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FRUM AWARD NOMINEE:
John Kerry, running for President, said that we need a "regime change" here in America. Opportunistic Republican National Committee Chairman Marc Racicot (pronounced "Roscoe", if you are curious) responded by not only criticizing Kerry's colorful language (which would be kind of silly by itself, as no reasonable person would read the comment as comparing Bush to Saddam Hussein), but by saying that Kerry was wrong because he "dared to suggest the replacement of America's commander-in- chief at a time when America is at war". (Here's a nice discussion of what Kerry and Racicot each said.) In other words, because we are at war, the President may not be replaced, or at least it is unpatriotic to advocate the replacement of the President.

Mr. Racicot might not have been paying attention in history class, but this debate was settled in 1864, during to a war that, unlike the current hostilities in Iraq, actually involved sustained, disruptive combat within the territory of the United States where there actually might have been a decent argument to make about ordinary political activities disrupting the war effort.

To Kerry's credit, he properly responded to this attack by trashing the Republicans. After all, Kerry served with distinction in Vietnam and needs a lecture from nobody about patriotism. But this incident shows how the GOP is going to follow the Frum strategy right into the 2004 elections if they can, attacking the patriotism of anyone who dares to oppose them.
posted by Dilan at 1:03 PM