When The Grand Hypocrisy Party (GHP) Is On The Attack, It Hits The Gutter Running

April 22, 2002

A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL

It's becoming BuzzFlash's mantra. When the Grand Hypocrisy Party (GHP) is on the attack, it hits the gutter running. A limbo bar can't go down as low as the GHP.

Take last week's totally scurrilous and gratuitous effort to paint Boy Scout and former Prosecutor Vermont Senator Pat Leahy as being opposed to Congress honoring the police and fire fighter heroes of September 11th. Such a slimy charge boggles the mind, but it is consistent with the sleazy demonizing tactics that have marked the GHP for the last 25 years.

Remember Bush the Elder and Willie Horton. Well Willie Horton was Lee Atwater's creation. Guess who rode shotgun with Skuzzy Lee during the 1988 Presidential campaign? That's right BuzzFlash readers, George W. Bush.

So it should come as no surprise that the GHP sold the New York Post a phony bill of goods that Leahy was opposed to the Congressional medals for New York's finest. The Post, a Murdoch paper, didn't let the truth get in the way of a series of articles that gave the slanderous charge the veneer of truth.

Then, even after the bills authorizing the medals were passed, the GOP sent out an e-mail to its "team leaders" with the following message:

"Action Alert

Senator Leahy Disrespects NY's Heroes

Express your outrage over Senator Patrick Leahy's (D-VT) refusal to bring a bill to a vote that would have awarded the Presidential Medal of Valor to firefighters and policemen who responded to the 9/11 attack last year. Ask the editors of your newspapers and the radio and talk show hosts in your area why Senator Leahy is acting so cowardly when it comes to the brave actions of the heroes we lost that day. Demand that Senator Leahy stop his disrespectful ways and bring this bill to a vote on the floor of the Senate. It's the least he can do for those heroes who saw their fellow firefighters and police officers fall while protecting others.

Click here to contact your local media."

David Carle, Senator Leahy's Press Secretary, believes the New York Post and GHP should be ashamed of themselves:

"The New York Post item is a complete crock, and the Republican National Committee should be ashamed of itself for perpetuating a story that they know full well unfairly preys on the emotions of the victims of September 11. Senator Leahy has believed that all the heroes of 9/11 should get the Public Safety Medal of Valor Award.

In fact, he helped establish the award itself a year ago, before Sept. 11. His outstanding record as a champion of firefighters and police goes on and on. He wrote the law last October that has boosted and expedited death benefits for the firefighters and police killed in the terrorist attacks. He, more than anyone else in Congress, led the way in creating the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund.

He authored the grant program for bulletproof vests for police officers. He did not oppose these non-binding sense of Congress resolutions about the award, and the New York Post is flatly wrong in saying that he ever did. Senator Leahy supported all three resolutions and yesterday got all three passed by the Judiciary Committee, and then Thursday night also by the U.S. Senate."

After the vote on the resolutions, Steve Young, national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, issued a statement thanking Leahy for his continuing work on behalf of the Public Safety Medal of Valor and for honoring the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

"Senator Leahy has been a true champion for the Fraternal Order of Police on this issue," Young said. He also noted Leahy's instrumental role in establishing the Public Safety Medal Of Valor itself through the charter passed by Congress and signed by the President a year ago.

So why did the GHP turn its sleaze attack apparatus on Leahy?

Probably two reasons: One, Bush, due to chronic incompetence and impotent statements on the Middle East, is dipping in the polls, so the GHP needs to find someone to demonize. It's their standard operating procedure after all.

Secondly, Leahy chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee. The GHP is madder than a wet hen that Leahy is holding a high standard for Federal Court nominees. The GHP is upset that Leahy does not consider Federalist Society membership a sufficient credential to compensate for incompetence in a Bush court nominee. The battle over judicial appointments is one of the most pitched confrontations taking place, mostly off-stage. The GHP wants to continue turning the Federal Courts into another branch of the GHP, and Leahy, as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, thinks Americans deserve good judges, who have something more to offer our system of justice than a loyalty oath to the Bush administration.

So the battle over judicial nominations is likely to become even more heated. Bush and his administration know what well-placed appointments can do. Judge David Sentelle, a right wing Federal Court appointee, was responsible for appointing Ken Starr as Independent Counsel, at the behest of Jesse Helms, at a time when Robert Fisk, the then Independent Counsel, was about to close up shop on the Whitewater investigation.

Of course, one need look no further than Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Sandra Day O'Connor, Anthony Kennedy and William Rehnquist to understand what a few GHP loyalists can pull off. Bush knows who put him into office -- and it wasn't the electorate.

So, that explains the GOP sleazeball assault on Leahy. He's a man of honor, and that's something the GHP doesn't understand or respect.

They have contempt for people of honor. They see it as a weakness worthy of smear and slander.

A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL