John Kerry’s attack tonight on the Bush civil rights record could have been
taken verbatim from a 181-page political tract disguised as <A
HREF=”http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/13/politics/campaign/13rights.html?oref=login”>an
interim report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Redefining
Rights in America-The Civil Rights Record of the George W. Bush
Administration, 2001-2004.
The Commission actually faulted the Bush Administration for allowing
“[i]mmigrants and visitors from Arab and Middle Eastern countries” to be
“subject to increased scrutiny, including interviews, registration and in
some cases removal” (pages ix-x) after 9/11.
Republican members on the Commission agreed that the October 5th release of
this report was not coincidental. Republican commissioner, Abigail
Thernstrom called the report “an election-driven document.”
The Commission’s chairman, Mary Frances Berry, responded by telling the
New York Times that she is “a true independent.” This “true
independent” endorsed <A
HREF=”http://clark04.com/press/release/153/”>General Wesley Clark for
president on January 6, 2004.