Kerry Supports Anti-Terror Act, Shifting Stance

Business on Yahoo ^ | 10/21/04 | Sean Higgins - IBD

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As John Kerry (news - web sites) barnstorms swing states in the election's final days, he has harsh words for President Bush (news - web sites) on the Patriot Act: It doesn't go far enough.

Kerry and other Democrats who once called the law, which gives the federal government sweeping powers to fight terrorism in the U.S., a threat to the Constitution are now praising it.

The shift is likely because the act remains popular. A Gallup poll earlier this year found 64% said the act was "about right" or "didn't go far enough."

With the war on terror a key campaign issue, candidates are wary of being seen as opposed to a key tool in that war.

"We should preserve over 95% of the act and make improvements on the rest to strengthen the war on terrorism," Kerry states on his campaign Web site.

Kerry also claims Bush hasn't done enough to boost intel sharing among federal agencies or speed up the creation of databases on suspected terrorists.

A recent campaign release even had Kerry taking credit for writing the act's money laundering provisions.

That's a dramatic shift for a candidate who last year warned, "We are a nation of laws and liberties, not of a knock in the night."

Kerry has at times said the problem isn't the act, but how Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) enforces it.

"John Ashcroft has gone overboard in carrying out (the act's) provisions," he said last year. He has also promised, if elected, to replace the act with a better one.

Will Marshall, president of the Progressive Policy Institute, said Kerry has not shifted on the act. Rather, he has tried to get Bush to address the "legitimate concerns" of civil libertarians.

Bush has consistently praised the act and warned a Kerry administration might scrap it.

Bush has appeared on stage with prosecutors who've used the act in terror cases. "The Patriot Act is vital," he said in the first debate. "(It) enables our law enforcement to disrupt terror cells."

The act has seen its support swing from one extreme to another since it first passed the Senate, 98-1, on Oct. 25, 2001. Sen. Russ Feingold (news, bio, voting record), D-Wis., cast the sole opposing vote. Both Kerry and running mate John Edwards (news - web sites) voted for it.

"It modernizes our ability to fight crime," Kerry said at the time.

Almost right away Democrats and some Republicans began to say it went too far and gave Ashcroft too much power. Liberal groups called it a menace. Many conservative groups also voiced concerns.

By the Democratic primaries, bashing the act was one of the candidates' surest applause lines.

Last December, Kerry called for "replacing the Patriot Act with a new law that protects our people and our liberties at the same time."

Some still feel that way. The Democratic National Committee (news - web sites)'s Web site says, "Bush's Patriot Act has invaded individual privacy rights in unprecedented ways."

The House deadlocked 210-210 in July on curbing some Patriot Act provisions. A few Republicans joined most Democrats to limit the act.

Democrats said last year that opposing the act would appeal to the party base and siphon off some libertarian-minded conservatives.

The ACLU has run TV ads to drum up opposition to the Patriot Act.

But there's scant evidence the storm of criticism has undermined the act's support. Revelations of confusion and red-tape delays among federal agencies before 9-11 and warnings of possible further attacks appear to have boosted support for it.

"Clearly the popularity of the Patriot Act among ordinary voters has been a revelation to the Democrats," said Michael Frank of the Heritage Foundation. "Prior to the 9-11 commission hearings the momentum was behind rolling it back."

Today, Kerry and Edwards call the act "flawed" but are often vague about what they mean. Their statements suggest they're trying to placate liberals opposed to the act without alienating swing voters who may favor it.

"When it comes to protecting our homeland, we must act decisively," Kerry said this year. "The Patriot Act, however, does not do that on its own, which is why it needs to be fixed."

The Kerry-Edwards campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

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Battlesgrounds for FReedom today..

US President George W. Bush (news - web sites)'s bus pulls into the Ross County Fairgrounds in Chillicothe, Ohio in September 2004. In Ohio both Republicans and Democrats agree that they have never seen a grassroots presidential campaign as intense as this one.(AFP/File/Stephen Jaffe)

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Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites)(2ndL) goes hunting with Ohio Rep. Ted Strickland (news, bio, voting record) (L), Bob Bellino (2ndR), a board member for the local chapter of Ducks Unlimited and Neal Brady, assistant park manager of Indian Lake State Park in western Ohio.(AFP/Hector Mata)

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Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards (news - web sites), D-N.C., speaks at a rally at Muscatine High School, Thursday, Oct. 21, 2004, in Muscatine, Iowa. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

[orangelobster]

My guess is that this is the reason the dems. have encouraged their base to vote early. Now that their base has voted in battleground states, lurch can move towards the middle by putting on hunting gear and supporting anti-terror measures. He is selling out his base voters now that he has their votes. Hopefully this will swing more dems. towards nader.