The battlefield in the Brave New War of Words expanded considerably this past week, triggered by Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry, caught in an unguarded moment calling neocon allies of President Bush “the most crooked, you know, lying group of people I’ve ever seen.”
The Republican National Committee demanded an apology from Kerry in a statement that said (approximately), “Take it back, take it back, before we kick you in the sack!” To which Kerry replied, “OK, I’m sorry that you’re a bunch of crooked pootie-heads.” Bush retorted with a new TV ad: “Kerry is a liberal doodie-head who hates America.” Kerry quickly responded with an ad of his own: “I know you are, but what am I?” Can rubber and glue be far off?
It gets weirder. Radio personality Howard Stern, who up till now had strongly backed Bush’s war on Iraq, has begun calling the president a “Jesus freak,” a “maniac” and “an arrogant bastard,” while ranting against “the Christian right minority that has taken over the White House.”
Stern’s syndicated morning show was dropped from Clear Channel radio stations earlier this month, denounced as (suddenly) “vulgar, offensive and insulting.” Speculation is that the move had more to do with Clear Channel chairman Lowry Mays’ and vice chairman Tom Hicks’ close ties to Bush. A recent USA TODAY/ CNN/Gallup poll showed that Bush’s traditionally strong support among male voters is down significantly, and that Bush actually trails Kerry among those voters, a demographic with whom Stern does particularly well. Stern’s show was dropped in, among other places, Orlando, Miami and Pittsburgh, all important markets in key swing states. Of course, this is just a coincidence.
In 1968, when Walter Cronkite said of Vietnam: “We’ve been too often disappointed by the optimism of the American leaders, both in Vietnam and Washington, to have faith any longer in the silver linings they find in the darkest clouds,” LBJ quivered in his cowboy boots. Perhaps we’ve reached the surreal point where the purveyor of Lesbian-Dial-A-Date has taken on the role of Cronkite to Bush’s Brave New Johnson. Unless, or course, Janet Jackson’s bouncing brown booby turns out to be a contemporary Tit Offensive against free speech.
This article appears in Mar 17-23, 2004.
