Republicans resort to smear tactics

To the editor:

Beware the Republican smear campaign. Even when times were favorable, many Republican leaders honed smear tactics to perfection while trying to maintain plausible deniability. But they are revealed. Recall the Swift-boat veterans campaigning against genuine Vietnam War hero John Kerry with lies and distortions designed to divert voter attention from the chickenhawks running the White House, Republicans who avoided service themselves but were campaigning to send others to fight in Iraq.

Bush advisor Karl Rove has orchestrated smear campaigns against opponents for years. Just ask John McCain what happened in the 2000 South Carolina primary when Rove and the Republicans spread lies about an illegitimate child fathered by McCain.

Now Republicans are cornered. Like savage dogs they are unleashing smear campaigns against Democrats. Since Republicans hold a near monopoly on congressional corruption, they try to smear Democrats by claiming "everyone is doing it" when in reality this is not true. We all know with which party Jack Abramoff, Tom Delay, Duke Cunningham, Bob Ney, David Safavian and Mark Foley are associated. These cornered Republicans will especially smear any Democrat posing a serious challenge to one of their own.

The culture of corruption is Republican. Their fiscal program is designed -- legally or illegally -- to promote among themselves and the wealthiest Americans (those who Bush proudly calls his political base) greater financial rewards, tax breaks and incentives.

MARK ADAMS, Jackson