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Panic on the Left
By Doug Patton
September 14, 2004

It was amusing to see the Left in full meltdown mode last week. There was Chief Democrat attack dog Terry McAuliffe, denouncing the President of the United States for possible discrepancies in his records from half a lifetime ago.

Then there was the Congressional Black Caucus, trotting out their partisan smear machine. They invited their favorite presidential candidate to come and bash the president, which he gladly did.

But for me, it was the spectacle of Sen. Tom Harkin jumping off another political bridge that was particularly amusing. Harkin, you will recall, has a history of making a fool of himself. He was the guy standing behind Howard Dean on caucus night in Iowa (was that really just last January?) when Dr. Screech embarrassed and discredited himself and all who had endorsed him (Harkin, Gore, etc.).

Harkin again blew a gasket earlier this summer when he angrily called Vice President Dick Cheney a coward for not going to Vietnam.

He then said that Michael Moore's mockumentary was so compelling that every American should see it, or some such nonsense. This despite the fact that Harkin admitted having seen only half of the film.

This time, like his comrades, the junior senator from Iowa was all too eager to accept as gospel the obviously forged "documents" purporting to show that George W. Bush lied about completing his Air National Guard service three decades ago. Quoting CBS's disgracefully incomplete "investigation" of Bush's service, Harkin immediately stepped in front of TV cameras to denounce the president as a liar and a fraud.

Old Senator Tom wants us to buy the idea that fake documents put forth by Dan Rather, one of the most partisan Democrat sycophants in today's national media, are to be taken as proof of something about which most Americans don't even care. The American people have seen George W. Bush in action as their commander in chief for nearly four years. Does Tom Harkin really think the voters care about whether the president skipped a few guard meetings back in the early seventies?

Of course, whenever he is attacking Republicans for their military service, or lack thereof, Harkin always neglects to mention that he himself has lied about his own military record. Over the years, Harkin has told his constituents that he served as a "fighter pilot" during the Vietnam War. The truth is that he never fought anything more dangerous than Tokyo traffic, since that is where he was stationed. But Harkin is a liberal Democrat, so no one in the so-called mainstream media will ever scrutinize his embellished resume.

Meanwhile, Kerry himself seems to believe that his ticket to the White House lies in silly slogans like "W stands for wrong" and fruitless attacks on Bush over the issue of allowing the so-called assault weapons ban to expire. In this case, even former Clinton advisor Paul Begala, now working for Kerry, says that strategy is just plain dumb.

Bill Clinton, from his hospital bed, told Kerry to get off the issue of Vietnam and start talking about health care, education and the economy. But Kerry can't do that, because his whole campaign is based on him being a war hero, a fact that is now not only being refuted by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, but also by some disgruntled Democrat strategists. Pat Caddell, a long-time Democrat pollster, said this week that Kerry should stop talking about being a hero.

"When you're a hero," Caddell said, "you don't tell people about it. They know."

Caddell makes a good point. But John Kerry has nothing else. He and his supporters certainly can't tout his left-wing record in the Senate. And so, they are hysterical whenever they are challenged.

Why is there panic on the Left? Because they have nothing to sell that a majority of voters want to buy.

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Doug Patton is a freelance columnist who has served as a speechwriter, policy advisor and communications director for federal, state and local candidates, elected officials and public policy organizations. His weekly columns are published in newspapers across the country and on selected Internet websites. Readers can e-mail him at dpatton@neonramp.com.

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Note -- The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, views, and/or philosophy of GOPUSA.