From: matt@physics2.berkeley.edu (Matt Austern)
Newsgroups: alt.politics.elections
Subject: Re: Bill, Moscow and the KGB
Date: 12 Oct 92 23:42:08
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (Theoretical Physics Group)
	<1992Oct10.200451.25877@samba.oit.unc.edu>
	<1992Oct12.112224.1@azcc.arizona.edu>
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Reply-To: matt@physics.berkeley.edu
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In-reply-to: dxc4@po.CWRU.Edu's message of 13 Oct 1992 05:48:03 GMT

In article <1bdnukINN69c@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> dxc4@po.CWRU.Edu (David Condon) writes:

> Apropos of this, I noticed that the Repubs came out with the "Clinton
> led antiwar demonstrations in ENGLAND" charge and the "Clinton 
> travelled to MOSCOW" charge at just about the same time. Am I being
> overly cynical, or is it possible that, by the vagueness with which
> they keep referring to these two occurrences, they are trying to 
> plant the idea that "CLINTON LED DEMONSTRATIONS IN MOSCOW"? 

Clearly.  You might note that Bush never comes out and says that
Clinton participated in anti-War demonstrations in England; it would
just have sounded too stupid.  (Why is it worse to hold a
demonstration in London than in San Francisco, after all?)  Rather, he
chooses to say---truthfully, but also deceptively---that Clinton
participated in demonstrations "on foreign soil," and then immediately
talks about Moscow.  Moscow is the only location he actually mentions
in these attacks; Bush doesn't quite tell an actual lie, but the
effect is patently deceptive.

In fact, this deception has, at least partly, worked.  At least one
person on the Net made the mistake of believing that Clinton had
actually led anti-War demonstrations in Moscow, of all places.

I note that the Republican apologists on the Net do the same thing;
they, also, talk about Clinton's anti-war demonstrations and his
Christmas break tour European tour in the same breath, as if the two
had anything to do with each other.  I notice, also, that although
they are quick to say what "the issue" is, "the issue" keeps changing.
First, it was that Clinton was supposedly going to renounce his
citizenship; then, it was that he had supposedly been contacted by the
KGB; next, it was something else.

The exact nature of the charges doesn't matter, which, of course, is
why the charges are slightly different every time they are mentioned.
Nor does it matter whether or not the accusations make sense; all that
the Republicans want is for people to hear these insinuations of
disloyalty, with some other "issue" as a thin cover.

		La calunnia e un venticello,
		Un'auretta assai gentile
		Che insensibile, sottile,
		Leggermente, dolcemente,	
		Incomincia a sussurar.
		Piano, piano, terra, terra,
		Sottovoce, sibilando,
		Va scorrendo, va ronzando.
		Nell'orecchie della gente,
		S'introduce destramenta
		E la teste ed i cervelli
		Fa stordire e fa gonfiar.
--
Matthew Austern                   Just keep yelling until you attract a
(510) 644-2618                    crowd, then a constituency, a movement, a
austern@lbl.bitnet                faction, an army!  If you don't have any
matt@physics.berkeley.edu         solutions, become a part of the problem!
Xref: sparky alt.politics.elections:15851 alt.politics.clinton:9397 talk.politics.misc:50562