This morning I awoke to a headline similar to this: “Bush Campaign Lawyer Tied to Veterans.” My first thought was, “So what?” The veterans asked one of Bush’s lawyers for advice on what to do about John Kerry’s attack dogs.
Benjamin Ginsberg told the New York Times that yes, he’d spoken to the veterans. I could almost hear the air seeping out of the Bush-haters’ partisan balloons. I guess they thought he’d lie like someone else they know. Via the AFP:
“The truth is there are very few lawyers who work in this area … What happened was a month or so ago some decorated Vietnam vets came to me and said: ‘We have an important point of view to enter into the debate. There’s a new law that’s complicated, and we want help complying with the law.’”He added, “I have given them some legal compliance advice.”
A Bush spokesman said there was no connection between the Bush campaign and his Vice President Dick Cheney and independent groups like Swift boat veterans, called 527′s for the section of the tax code that created them.
While I believe he should have used better judgment, I don’t think Ginsberg needed to do this: “Lawyer Advising Vets Quits Bush Campaign.” He said:
“I cannot begin to express my sadness that my legal representations have become a distraction from the critical issues at hand in this election,” Benjamin Ginsberg wrote in a resignation letter to Bush released by the campaign.“I feel I cannot let that continue, so I have decided to resign as national counsel to your campaign to ensure that the giving of legal advice to decorated military veterans, which was entirely within the boundaries of the law, doesn’t distract from the real issues upon which you and the country should be focusing.”
I really hate all this divisiveness between liberals and conservatives. I really do. In the words of a famous philosopher (Rodney King, April 1992), can’t we all just get along?
Side note: Rush Limbaugh was out yesterday and today. Let’s hope he’s still out on Friday so we can hear Walter Williams guest hosting! In his latest column, he has a word or two for you appeaser-types in the audience.
