Hold Your Fire!

The Democratic National Convention is in full swing in Boston this week. I’ve been watching some of the speeches in prime time. I was surprised by Jimmy Carter’s scolding of the current administration, in awe once again of Bill Clinton and his incredible ability to address complex issues in a "down-home" way, and bowled over by the intelligence and poise of young Barack Obama of Illinois. The Democratic orators are taking such pains NOT to fire personal shots at the president, vice-president, and their gang. I respect them for it, but I truly think they’re going to get killed if they don’t step up to the plate and swing away when they need to. I suppose I will have to wait until the Republicans hold their convention, but I strongly suspect they are not going to refrain from trying to drag everything about John Kerry, his wife, his military record, his congressional record, what he ate for dinner last night…through the ugliest mud available. It’s who the Republicans are. It’s what they do.

For some reason, the GOP are holding their fire during the DNC…I’m not sure why. Are they just soaking up all the Democratic rhetoric, taking notes, trying to identify the location of the soft underbelly so that they can attack that much more fiercely when their time comes? I can’t believe it’s a courtesy offered in order to let "the other side" have their moment in the spotlight. If it IS, my apologies to the Republicans for not cutting them enough slack to believe them capable of decency and fair play.

The world of the internet, however, has not been notified of the "cease fire." Venomous emails containing perverted facts, put forth in the most slanted way possible, are zooming back and forth through cyber-space. I had a weird experience this week… My journal attracted the attention of a woman who, at first, emailed me a positive comment about one of my political rants. She said I had "a gift," and that I should try to get published. Of course, I was very flattered…and I should have known it was a snow job. I emailed her back, thanking her for the compliment, gushing about how much I appreciated that kind of feedback from a reader. We emailed back and forth a couple of times in the next few weeks. And THEN I started receiving all these right-wing forwards from her. Each time with the personal admonition to "consider this very carefully and think before you vote." I can only think that she believed my attempt at trying to tone down the viciousness of the political exchanges I take part in, meant that I was ripe for conversion. But, I read this treacle that "concerned people" zap all over the internet, and I think, "Where do they get this stuff? How do they have the nerve to write some of this? How much of this is based in actual fact?" I’ll share a couple of gems with you:

This forward was supposedly an open letter to John Kerry, written by a man whose father served in WWII, whose sons are serving/have served in Iraq/Afghanistan, and who himself is a "Proud Reservist" of some kind….

"In looking at your record I found myself comparing it not only to that of my father and my sons, but to the people they served with. My father served with the 87th Chemical Mortar Battalion in Europe. They landed on Utah Beach and fought for 317 straight days including the Cherbourg Peninsula, Aachen, the Hurtgen Forest, and the Battle of the Bulge. You earned a Silver Star in Vietnam for chasing down and finishing off a wounded and retreating enemy soldier. My father won a Bronze Star for single handedly charging and knocking out a German machine gun nest that had his men pinned down. You received three purple hearts for what appears to be three minor scratches. In fact you only missed a combined total of two days of duty for these wounds. The men of my father's unit, the 87th, had to be admonished by their commanding officer because: "It has been brought to our attention that some men are covering up wounds and refusing medical attention for fear of being evacuated and permanently separated from this organization..." It was also a common problem for seriously wounded soldiers to go AWOL from hospitals in order to rejoin their units. You used your three purple hearts to leave Vietnam early."

All I can say is, WTF? Let’s attack John Kerry’s combat record. Three Purple Hearts for scratches? Used them to leave Viet Nam early? Earned his Silver Star for committing a combat atrocity? How dare anyone make such a mockery of the service of a Viet Nam veteran…ANY veteran? ANYONE who has stared into the face of death on a battlefield earned any medal he got from doing so, in my opinion.To try to minimize his service and his sacrifice is so reprehensible, it boggles my mind. How can someone from the same side of the political spectrum that flies into a tizzy of hyper-outrage at even a slight hint of not "supporting" our troops, be responsible for writing this garbage? Can you say "hypocrite?"

This email attacked Mrs. Kerry:

If you thought John Kerry was scary, he doesn't hold a candle to his wife!…

If voters will open their eyes, educate themselves and see the real Teresa Heinz Kerry, they will not appreciate her position as ultra rich fairy godmother of the radical left. They will not want to imagine her laying her head on a pillow each night inches away from the President of the United States.

The main complaint in this forward was that Mrs. Heinz Kerry had inherited the ketchup fortune of her first husband, Republican Senator H. John Heinz III. Heinz died in a plane crash in 1991; Teresa married John Kerry in 1995, defected to the Democratic party, and is now squandering all that wonderful Republican money on, horror of horrors, liberal causes! And of course every fund or foundation she donates to supports Osama bin Laden, Sadam Hussein, the Taliban, the Communists, the Vikings, the Huns, Ghengis Khan, Hitler….

Then there was this one, that just goes to prove the old adage that an elephant never forgets:

Hello My name is Mary Jo Kopechne.

I would have been 65 years of age this year.

When Sen. Ted Kennedy was merely just another Democrat bloating on Capitol Hill on behalf of liberal causes, it was perhaps excusable to ignore his deplorable past. But now that he's become Sen. John Kerry's leading campaign attack dog, positioning himself as Washington's leading arbiter of truth and integrity, the days for such indulgence are now
over.

It's time for the GOP to stand up and remind America why Sen. Kerry's chief spokesman had to abandon his own presidential bid in 1980 – time to say the words Mary Jo Kopechne out loud.

Seriously folks…this one is SO old, easily half the voting public have NO idea what you’re talking about here. If this is the best shot you can take at Kerry and the Democrats, you need to take your gun (which we will have to pry from your cold, dead hands) out to the firing range and practice up!

Of course, emails aren’t the only thing that exist to spew venom on the internet. I caught a comment in Cynthia’s journal from J-land’s pet "Rush-clone." So I thought I’d mosey on over there to check out his take on the Democratic Convention. I think Remo is an intelligent guy, and a great writer. But I wasn’t prepared for the stark ugliness of his language:

Isn't Jimmy "The Wabbit-Hunter" Carter dead yet? Displaying the symptoms of dementia (and bad set of choppers) President Peanut-Brain tried to remind us of how great things were when he was in charge. Sure. Hostages, gas shortages and high prices, interest rates near 20%, cutting our defense budgets. Have a seat, Jimmy. You had your chance and you screwed the pooch. Your Presidency was like a giant episiotomy on this nation, and it took almost two decades to heal the gaping wound of your incompetence.

Again, WTF? Slamming Jimmy Carter is like calling Mother Teresa a gutter-crawling whore. There are some things, some people that demand respect. President Carter is one of those people. It’s bad enough to use an awesome wit to concoct vicious, contentious, and downright slanderous prose about the current cast of characters on the scene…but there is a place to draw the line (and it really should have been drawn far on the other side of criticizing any opponent in such a way.) It’s people who write stuff like this, who say stuff like this, who believe that it’s way okay to stake out their political claims in such a patently disgusting manner, that are making this country the mess it is today. Sorry, Remo. I just think it’s gross.

America is facing challenges that are far too serious for us to let ourselves be caught up in this knife-twisting negativity. We don’t all think alike. We never will. But in order to get anything accomplished, we have to quit making a career of painting the side that doesn’t share our philosophy as the worst kind of idiots and/or monsters. What good does it do? Does it bring us together? Does it move us toward a common goal? Does it foster an atmosphere of mutual respect? Does it show the rest of the world what a truly great nation we are?

Let’s get a clue, people. Let’s earn respect for our views by showing respect for others’. Didn't they teach us that in, like, kindergarten?