Abstract

Widows and Orphans First..

A textbook example of the dishonest tactics employed by the right-wing smear machine can be found in the recent campaign against September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, a 122-member organization of the families of lost loved ones who seek to prevent the exploitation of its legacy for inappropriate (and aggressive) purposes. Group members have participated in antiwar marches and were particularly vocal when the Bush campaign used 9/11 footage in a campaign commercial designed to mask the Administration's lack of preparedness for the attack, its panicky response in the immediate aftermath and its (now obvious) bait-and-switch operation designed to justify its longtime desire to invade Iraq. That's when the firestorm began, touched off by the ravings on the nutty extremist website www.FreeRepublic.com. The argument goes like this: Peaceful Tomorrows is "a front organization for the Democratic Party," because it is a "project of the leftist Tides Center," which "provides back-office services to ideologically acceptable 'charitable' organizations for a fee. The Center receives generous financial assistance from liberal foundations, including various Heinz family endowments. The chairman of at least one of those endowments is Teresa Heinz, wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry." [T]here is absolutely no connection between Mrs. Kerry and the Heinz Endowments and Peaceful Tomorrows.