these attacks and get on with the real goal of this election-- defeating George W. Bush and restoring a politics of participation and meaning to our country.
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