?First of all,? Kerry answered, ?had I been reading to children and had my top aide whispered in my ear, ?America is under attack,? I would have told those kids very politely and nicely that the president of the United States had something that he needed to attend to.? Kerry might have continued in this vein, except he was, again, interrupted by applause.
Here?s a question for these ?journalists:? If Kerry is elected president, will you cheer at his news conferences? That would be a sight to see.
In the real world, journalists don?t cheer. Not even if they?re delivering good news, like that the nation created 32,000 new jobs last month and the unemployment rate dropped from 5.6 to 5.5 percent -- oh, wait, bad example. For some reason, that was bad news.
Anyway, journalists don?t take public stands. They report the news and allow readers and viewers to do the cheering.
Now, if any of these ?journalists? want to do some reporting instead of cheerleading, they ought to look into why New Jersey?s governor is resigning. Here?s a hint: It isn?t because he?s homosexual.
That?s no obstacle to high office in today?s society. It might even be a plus. In fact, if any Unity 2004 ?journalists? had been at the news conference when Gov. James McGreevey announced he was a ?gay American,? they?d probably have applauded.
No, the governor is in hot water over alleged corruption. His top donor, Charles Kushner, just pleaded guilty to federal charges that he lied about political donations and cheated on taxes.
Meanwhile a McGreevey fundraiser named David D?Amiano was indicted on July 6 for allegedly extorting $40,000 in political donations and bribes from a farmer negotiating with the state.
McGreevey plans to hang around for another couple of months, so somebody who calls himself a journalist ought to take time to see just how deep this scandal goes. Who knows? There might even be a Pulitzer Prize at the end of this rainbow.
But it?ll never happen. ?Unity? has taught these people to value the diversity of a ?gay American? over the responsibilities of a journalist. Sadly, we won?t be hearing any journalism from this group. Just another hip, hip, hurray for John Kerry.