John Kerry was interviewed in a NY Times Magazine piece today on his plan on how to fight terrorism and his words are once again being misconstrued by
Republicans and turned into a counter campaign.
On CNN's Late Edition, Marc Racicot, a Bush campaign advisor, paraphrased Kerry's statements from the article, interpreting the meaning such that
Kerry stated that he feels terrorism is a nuisance, similar to protitution and gambling and has a "pre-9/11" view of the world. RNC Chairman Ed
Gillespie used similar comments on Face The Nation.
However, Kerry's actual quote from the piece was:
"We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance. As a former law enforcement
person, I know we're never going to end prostitution. We're never going to end illegal gambling. But we're going to reduce it, organized crime, to
a level where it isn't on the rise. It isn't threatening people's lives every day, and fundamentally, it's something that you continue to fight,
but it's not threatening the fabric of your life."
If you read the quote, and also the full 8000 word article, Kerry said that his wish is to reduce terrorism to a nuisance, not that terrorism is
currently a nuisance. He states that it can never be completely eliminated, LIKE prostitution, gambling and other organized crime, but it can be
reduced. The rest of the Times interview discusses how he feels that terrorism requires a "multipronged" approach because terrorists are highly
mobile and cannot be attacked via conventional war, which is complete opposition with Bush's strategy to single out countries that sponsor terrorism
and attack them in a conventional way, which is more of a "pre-9/11" strategy. Can't Republicans read??
CNN reports that the Bush campaign will launch a television ad using (or misusing) the Kerry quotes NY Times Magazine piece tomorrow.
It is truly appaling that this new campaign tactic is based completely on a lack of reading comprehension. The fact that it was repeated by two
Republican operatives and is the centerpiece of a new TV ad really shows how stupid the Republicans think Americans are. I suspect that they didn't
think that people would actually read or understand the NY Times piece. Perhaps Marc Racicot and the rest of Bush's advisors only skimmed it, as the
first few paragraphs aren't all that flaterring, but the bulk of the article really details Kerry's plan and gives real insight into how intelligent
this man really is.
For the CNN article:
www.cnn.com...
For the NY Times Magazine interview with John Kerry:
www.nytimes.com...