Reading Into John Kerry and George W. Bush
Kerry knows it can happen in America; Osama bin Laden bashing Bush on “My Pet Goat” doesn’t make criticisms any less true

October 31 2004
Counterbias.com
Robert Furs

George W. Bush made waves when he said that he doesn’t read newspapers.

“The best way to get the news is from objective sources, and the most objective sources I have are people on my staff who tell me what’s happening in the world”, he said on September 22, 2003.

Two years and eleven days before that awe-inspiring statement, (as even Osama bin Laden recently pointed out) Bush felt that continuing to read “My Pet Goat” to schoolchildren was more important than exiting the school, a possible target for further attack, and actually behaving like the strong, decisive, courageous leader Americans are told he is. He didn’t start the response to 9/11 the right way; rather, he read “My Pet Goat”.

Maybe it had something to do with his wife Laura being a former librarian? Surely she wouldn’t have appreciated her hubby neglecting his solemn duty to engage kids in literacy. According to a bio, “Mrs. Bush strongly supports the President’s goal to ensure that all children learn to read by the third grade.”

Thus, Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 footage of Bush reading for several minutes while the Twin Towers burned, was a child-hating political cheap shot from an angry leftist and neglected the reality of Mrs. Bush’s commitment to supporting her husband’s dedication to helping children learn. To some, at least.

(And to others, the notion that Osama bin Laden brought up the same fact that Michael Moore did means that Moore was "giving aide and comfort to the enemy", as Bush spokeswoman and neoconservative ideologue Danielle Pletka told Wolf Blitzer on October 29.)

Now, a video capture posted online by a sharp-eyed viewer has allowed me to document yet a new path taken in Presidential reading controversy, this time from the presidential challenger, John Kerry.

October 14, 2004’s PBS Frontline at one point showed footage of Kerry's Senate office. A pile of books was on his desk; the top one was It Can't Happen Here, a 1935 Sinclair Lewis novel depicting a simpleton who uses religious rhetoric and partisan media to push a fascist, authoritarian takeover of the U.S.

Cynics argue that the plot of the book mirrors what is happening in the US today. For the sake of political viability, Kerry would never say out loud that he saw today's current political situation in the U.S. as an echo of Lewis' It Can't Happen Here. But was it a subtle hint?

Imagine the outrage amongst punditry and weak-kneed moderates if Kerry brought up a seventy-year-old satire to compare with the current landscape in America, musing that Bush was that authoritarian simpleton utilizing that same religious rhetoric and partisan media to take over America.

Howard Dean, a former Democratic presidential competitor, was crucified for suggesting that America just might not be safer with the invasion of Iraq. Most now admit this as true, but American media can be devastating to any soul willing to go against the grain of conventional thought.

John Kerry has It Can't Happen Here at the top of his booklist; it was visible to the public in video footage he allowed PBS to air. Does Kerry, like many Americans, feel that America is edging closer towards fascism? Or did he just have the wrong book on the wrong pile at the wrong time?

Whatever he feels, he won't use his metaphorical comparisons between Berzelius Windrip and George W. Bush on the campaign trail. With America’s two-party system, the leaders of each respective party must present themselves as cautiously as possible to maintain maximal chunks of the mainstream vote. You can't do that by becoming a conspiratorial leftwing nut, or pessimistic purveyor of literary metaphors.

Whatever the case, a few things are clear: Kerry possesses books, which he reads (or at least stacks up into piles in his office), and at least one of these books is, as Merriam-Webster puts it, “a cautionary tale about the rise of fascism in the United States”.

That's comfort enough for those of us wondering whether a John Kerry presidency would really be any different than a George W. Bush one.

If it was a subtle hint, it was a little too subtle. Perhaps Kerry’s just reading a book for his own pleasure and I’m making a fuss over nothing. After all, it’s been four years since I’ve been exposed to a leader of the free world that reads more than newspaper headlines.

Whatever the case, Kerry is capable of reading and comprehending books, while Bush is going to lose on November 2^nd. It’s a two-for-two, and a happy ending, no matter what you’re reading.

Related Links:

• Can It Happen Here? (Buzzflash)

• Complete online text of It Can't Happen Here

• PBS Frontline: The Choice (clip appears in Pt. 8)