A Silly Ad

"I am George W. Bush, and I approve this message."

What an ad! It just came on a moment ago:

John Kerry? He voted for the Patriot Act, but pressured by fellow liberals, he’s changed his position.

While wire taps, subpoena powers and surveillances are routinely used against drug dealers and organized crime, Kerry would now repeal the Patriot Act’s use of these tools against terrorists.

John Kerry. Playing politics with national security

The implication is that Kerry is personally supportive of using "wire taps, subpoena powers and surveillances" "against drug dealers and organized crime," but some how makes a special allowance for the civil liberties of terrorists. That's a charge which just rings false. In order to contextualize its central point, it concedes something which actually makes Kerry look pretty mainstream - he believes that the government should have such powers in the War on Drugs.

Absent an ideological objection to the powers in question, how can Kerry object to using these powers against terrorists? Why on earth would John Kerry want terrorists to have MORE civil rights than he wants drug dealers to have? It can't be a privacy concern, because obviously he doesn't think the methods are inherently wrong... he supports them in the war on drugs! Is it because he hates America and wants to help the terrorists succeed? It seems to be the argument... But no wait! It's not even his idea! He was pressured by liberals! The ad basically establishes that "on an issue where most liberals disagree with most Americans, Kerry sides with you! He is constantly 'pressured by fellow liberals' because his ideas are more conservative than theirs."

This ad may be music to the choir, on the Right. But it's making the "Kerry is a centrist" pitch for him.