Chris Floyd: This is no ordinary election. It's emergency surgery
http://www.tmtmetropolis.ru/stories/2004/02/20/120.html Chris Floyd makes the case for the crucial need to vote for Kerry, even in full knowledge of the many ways in which he represents the same interests as Bush.
He also quotes Chomsky making the same point.
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Kerry is the quintessential "safe pair of hands," with a solid record of hauling heavy lumber for elite interests -- especially elite media interests. His new prominence -- helped in no small part by kid-gloves media coverage while his opponents were raked with withering fire -- made it safe to give Bush a little bruising. For the mandarins, it's a win-win situation: Replacing one multimillionaire Skull-and-Bones Yalie aristocrat with another is not likely to upset too many profitable applecarts or usher in a more egalitarian society.
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Noam Chomsky, an old-style patriot bitterly scorned across the political spectrum for his dogged insistence that the United States live up to its own ideals, put the case well in a recent interview: "The current incumbents may do severe, perhaps irreparable, damage if given another hold on power. In a very powerful state, small differences may translate into very substantial effects on the victims, at home and abroad. It is no favor to those who are suffering, and may face much worse ahead, to overlook these facts.
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Kerry might be a rusty knife, but the life of a patient in extremis takes precedence over questions of hygiene. When the worst is past, then judge the knife -- discard it if necessary -- and get on with the work of restoring the Republic.