Abstract

BEAT THE DEVIL

The article discusses political attitudes in the United States prior to the 2004 presidential election between Democratic candidate John Kerry and President George W. Bush. Are there any skins thinner than those belonging to Democratic Loyalists for Kerry? The other night Jeffrey Saint Clair found himself to a gathering of antiwar activists in downtown Portland, Oregon, touting our new book, "Dime's Worth of Difference: Beyond the Lesser of Two Evils." Jeffrey turned his spotlight on Kerry's record in Vietnam. Here they were, so deeply committed to voting for Kerry that they could not even bear to hear a discussion of his conduct in Vietnam, let alone sit still for a reasoned discussion of Kerry's pledges to keep the troops in Iraq. Kerry announces that even if he had known the allegations of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction were spurious, he would have voted to authorize war on Iraq. There is a strong case for arguing that the importance of these presidential contests is disastrously exaggerated. As always, a monocular obsession with getting behind the Democratic nominee means quitting vital battlefields.