the usual subtext

by Theron Dash

Sometimes I can't believe how naive my brothers can be. They think this flap the Bushies are keeping alive about Kerry not naming the "foreign leaders" he said were rooting for him to win, because he can't betray confidences, was just a clever little double-bind opportunity. Phineas for one knows better, he's the oldest, he can just about remember v.p. Richard Nixon's red letter red-baiting days.

First of all, it turns out that Kerry didn't even say "foreign leaders." The reporter who said so has since listened to his tape again and corrected it. Kerry said "more" leaders. Here's the story.

But the coordinated chorus of Bushies, not just Powell and the White House flacks but v.p. Dick "Undisclosed Location" Cheney, demanded to know who these leaders are, has the same old subtext. Why doesn't he name names? What's he afraid of revealing? Like maybe these leaders are...Osama bin Laden?

You think this is paranoia? Check out the Washington Times sometime, that print equivalent of Fox News, which covers the Kerry campaign with headlines like, Terrorists Favor Kerry, and a bit more subtly, Arab-Americans Favor Kerry.

It's subliminal red-baiting, since the above-ground stuff isn't working anymore. Delete "red" and insert "terrorist." Terrorists sympathizer, favored by enemies of America. You can almost see Nixon's dark scowl.

It's clear as a bell in this Cheney statement at a campaign event in Arizona:
"But it is our business when a candidate for president claims the political endorsement of foreign leaders. At the very least, we have a right to know what he is saying to them that makes them so supportive of his candidacy."

They have to resort to suggestion at the moment, since they can call Kerry liberal all they want (the equivalent of radical in the 60s, Communist in the 50s and on) but they can't make him a Dukakis. They're looking for this year's Willie Horton, and if they can't find one they'll sow some doubt, some foreign phantoms to give voters the Willies. It's not just a double-bind, it's a subtextual smear.

Kerry has to call them on it. Ask them why they're so interested, and just what are they trying to imply? It's another thinly veiled attack on his patriotism. I apologize for my brothers. They don't always understand that these guys haven't had a new idea since 1950.