Yesterday, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) went after Dick “Go F— Yourself” Cheney for his absurd “sensitivity” attack against Kerry last week. To hear Harkin tell it, the vice president was acting “cowardly.”
He said of Cheney, “What he is doing and what he is saying is cowardly. The actions are cowardly.
“When I hear this coming from Dick Cheney, who was a coward, who would not serve during the Vietnam War, it makes my blood boil,” Harkin added. “He’ll be tough, but he’ll be tough with someone else’s kid’s blood.”
The AP ran the story on the national wire, describing Harkin’s remarks, matter-of-factly, as “push[ing] the name-calling in the presidential race to a new level.” The same story included a response from the Republican National Committee, which called Harkin’s comments “shrill and negative.” The article ran today in dozens of newspapers, across thee country.
In the meantime, another well-known U.S. senator, Trent Lott (R-Miss.), recently called John Kerry a “French-speaking socialist.” The AP didn’t chastise Lott for the outrageous name-calling, didn’t ask the DNC for a response, and didn’t say a word about Lott’s attack on the national wire.
So, Harkin calling Cheney a “coward” is newsworthy, but Lott calling Kerry a “socialist” is not. One standard for Democrats, another (lower) standard for Republicans. Liberal media? I don’t think so.