THE SMELL OF BLOOD

THE SMELL OF BLOOD IS IN THE AIR

Sharks and Barricudas take note: the smell of blood is in the air. The time to become vicious approaches. Sharpen your teeth, tweak your sensors. Soon you will begin to attack.

Various news sites and bogs have picked up on a rumor that Democratic hopeful (and current leader of the committed-delegates pack) John Kerry had an affair with an intern. An intern! How Monica-like. How convenient, to refer to the purported girl-on-the-side as an intern. It implies that she is younger, that she represents the Clintonesque side of Kerry, another Democrat with a lot of power, looking to get a little strange while in the office.

And while holding office.

Oh, those Liberal Democrats, do they know nothing of the Family Values so espoused, so embraced, and so adhered to (!!! Oomph!) by the Republican Right? And, of course, also held near and dear by all decent Americans who come from traditional families that celebrate man-woman marriage and donít want their children taking steroids. Hey, these were key issues in the leaderís State of The Union speech, when he wasnít talking about that war he just had to wage on their behalf.

John Kerry, the Republicans will tell you, he may act like a war hero, but heís just one of those party-boy Democrats who practices illicit and immoral sex instead of tending to the affairs of the country. The affairs he tends to are not of the country, but of the . . .

And speaking of him being a war hero, the Republicans will tell you, donít be fooled by his having been stuck over in Viet Nam while he was in The Service. Oh, no, they have much clearer news for you: When he came back, he shrugged off his medals and the good he did (protecting the country), and he became that lowest of all scum, a Jane Fonda loving anti war protester.

Here's the lowdown on that: the Washington Post ran a picture [1] of Kerry sitting a few rows behind Fonda at an anti-war rally. Kerry served, got some medals, came home and joined the many other vets who had come home and joined in anti war protests. Who better to protest it than those who had been there and witnessed the atrocities and the horror of it all? Surely not Bush! He was not in Viet Nam, nor may he have actually have been serving out his National Guard time in a proper manner!

Kerry is not the candidate. Yet. But as the leader in media and press coverage, the RNC has taken it upon themselves to begin to denigrate his character.

NAME CALLING, TOO

How to begin a dirty fight? By throwing the first punch, thatís how. And make it a sucker punch if at all possible, or a kick below the belt. In fact, go for the groin, and make the victimís groin the issue, while youíre at it.

From a Reuters report [2] released earlier today:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of President Bush's Republican Party accused Democrat John Kerry's campaign on Thursday of planning the "dirtiest campaign in modern presidential politics" in a scorched-earth bid to oust Bush in November.

Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie took the offensive against the Democrats after days in which Bush has been on the defensive over Democratic charges that he shirked his Air National Guard duties in the Vietnam war.
"It's only February and they have made clear they intend to run the dirtiest campaign in modern presidential politics," Gillespie said, according to speech excerpts released by the RNC. .

This is known as throwing the first punch. The opening salvo. ìFirst to accuse.î Starting the dirty tricks and smear campaign by accusing the other of planning a dirty tricks and smear campaign. Putting the enemy in a defensive, fight-their-way-out-of-this-mess position.

Deflecting the issues at hand, the serious matters of the campaign (economy, jobs, health care, dying American soldiers in a war of provocation, absolutely no WMDs found, et al), attempting to force the opposition to defend itself against the smear, rather than have a dialogue in which the issues of the day are the points in focus.

This is also an effective ruse to manipulate the media and the press into waging the Republican battle, staging it as a splashy news story. In sports they call it deking ñ using a decoy to distract the opposition, to gain a base, yardage, field position. The slime and innuendo, the allegations and rumors become the bloom on the media rose, hot and sexy issues.

Headlines and hype.

No substance. Just abuse and strategic displacement of the media/press focus.

THE WORST IS YET TO COME

This is the equivalent of Early Spring Training for the RNC. These are warm-up tactics. Kerry doesnít have the nomination yet. These are the early, practice scrimmages. The shoulder pads are not on yet. This is childís play. They have not even broken a sweat. In boxing terms, this is the undercard.

While they are in warm up mode, sort of like an opera singer warming up the throat, theyíve been practicing n the video labs, too. Go here [3] (put a clothespin on your nose) and click on ìUnprincipledî in the Video Archive. Kerry does not yet have the nomination, and this Bush campaign site is running an attack ad.

Is this because they would rather not face Kerry, perhaps a more formidable opponent among the voting population, than, say, The Doctor from Vermont or the junior Senator from North Carolina?

The Doctor from Vermont is still in the race. Heís #2 in the delegates race. His siteís blog comments area has posts galore making some noise about the Kerry rumors, playing right into the strategic hand of the RNC. Of course, the majority of the comment posts in the Dean For America [4] blog [5] are from what seems to be a more juvenile and pedestrian, whining crowd.

If I were Dean (well, I am Dean, but thatís a whole nother issue, as we say in NY) I would have disassociated myself from the wide-open comments blogger area. Let them have their say, but not on a site under the candidateís aegis.

YES, THEREíS MORE. WORSE THAN YOU IMAGINED

Dubyaís Patriot Act, spearheaded by John ìkeep the breasts hidden!î Ashcroft, eliminates, skirts, or quashes the freedoms and rights of Americans in the name of Homeland Security. How else can we force our kind of Democracy on unsuspecting theocrats if we donít curtail the democratic rights of our own citizenry? And, of course, Ashcroft, along with Bush-Cheney-burton, knows whatís best. You donít know. I donít know. Those people over there donít know.

No-one but the inner cirle really knows.

Actually, it is a secret, and only those within the cabal are allowed to know whatís best. For the country. The Patriot Act is their shield, their club, the torch they carry as they pursue their righteous and self-serving goals. For they are the imperial and deserving rulers, no matter what world opinion might be. Just ask them.

After all, they know whatís right. That must be why they are known as right-wingers.

WORSE, YET

Thereís some shocking heartland activity going on out there. More on that is coming in a subsequent post. How much bad news can a reader be exposed to, and be expected to absorb? The outpouring of Republican-slime-observation will close for the moment.

More soon.

If you can stand it.