Contributors
Carol Platt Liebau - Columnist

Carol Platt Liebau is editorial director and a senior member of the CaliforniaRepublic.org editorial board. She is an attorney, political analyst and commentator based in San Marino, CA, and has appeared on the Fox News Channel, MSNBC, CNN, Orange County News Channel, Cox Cable and a variety of radio programs throughout the United States. A graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, Carol Platt Liebau also served as the first female managing editor of the Harvard Law Review. [go to Liebau index]

Judge ‘Em By the Company They Keep
And Then Vote for Bush...
[Carol Platt Liebau] 10/25/04

In retrospect, it will become clear that there have been many unwritten stories in the Campaign of 2004. Chief among them will be the ones about Kerry’s explanation for his “Christmas in Cambodia” flights of fancy, his refusal to respond to Bob Woodward’s questions about a Kerry strategy in Iraq, and a thorough examination of Teresa Heinz Kerry’s finances and their implications for a Kerry presidency.

But there is one other story about which the press has been remarkably silent. There has been no sustained, major coverage of an important, first-time phenomenon in modern American politics: A seemingly random, but undoubtedly violent, campaign of intimidation directed at Republicans. Of course, as in every election, overheated and foolish partisans on both sides have stolen or destroyed the opposition’s yard signs, and certainly there has been some bipartisan examples of regrettable rudeness.

But the violence directed at Republicans this year is unprecedented:

• In Orland, FL, a Bush-Cheney headquarters was attacked by a horde of union activists

• In Gainesville, FL, a GOP committee chairman was assaulted by an anti-Bush protestor

• In Miami, FL, the Bush-Cheney headquarters was thronged by over 100 union protestors, who harassed the volunteers at work there

• In Knoxville, TN, shots were fired into a Republican headquarters

• In Madison, WI, a homeowner’s yard was burned in the shape of a swastika

• In West Allis, WI, a GOP campaign office was invaded by 50 pro-Kerry demonstrators

• In Spokane, WA, Bush/Cheney campaign offices were broken into and vandalized

• In Lake Havasu City, AZ, Bush/Cheney headquarters receives a bomb threat

• In Flagstaff, AZ, a Bush/Cheney office was vandalized

• In Southeast Portland, OR, the windows of the Multnomah County Republican office were smashed

• In Cincinnati, OH, the Bush/Cheney headquarters was robbed.
  

Unbelievably, this is only a partial list of a campaign of intimidation by violent Democratic partisans. No comparable stories of partisan violence by Republicans have yet emerged. A break-in at a local Democratic headquarters in Toledo, Ohio, was resolved when police subsequently narrowed the case down to one suspect who allegedly robbed for drug money.

But what’s most remarkable – aside from the lack of media coverage about the incidents – is the deafening silence emanating from the Kerry/Edwards camp. There has been no disclaiming of violence, no effort to still the roiling waters of partisanship that has strayed out of bounds.

Certainly, no campaign can control each of its adherents, and every manifestation of partisan belief and behavior cannot fairly be imputed to the people at the top of the ticket. Even so, it is remarkable that what looks like an ongoing campaign of violence against political adversaries has been allowed to unfold with nary a word of disapproval or reproof from those who stand most to benefit from it.

That’s because the Kerry/Edwards camp knows that it needs these thugs and others like them in order to win. And what’s more, they are so desperate to win that they will tolerate – and by tolerating, implicitly encourage – the kind of violence that may mark political discourse in totalitarian countries, but which has no place in a pluralistic democracy.

When a President is elected, it is not a victory only for him and his inner circle. It represents a triumph for all the constituencies that have supported him – and with his victory, they gain added influence. Every vote will have the effect of endorsing not only a particular slate of candidates, but also their election strategies and tactics.

You can tell a lot about a person by the company he keeps. Here’s hoping that the great story of Campaign 2004 – written or not – is about how the Democratic team, in its willingness to overlook violence for its own ends, finally proved that it couldn’t be trusted to protect Americans from threats either foreign or domestic. CRO

Columnist Carol Platt Liebau is a political analyst, commentator and CaliforniaRepublic.org editorial director based in San Marino, CA. Ms. Liebau also served as the first female managing editor of the Harvard Law Review. Her web log can be found at CarolLiebau.blogspot.com

copyright 2004

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