This flap is rather amusing: Group Runs Anti-Kerry Ads on Black Radio Stations
A group financed by a major Republican contributor has begun running radio ads in about a dozen cities, many in battleground states, attacking Sen. John F. Kerry as “rich, white and wishy-washy” and mocking his wife for boasting of her African roots.
The D.C.-based group, People of Color United, has substantial financial backing from J. Patrick Rooney, the former chairman of Golden Rule Insurance Co. and the founder of a new firm, Medical Savings Insurance Co. Both firms specialize in medical savings accounts, created by Republican-backed 1996 legislation, and health savings accounts, which were created by President Bush’s 2003 Medicare prescription drug legislation. One of the radio ads addresses Kerry’s failure to vote on a bill to extend unemployment benefits for 13 weeks: “It needed 60 votes to pass. Ninety-nine out of 100 senators voted — Kerry did not! It lost by one vote! Maybe Kerry thought the more of us who are unemployed and hurting, the more likely we would vote Democrat.”
Another ad attacks Teresa Heinz Kerry, who, at the Democratic convention last month cited her birth and upbringing in Mozambique and who has described herself as African American. In the radio commercial, the announcer says: “His wife says she’s an African American. While technically true, I don’t believe a white woman, raised in Africa, surrounded by servants, qualifies.”
The Kerry campaign denounced the ads, all of which are being aired on radio stations with largely black audiences. “It’s disgusting that the president’s political allies are now using race as a political weapon,” said Bill Lynch, deputy manager of the Kerry campaign. “First a group of right-wing Swift boat veterans began smearing John Kerry’s military service, and now another group has resorted to playing racial politics.”
It’s always amusing to see the Democrats get upset when someone plays racial politics.
While I’m no big fan of TuhRAYsuh Heinz-Kerry, she is unquestionably African American. This just shows the silliness of trying to create a euphemism for “black,” a concept that needs no euphemism. “African American” is one of my least favorite politically correct affectations, in that it’s not only silly, it’s awkward and inaccurately conveys the concept it is intended to communicate.
