The Buzzflash lead today is funny:

“Edwards Calls Cheney Remark 'Un-American.' Asks Bush to Apologize. You Got That Right. Cheney is Holding America Hostage to Terrorist Threats.”

Come now, Edwards, stop whining and be a man about it. To date, I haven’t heard Bush or Cheney call any of their opponents ‘Un-American’ or question their patriotism, etc. And yet, they are shrilly accused of doing so or creating an atmosphere for such rhetoric, while both Kerry and Edwards engage in that type of rhetoric directly.

Take a look at the Cheney quote as presented by the AP:

“It's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on Nov. 2, we make the right choice, because if we make the wrong choice then the danger is that we'll get hit again and we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States.”

Implying that a vote for Kerry would result in an attack. That would sink the rhetoric down to the same kind fear mongering rhetoric that Mat dislikes.

But take a look at the full quote from the transcript:

“We're now at that point where we're making that kind of decision for the next 30 or 40 years, and it's absolutely essential that eight weeks from today, on November 2nd, we make the right choice. Because if we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit again, that we'll be hit in a way that will be devastating from the standpoint of the United States, and that we'll fall back into the pre-9/11 mind set if you will, that in fact these terrorist attacks are just criminal acts, and that we're not really at war. I think that would be a terrible mistake for us.”

That’s something completely different. That’s questioning Kerry’s beliefs on the nature of the war – a legitimate difference based on Kerry’s own remarks. I wonder if the AP writer kept a straight face when misquoting Cheney.