Who thinks “liberal” is a smear?

Reuters won’t call a terrorist “a terrorist.” It says “one man’s ‘terrorist’ is another man’s ‘freedom fighter.’”

So at the left and PC Reuters, Ronald Reagan and Winston Churchill, Osama bin Laden and Yassar Arafat are pretty much all the same.

But what about calling someone “a liberal?”

Reuters says that’s “a harsh smear.” At least Reuters says it is “among conservative Republicans.”

After the following snip from Reuters, I offer a few comments.

McCain, Romney lob "liberal" smear in Florida push

By Jason Szep and Tim Gaynor,

JACKSONVILLE, Florida (Reuters) - In a tight battle in Florida, John McCain and Mitt Romney competed to stick each other with the "liberal" tag, a harsh smear among conservative Republicans whose votes could be decisive in Tuesday's voting for presidential contenders. …

The entire Reuters story is here.

Comments:

Reuters is wrong about “liberal” being “a harsh smear among conservative Republicans.”

When, for instance, conservative Republicans “tag” Sen. John Kerry “a Massachusetts liberal” or Sen. Barack Obama “an Illinois liberal,” they don’t believe they’re smearing either man.

And indeed they’re not.

Both Kerry and Obama favor liberal policies –eg. racial preferences, opposition to meaningful school voucher programs, support for affirmative action. Both men receive very high approval ratings and strong support from liberal interest groups.

Reuters knows conservative Republicans don't think calling someone “a liberal” is “a harsh smear.” It’s liberal Democrats who believe that.

Why do you think they call themselves “centrists” and “progressives?”

And remember how upset the Dems got in ’04 because “Republicans are trying to smear Senator Kerry as a liberal.”

I listened during the ’04 campaign to an NPR program during which the guest “election experts” explained how the Republicans had, as I recall one of the “experts” saying, “used vast amounts of money to distort Kerry’s record and make him appear to be a liberal.”

And speaking of NPR and liberals - - -

But time’s passing. I’ll save that for another post.