To murder character is as truly a crime as to murder the body: the tongue of the slanderer is brother to the dagger of the assassin.
-- Tryon Edwards

The daggers and tongues are both unsheathed and ready for action, as the Democrats -- and their "mainstream" media mouthpieces -- are taking no prisoners this election year.

In a particularly malevolent editorial, Frank Rich of the New York Times writes, "Only in an election year ruled by fiction could a sissy who used Daddy's connections to escape Vietnam turn an actual war hero into a girlie-man." The vitriol continues: "Bush was fronted by a testosterone-heavy lineup led by a former mayor who did not dally to read a children's book on 9/11, a senator who served in the Hanoi Hilton rather than the 'champagne unit' of the Texas Air National Guard and a governor who can play the role of a warrior on screen more convincingly than can a former Andover cheerleader gallivanting on an aircraft carrier." Rich must have "forgotten" that Bush played Rugby, football, baseball and other sports, as his Yale transcript clearly shows. (Research, Frank!) He also (as do most Liberals) accuses FOX news of pimping for the Bush administration as well as the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, with as much one-sided accuracy. According to Rich, Kerry is "a man's man." Frankly, I'm getting sick and tired of Democrats and Liberals casting aspersions on the National Guard, many of whom are currently serving so honorably in Afghanistan and Iraq, in their zeal to slander President Bush. And yes, the Air National Guard served in Vietnam, too.

Roger Cohen, also of the NY Times, wrings his hands over the European view that President Bush (in fact, the Republican party) seems "simplistic, even dangerous." His disdain for people who chant, "USA!, USA!, USA!" is palpable. "While the nations of Europe have quietly retired from history - at least the history of great national combats - and placed their faith in international institutions and laws," Cohen agonises, "the United States has entered upon another epic struggle that it sees as defining for the future of mankind." In a burst (well, continuing flow, actually) of self-regarding sophistication, he goes on to say, "Transformative upheaval is not the European thing these days: Been there, done that. So the Continent is worried." It's difficult to see how "international institutions and laws" did anything to protect hundreds of innocent men, women and children from a horrific attack on a Russian school by fanatical Muslim terrorists.

Trying desperately to push health care to the forefront of the election -- one of the two issues left, according to a recent Newsweek poll, in which Kerry still leads Bush -- a New York Times piece tells us "the office has become, for many, an echo chamber of angst." While drumming up fears about stress-related illness related to changing jobs too often, the piece touts Scandinavia's "centralised" health care system, otherwise known as socialised medicine. The article even warns that the expansion and growth of companies "might lead to poor health."

The Los Angeles Times castigates the President's plan to help more people take charge of their own lives. The traditional Democrat campaign of "Scaring the Vote" has begun. "If workers begin to view privatized Social Security accounts as the preferred vehicle for retirement savings, it might be easier to gradually scale back the traditional government-financed insurance pool, [unnamed Bush critics] said. If enough Americans open personal healthcare savings accounts, it might be easier for employers to scale back medical benefits and for government to reduce coverage under Medicare and Medicaid," the LA Times warns readers in a supposed news story. Haven't we heard the cry "the Republicans are going to steal your Social Security, Medicare and Welfare!" before?

In another "news" piece in the LA Times, an AP reporter actually tracked down some Vietnam veterans to praise John Kerry -- veterans from the other side of the war. "Kerry served in Vietnam and he was awarded the medal for his bravery," former Viet Cong soldier Duong Hoang Sinh said. "He deserves the medal." Of course, the reporter had to admit that "Sinh had never heard of Kerry." However, "[a]lthough Kerry may be worried about veterans' support in America, Sinh said he would vote any day for his former enemy over President Bush." Now that's a ringing endorsement.

These editorials and so-called "news" stories contain the "heart and soul," to borrow a phrase, of the Democratic party. One tactic is hurling vicious, unsubstantiated accusations at President Bush, hoping that some of the muck sticks. Another is openly begging Europe -- meaning France and Germany, mostly -- not to think too badly of us while this Bush guy is running the show (all the while insulting the countries that assisted us in Iraq as "a trumped-up, so-called coalition of the bribed, the coerced, the bought and the extorted." Now THAT'S diplomacy, Mr. Kerry!) Yet another is the usual campaign to scare people -- especially the elderly, the poor, and minorities -- into voting Democratic as a matter of survival. Is this the best answer they have -- to play on the fears of people, to scare them into voting for Kerry?

When did the Democrats become the reactionary party, and the Republicans the reformers? Yet that's what voters are faced with this year. President Bush is running his re-election campaign on a reform platform -- an unusual thing for an incumbent to do, to say the least. Bush's plans for a second term include reforming the tax code, Social Security, education, and health care (by creating health savings accounts). The Democrats under Kerry, as far as anyone can tell, plan to keep most things as they are, only throw more taxpayer money at them... and create huge new entitlements to increase cradle-to-grave government control over the individual. Kerry's planned repeal of tax cuts for everyone making over $200,000 a year would be disastrous for the economy, as those are the people who own the companies which create jobs for the rest of us. Moreover, the added tax revenue wouldn't come close to paying for any of his ambitious new entitlement programs. You can guess what that means.

One of Kerry's plans, for instance, amounts to offering tax breaks to companies that agree not to expand into the global market. (Protectionism, by any other name...) Bush's plan, on the other hand, is to create conditions that will make America the best place for companies to compete -- companies from around the world. As only 5.4% of eligible Americans are currently unemployed (according to the August 2004 Bureau of Labor Statistics report), companies will have to compete to attract workers... typically by offering higher salaries and more benefits. Kerry plans to spend your money to bribe companies not to compete elsewhere; Bush's plan encourages companies from around the world to spend foreign money here in America. No wonder the only ways the Democrats can combat President Bush's re-election are through fear and character assassination.

Those whose only source of information is the "mainstream" media must have been quite surprised to see President Bush show up for his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention sans horns, tail and pitchfork (perhaps John Ashcroft was holding that for him). The Democrats and their puppets in the media are going to have to work overtime for the next two months to convince the voters that he just keeps them well hidden.