It’s little surprise that the Bush campaign doesn’t mind deceiving the public with its campaign attack ads, but I’m a little amazed at how brazen they are about it. I know, I know, this is par for the course.
The latest attack ad accuses John Kerry of “playing politics” with national security because he’s criticized Bush’s Patriot Act and is committed to fixing its flaws. Looking closely at the ad, someone is playing politics, but it sure isn’t Kerry.
“President Bush signed the Patriot Act giving law enforcement vital tools to fight terrorism. John Kerry? He voted for the Patriot Act, but pressured by fellow liberals, he’s changed his position. While wire taps, subpoena powers and surveillances are routinely used against drug dealers and organized crime, Kerry would now repeal the Patriot Act’s use of these tools against terrorists.”
This is total nonsense. One lie follows another. The fact that Bush “approves this message,” as he explains at the beginning of the spot, demonstrates a serious character flaw in the president.
It’s true that last December, during the Democratic nomination fight, Kerry did call for “replacing the Patriot Act with a new law.” But Kerry is not calling for repealing the law-enforcement powers alluded to in the ad. He’s calling for modification — specifically tighter control by judges. There’s a big difference between “repeal” and adding judicial oversight.
Bush campaign officials say the ad is meant to refer to “sneak-and-peek” searches, which are conducted without the knowledge of the subject, and ‘roving wiretaps’ in which authority to eavesdrop is applied to the individual rather than to a specific telephone number. Kerry’s position on those matters is spelled out in some detail on his website, and it simply does not support what the Bush ad claims.
Of course it doesn’t. The Bush ad is trying to deceive people in 19 states, where this ad is about to be shown.
And considering all the conservatives who have criticized the Patriot Act, it’s particularly odd that the Bush campaign would equate disapproval of aspects of the law with weakening the war on terror. As FactCheck noted:
Former Georgia congressman Bob Barr, a Republican ex-prosecutor, has called some provisions of the Patriot Act a violation of personal privacy…. Other conservative critics of the Patriot Act include Eagle Forum President Phyllis Schlafly, Free Congress Foundation President Paul M. Weyrich, former Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmore III, American Conservative Union Chairman David A. Keene and Republican Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho.
Hmm. Maybe Kerry was “pressured by fellow conservatives.”
The New York Times also raised an important point along these lines.
Several Republicans who voted for the act have since expressed misgivings about it, too, without prodding from liberals. In October, the Bush campaign’s chairman, Marc Racicot, told a questioner at an Arab-American Institute conference that changes in the law might be in the offing, saying that members of Congress “presently have legislation pending to provide refinements to that act, to bring that balance even truer than it has been, so that it does not end up invading the civil rights of any American.”
That’s true — and John Kerry is a co-sponsor of that legislation.
In other words, Bush’s own campaign chairman agrees with John Kerry about worthwhile changes to the Patriot Act.
So remind me, who’s playing politics with national security?