Be not afraid of William Safire

In his column in today's NY Times, Mr. Safire calls John Kerry and John Edwards "fearmongers," claiming that they have been scaring the elderly about Social Security, the young about the draft, the healthy about the lack of flu vaccine, and the sick about Bush's ban on stem cell research.

What does he say about Bush and Cheney scaring Americans for the past three years with their lies about terrorists, WMDs, mushroom clouds, biological warfare, possible additional attacks (especially if we elect Kerry), and other "imminent threats"?

Nothing.

In his closing words, Safire invokes the Bible (surprise!) and makes an odd but hopeful prediction: "My advice to voters in this political Year of Fear...is from Joshua 1:9: 'Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed.' Courage and freedom will win, and the purveyors of panic will lose."

We hope he's right, because we're both afraid of and dismayed by the biggest fearmonger of them all: George W. Bush.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/20/opinion/20safi.html?th