Just so long as it’s campaign rhetoric…
Jill Zuckman writes in today’s Chicago Tribune on how the Kerry-Edwards ticket responds to hostile and vocal Bush supporters at campaign events: Nobody ever said campaigning like Harry Truman on the back of a train through hostile territory was going to be easy. That’s what the Democratic candidates for president and vice president began to ...
Jill Zuckman writes in today's Chicago Tribune on how the Kerry-Edwards ticket responds to hostile and vocal Bush supporters at campaign events:
Jill Zuckman writes in today’s Chicago Tribune on how the Kerry-Edwards ticket responds to hostile and vocal Bush supporters at campaign events:
Nobody ever said campaigning like Harry Truman on the back of a train through hostile territory was going to be easy. That’s what the Democratic candidates for president and vice president began to realize late Thursday night as they pulled into this rural outpost and found themselves surrounded by about 2,000 politically divided voters in the pitch dark. Holding candles, flashlights and posters, the people of Sedalia engaged in a shouting contest: Some called out “Four more years” and “We want Bush,” while their neighbors chanted, “Three more months” and “Kerry! Kerry!” The candidates themselves could barely get a word in…. Whether the rowdy crowd surrounding the Kerry-Edwards train was any indication of how Missouri will vote this year is difficult to assess. But it provided one of the less scripted moments of the campaign season so far. “Will you let us speak? Will you let us speak, please?” Edwards urged the Republican section of the crowd, which was trying to drown him out with boos. “We would never shout down our opponents when they’re speaking,” Edwards added, between attempts to describe his vision for one America without states that are either “red” or “blue.” As the Bush protesters continued to boo, Edwards asked them, “Are you guys really booing outsourcing of millions of America’s jobs and doing something about it?” (emphasis added)
I’m sure Kerry supporters would say this is just campaign rhetoric — exaggerated, distorted, and buffoonish campaign rhetoric. UPDATE: Just for the record, like Pejman Yousefzadeh, I’m certainly not endorsing the booing in the first place. Indeed, one could argue that this kind of incivility merely encourages the response Edwards gave. What I can’t stop wondering — again — is what this leads to if Kerry wins.
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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