Memo to: Republican Party Leaders
From:  A Friend
Re: Where Are You???

The other day John Kerry had finished addressing the American Society of Newspaper Editors convention and was greeting participants when the C-SPAN camera caught one woman, presumably a member of the Fourth Estate, gushing to the Democratic candidate, "You've got my vote!" There's no surprise here. It's almost impossible to distinguish between Democrats and journalists in their passion to elect Kerry and defeat Bush.

But where, oh where, are you?

It's good to criticize those in the media who long ago lost sight of the word "balance" (not to mention "fairness") and there are plenty of us on the outside pointing this out. But you, who have the mantra of "GOP leaders" - where are you? Your silence is shocking to the point of disgraceful. At best you are inept. At worst, you are cowards, unwilling to engage your political foes.

There is no shortage of issues, and opportunities available to you. You should be having a ball exposing and neutralizing the leftist press, not to mention the leftwing political opposition (or do I repeat myself?), yet you're AWOL from the debate. Herewith are just some of them:

1. The 9/11 Commission. It's a political farce and you know it, and yet you've allowed the Democrats and the press to hammer the president, relentlessly suggesting somehow he was unprepared for 9-11 while he overprepared for Iraq. Americans heard endless reports about the "wall" constructed between the CIA and the FBI, and how this was somehow the Bush administration's fault.

But we've also learned that the "wall" was constructed during the Clinton administration by deputy attorney general Jamie Gorelick, who now sits on the 9/11 commission panel judging others. We also now know, thanks to a CNSNews.com report backed up by four different sources, including a high ranking Clinton official, that it was this very "wall" that impeded investigation into the Chinagate fundraising scandal. Why aren't you raising hell? Why aren't you calling for a real investigation into real scandal?

2. Defense spending. The Kerry campaign is formally accusing the administration of a "continuing disregard" for the American military which "went into Iraq ill-equipped." Their hypocrisy is mind-boggling, but understandable: they do it because they know the media won't touch them. And neither, apparently, will you.

Why aren't you breaking down the door of every newsroom in town demanding the media report the truth for a change? Kerry proposed canceling the Patriot missile system in 1984. Voted against funding the Patriot system at least twice. Voted against funding the Bradley Fighting Vehicle at least five times. Voted against funding the B-2 bomber at least 17 times. Voted against funding the F-18 fighter at least eight time. Voted to decrease overall defense spending at least 38 times. And it's <i>Bush</i> who left the military "ill-equipped"?

3. Kerry's Iraq solution. It's a doozy: Turn military control over to NATO and overall control over to the UN -- except NATO doesn't have troops available and the UN wants nothing to do with Iraq. Credit NBC's Tim Russert for pointing this out. But where in blazes are you? Why aren't you standing on every rooftop exposing this man's utter incompetence?

4. Taxes. How does Kerry have the audacity to propose a "Contract with America's Middle Class" to cut taxes? Easy. He knows he can claim anything and outlets like the New York Times will still call him a "fiscal conservative." So where are you? Are you the party of fiscal conservatism? How hard is it to make it national issue that this man, who has supported some 350 different tax hikes, is a fiscal fraud? Have any of you picked up a phone to point this out to the scribes at the Times? Or anywhere else?

5. Campaign Finance Reform. For years the leftist press dutifully echoed the Democratic line: America has been corrupted by greedy rich Republican business tycoons out to buy elections. Campaign Finance Reform would end it. Now that it's law, what happened? Greedy rich Democratic business tycoons like George Soros and Peter Lewis are plowing tens of millions of dollars into ultra-left "527" organizations attempting to defeat George Bush. MoveOn.org has just announced plans to raise another $50 million toward this end. Just how hard is it to challenge Kerry to denounce, and disassociate himself from these hypocrites? Why aren't you publicly demanding that all those press types who covered alleged Republic corruption now cover the very real Democratic corruption taking place right under their noses?

On and on it goes. A day doesn't go by wherein there isn't a golden opportunity not only to show America what the left's philosophical agenda truly is but also, by distinction, how different it is from yours.

Assuming you have one.

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