NY Post on the 527 Hypocrisy

The NY Post today had an article titled "Hypocrisy, thy name is Kerry" which has more details on the people in the Kerry Campaign who have connections to the 527 organizations. This relates to my post yesterday on this subject.

http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/editorial/27551.htm


A more comprehensive article on the same thing, also today, is at:

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/WNT/Vote2004/527_groups_040825-1.html

and a followup op ed in the Washington Post at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50985-2004Aug31.html

527s

Yesterday, former Senator (and current board member of the Ex-Im bank- appointed by GWB no less) went to Texas to complain about the ads that the SwiftVeteransforTruth was running and to complain that the group is a tool of the Bush campaign. As has been noted by several bloggers, most notably NZBear of http://www.truthlaidbear.com/ in his Aug 24-26, 2004 postings, the 527 organizations that support Kerry have spent about 100 times more money than the SwiftVets and furthermore, the connections between the Kerry campaign the the anti Bush 527s is far more robust than the connection between the SwiftVets and the Bush campaign.

So we have a slamdunk case of the Kerry campaign complaining about tactics that they use themselves (and use more than the stuff they are complaining about).

So what type of hypocrisy is it?

Well, I'm thinking it is about a 2. Many people, maybe most, can see the hypocrisy. In some ways it is completely self correcting because it shows the flaws of the campaign reform act that allowed the 527 loophole (the number being the clause in the law allowing these organizations to place TV ads).

The US Government is Advising Me on Being a Hypocrite

at: http://www.theantidrug.com/marijuana/sayno.asp

is an article that begins, "Marijuana: How to Tell Your Kids to Say No, Even if You Didn't"

The article basically says that even though parents took marijuana, they should tell their own children not to take marijuana. The article goes into some detail about what to do when the next generation calls the previous generation 'hypocrites'.

" ...What if you are afraid of sounding like a hypocrite? "Do as I say, not as I do" has never been a good method of parenting. Parents can emphasize that this discussion is about your child's future, and not about your past. Even if you..."

First thing to realize is that if I now believe they shouldn't smoke marijuana and say "I believe you shouldn't smoke marijuana", that is not hypocrisy. If I believed that smoking marijuana was not harmful and said "it is harmful", now that would be hypocrisy.

The other thing to say about the ad is that it states that marijuana now is stronger than marijuana back in the 60s and 70s. I've heard this said but I have no way of verifying it. Thus, frankly, on this subject, I am too ignorant to be a hypocrite, no matter what my government thinks.

Kerry and Energy Independence

Apparently, Sen John Kerry is making speeches about the US achieving energy independence.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/07/politics/campaign/07energy.html?ei=5090&en=022a8d4b7907d6c0&ex=1249531200&partner=rssuserland&pagewanted=print&position=

Obviously this is a case of hypocrisy since his advisors realize he doesn't mean it (they say so in the article). The fact that this hypocrisy is acceptable is a sign that, yes, people are willing to admit that some hypocrisy is innocuous.

Now if this were the only Kerry hypocrisy I would agree. Unfortunately it isn't.