Blog Archive

George Neumayr in the American Spectator has a great piece that follows nicely on the issues I was raising in posts on Kerry’s empty rhetoric and the battle of labels in Ohio. Calling Kerry’s campaign Camouflaged Liberalism, Neumayr has a devastating description of Kerry’s campaign:

Since mainstream America finds the symbols of liberalism buffoonish, Democrats have to rely on the symbols of conservatism, even ones they normally disdain. To impress middle America, Kerry is donning all sorts of conservative camouflage, from hunting garb to retrieved war medals to his credentials as a former “prosecutor” and “altar boy.”

It’s as if Kerry, lacking substance of his own, needs the substance of conservatism to form any kind of identity.
[ . . . ]
Kerry isn’t afraid that people will fail to see who he is. He is afraid that they will see who he is. Kerry’s disguises and flip-flopping represent his hope that his liberalism in camouflage will sell better than liberalism clearly stated.

Kerry can’t be specific and precise because that would disclose the meaning of his liberalism too starkly. He has to camouflage it in euphemism. He doesn’t say he is for abortion and de facto infanticide, but “for choice.” He doesn’t say he is for embryo-destruction and cloning, but “for science.” He doesn’t say he is for higher taxes but “for fairness.” He doesn’t say he is for socialized medicine but for “a right to health care.” He can’t say he is for homosexual marriage — though everyone know that he is, including his wife who has told liberals “we’ll get there” — so he says he is for “equality.” He can’t say he is for transferring American sovereignty to the United Nations, so he says he is “for respect in the world.”

The question that haunts me is: will people see through this? Part of me believes that voters will see the incoherence and the fakery, but the cynic in me worries that the economy and the daily barrage of bad news fro Iraq via the media will cause people to doubt Bush and buy Kerry’s fake moderation. Can someone tell me I am wrong and that the people will make the right choice?