Reader Finds My Article Misleading
Saturday October 9, 2004
Recently, I made a blog post about how Bush mentioned the phrase "Hard Work" many times and Kerry did not. There is merit to the readers mail, and hence I am posting it here:
I am concerned about your observation in your 8 October message that "the Bush speech included repeated mentions to 'hard work.' Coincidentally, Kerry did not use the expression even once." However, in 21 October issues of "New York Review of Books," Benjamin Friedman makes a convincing argument, based on issues, that the positions are exactly the reverse: Namely, that Bush emphasizes and protects (e.g., through reduced taxes) income based on savings and property, while Kerry emphasizes and protects income based on work. I think that your focus on a single phrase becomes a significant distortion of the debate and of the candidates' records.
I am concerned about your observation in your 8 October message that "the Bush speech included repeated mentions to 'hard work.' Coincidentally, Kerry did not use the expression even once." However, in 21 October issues of "New York Review of Books," Benjamin Friedman makes a convincing argument, based on issues, that the positions are exactly the reverse: Namely, that Bush emphasizes and protects (e.g., through reduced taxes) income based on savings and property, while Kerry emphasizes and protects income based on work. I think that your focus on a single phrase becomes a significant distortion of the debate and of the candidates' records.
Comments
This isn’t about income or economic policy. You’ve completely missed the point. Bush is so inarticulate and possibly lazy, that the most thoughtful thing he can think to say (and most difficult to prove) is that he or someone else is working immeasurably hard. He’s an idiot.