This page was last updated on July 17, 2004.

Spot check; Editorial; Beaver County Times; July 14, 2004.

In this editorial, the Times would have you believe it does not know the difference between displaying negativism and so-called negative campaigning.

When people say John Kerry is negative, they mean he sees bad news in good news.  For example, when the traditional "misery index" showed the economy was doing well, the Kerry campaign designed its own version to claim the economy was worse than when Jimmy Carter was president.  With an unemployment rate lower than the average of the 1990s, jobs increasing every month, and home ownership at an all-time high, Kerry claims the economy is comparable to the Great Depression.  Those are examples of negativism.

The so-called negative Bush/Cheney ads merely state Kerry's record, sometimes in Kerry's own words.  If Kerry's record is negative, that's his problem.  President Bush didn't make Kerry's decisions for him.

Compare the Bush/Cheney ads with the following comment by Mr. Kerry about President Bush and VP Cheney when he didn't know the press was listening, "Let me tell you, we've just begun to fight.  We're going to keep pounding.  These guys are the most crooked, you know, lying group I've ever seen."  When confronted with his comments the next day, Kerry said, "I have no intention whatsoever to apologize for my remarks."

Are the Bush/Cheney ads comparable to Kerry's negativism and personal attacks?

Paraphrasing the Times, who "borrowed" it from Fox News Channel, "I report; you decide."

© 2004 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.