Now that it's clear that John Kerry will be the Democratic nominee for president, the question is how George W. Bush and Karl Rove, his chief political strategist, will attack him. Tom Toles, whose editorial cartoons appear regularly in the centrist WashingtonPost, has a hunch: as an advocate of massive social programs and big federal budgets to pay for them (translation: someone who raises taxes) who is also soft on terrorism.
Toles depicts Kerry and an advisor strolling past the White House, atop which workmen are busy covering a billboard with an anti-Kerry ad. The ad says: "Beware the Massalqaeda liborrist." Don't look for the last two words in your dictionary. Toles has concocted them by blending first Massachusetts and al-Qaeda (Usama bin Laden's terrorist organization), second "liberal" and "terrorist". The second blend is reminiscent of the kind of word that President Bush actually does utter when he's not mindful of his speech -- which, it must be said, is a fair amount of the time.
A Chinese observer will understand the reference to al-Qaeda and terrorists. Kerry is linked with neither, but he was at best a lukewarm supporter of Bush's invasion of Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein. But what is so politically significant about denouncing Kerry as a "Massachusetts liberal"?
Massachusetts, dominated by Boston, with its concentration of elite universities, acquired a reputation in the 20th century as a relatively left-wing US state. Lawmakers there support an extensive and often innovative welfare system -- not on the European scale, but still bigger than in most US states and not cheap. Hence Massachusetts has high taxes; critics deride the state as "Taxachusetts", and occasionally even as the "People's Republic of Massachusetts" because of the warm reception allegedly given to socialist ideas.
In America (but not in Europe) "liberals" are people who believe that government regulatory and taxing authority should be used to protect ordinary citizens from the power of big business. They also seek to remedy social inequality through government programs. Having built America's social welfare system, they want to maintain or even extend it. The problem is that many voters see the liberal programs that were put into place in the 1960s and 1970s as wasteful and ineffective, or as examples of wrong-headed social engineering -- the sort of thing Harvard professors and similar overweening boobies would dream up to burden taxpayers with. For these critics, a liberal is bad enough. A "MASSACHUSETTS liberal" is the very worst of a bossy, free-spending, irresponsible tribe.
角逐美國(guó)總統(tǒng) 布什會(huì)怎樣攻擊克里?
如今事態(tài)已經(jīng)明了，民主黨將提名約翰-克里角逐美國(guó)總統(tǒng)之位,但問(wèn)題在于，喬治-布什和他的首席政治戰(zhàn)略顧問(wèn)卡爾-婁福將如何攻擊克里。湯姆-托爾斯，其時(shí)政漫畫定期刊登于中立的《華盛頓郵報(bào)》的漫畫家，他有一種預(yù)感：布什會(huì)將克里描繪成極力倡導(dǎo)龐大的社會(huì)福利項(xiàng)目，并且要求大筆的聯(lián)邦預(yù)算來(lái)支付(也就是說(shuō)他要提高稅收)，同時(shí)對(duì)恐怖主義也是軟弱無(wú)力的。
在托爾斯的漫畫中，克里和一位幕僚正漫步走過(guò)白宮，而在白宮頂上兩個(gè)工人正忙著畫完一個(gè)寫有反對(duì)克里標(biāo)語(yǔ)的宣傳牌。標(biāo)語(yǔ)是：“警惕馬薩諸塞州基地組織的自由恐怖主義分子”。請(qǐng)不要到你的字典中去找這句話中的后兩個(gè)英語(yǔ)單詞，因?yàn)樗鼈兪峭袪査乖斐鰜?lái)的。托爾斯先是將英文的“馬薩諸塞州”和阿拉伯文的“基地組織”(本-拉登的恐怖主義組織)合在一起組成了Massalqaeda，然后將“自由的”和“恐怖分子”合在一起組成了liborrist。而后一個(gè)詞則讓人想起布什總統(tǒng)講話一不留意就真能說(shuō)出的那類詞--必須說(shuō)明的是，他的這種不留意可是經(jīng)常發(fā)生的。
中國(guó)的觀察家明白基地組織和恐怖分子指的是誰(shuí)，克里與它們中的任何一個(gè)都毫無(wú)瓜葛。但在布什看來(lái)，克里充其量只是勉強(qiáng)支持了自己攻占伊拉克*薩達(dá)姆的政策。但是，將克里斥為“馬薩諸塞州自由主義派”又有什么特別的政治意義呢？
馬薩諸塞州，主要城市是波士頓，該州云集，在20世紀(jì)獲得了左翼州的名聲。該州的議員支持大范圍的且不斷創(chuàng)新的社會(huì)福利體系--雖然不如歐洲國(guó)家的福利體系規(guī)模大，但與美國(guó)大多數(shù)州相比，其規(guī)模還是的，且政府支出的費(fèi)用不菲。因此，馬薩諸塞州的稅收就很高，批評(píng)家將該州戲稱為“稅收諸塞州”，甚至有時(shí)將其稱為“馬薩諸塞人民共和國(guó)”，因?yàn)樯鐣?huì)主義理念據(jù)說(shuō)在該州受到熱烈歡迎。
在美國(guó)(不是在歐洲)，“自由派”是指這樣一些人：他們相信政府的管理和稅收*應(yīng)該保護(hù)普通公民免受大公司權(quán)力的侵害；他們還想通過(guò)政府實(shí)施的各項(xiàng)規(guī)劃來(lái)糾正社會(huì)不公。他們雖說(shuō)已經(jīng)建立了美國(guó)的社會(huì)福利體系，但還想完善甚至進(jìn)一步擴(kuò)大該體系。而問(wèn)題在于，許多選民將60年代和70年代建立起來(lái)的自由派福利體系項(xiàng)目看作既勞民傷財(cái)又不奏效，或?qū)⑵湟暈楸徽`導(dǎo)了方向的社會(huì)工程的實(shí)例--那種由學(xué)究氣的哈佛教授和類似的傲慢蠢才們才想得出來(lái)給納稅人加稅的名堂。在這些批評(píng)家看來(lái)，一個(gè)自由派分子是非常壞的，而“馬薩諸塞州自由派”則是一幫最壞的專橫霸道、花錢無(wú)度、不負(fù)責(zé)任的人。
Toles depicts Kerry and an advisor strolling past the White House, atop which workmen are busy covering a billboard with an anti-Kerry ad. The ad says: "Beware the Massalqaeda liborrist." Don't look for the last two words in your dictionary. Toles has concocted them by blending first Massachusetts and al-Qaeda (Usama bin Laden's terrorist organization), second "liberal" and "terrorist". The second blend is reminiscent of the kind of word that President Bush actually does utter when he's not mindful of his speech -- which, it must be said, is a fair amount of the time.
A Chinese observer will understand the reference to al-Qaeda and terrorists. Kerry is linked with neither, but he was at best a lukewarm supporter of Bush's invasion of Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein. But what is so politically significant about denouncing Kerry as a "Massachusetts liberal"?
Massachusetts, dominated by Boston, with its concentration of elite universities, acquired a reputation in the 20th century as a relatively left-wing US state. Lawmakers there support an extensive and often innovative welfare system -- not on the European scale, but still bigger than in most US states and not cheap. Hence Massachusetts has high taxes; critics deride the state as "Taxachusetts", and occasionally even as the "People's Republic of Massachusetts" because of the warm reception allegedly given to socialist ideas.
In America (but not in Europe) "liberals" are people who believe that government regulatory and taxing authority should be used to protect ordinary citizens from the power of big business. They also seek to remedy social inequality through government programs. Having built America's social welfare system, they want to maintain or even extend it. The problem is that many voters see the liberal programs that were put into place in the 1960s and 1970s as wasteful and ineffective, or as examples of wrong-headed social engineering -- the sort of thing Harvard professors and similar overweening boobies would dream up to burden taxpayers with. For these critics, a liberal is bad enough. A "MASSACHUSETTS liberal" is the very worst of a bossy, free-spending, irresponsible tribe.
角逐美國(guó)總統(tǒng) 布什會(huì)怎樣攻擊克里?
如今事態(tài)已經(jīng)明了，民主黨將提名約翰-克里角逐美國(guó)總統(tǒng)之位,但問(wèn)題在于，喬治-布什和他的首席政治戰(zhàn)略顧問(wèn)卡爾-婁福將如何攻擊克里。湯姆-托爾斯，其時(shí)政漫畫定期刊登于中立的《華盛頓郵報(bào)》的漫畫家，他有一種預(yù)感：布什會(huì)將克里描繪成極力倡導(dǎo)龐大的社會(huì)福利項(xiàng)目，并且要求大筆的聯(lián)邦預(yù)算來(lái)支付(也就是說(shuō)他要提高稅收)，同時(shí)對(duì)恐怖主義也是軟弱無(wú)力的。
在托爾斯的漫畫中，克里和一位幕僚正漫步走過(guò)白宮，而在白宮頂上兩個(gè)工人正忙著畫完一個(gè)寫有反對(duì)克里標(biāo)語(yǔ)的宣傳牌。標(biāo)語(yǔ)是：“警惕馬薩諸塞州基地組織的自由恐怖主義分子”。請(qǐng)不要到你的字典中去找這句話中的后兩個(gè)英語(yǔ)單詞，因?yàn)樗鼈兪峭袪査乖斐鰜?lái)的。托爾斯先是將英文的“馬薩諸塞州”和阿拉伯文的“基地組織”(本-拉登的恐怖主義組織)合在一起組成了Massalqaeda，然后將“自由的”和“恐怖分子”合在一起組成了liborrist。而后一個(gè)詞則讓人想起布什總統(tǒng)講話一不留意就真能說(shuō)出的那類詞--必須說(shuō)明的是，他的這種不留意可是經(jīng)常發(fā)生的。
中國(guó)的觀察家明白基地組織和恐怖分子指的是誰(shuí)，克里與它們中的任何一個(gè)都毫無(wú)瓜葛。但在布什看來(lái)，克里充其量只是勉強(qiáng)支持了自己攻占伊拉克*薩達(dá)姆的政策。但是，將克里斥為“馬薩諸塞州自由主義派”又有什么特別的政治意義呢？
馬薩諸塞州，主要城市是波士頓，該州云集，在20世紀(jì)獲得了左翼州的名聲。該州的議員支持大范圍的且不斷創(chuàng)新的社會(huì)福利體系--雖然不如歐洲國(guó)家的福利體系規(guī)模大，但與美國(guó)大多數(shù)州相比，其規(guī)模還是的，且政府支出的費(fèi)用不菲。因此，馬薩諸塞州的稅收就很高，批評(píng)家將該州戲稱為“稅收諸塞州”，甚至有時(shí)將其稱為“馬薩諸塞人民共和國(guó)”，因?yàn)樯鐣?huì)主義理念據(jù)說(shuō)在該州受到熱烈歡迎。
在美國(guó)(不是在歐洲)，“自由派”是指這樣一些人：他們相信政府的管理和稅收*應(yīng)該保護(hù)普通公民免受大公司權(quán)力的侵害；他們還想通過(guò)政府實(shí)施的各項(xiàng)規(guī)劃來(lái)糾正社會(huì)不公。他們雖說(shuō)已經(jīng)建立了美國(guó)的社會(huì)福利體系，但還想完善甚至進(jìn)一步擴(kuò)大該體系。而問(wèn)題在于，許多選民將60年代和70年代建立起來(lái)的自由派福利體系項(xiàng)目看作既勞民傷財(cái)又不奏效，或?qū)⑵湟暈楸徽`導(dǎo)了方向的社會(huì)工程的實(shí)例--那種由學(xué)究氣的哈佛教授和類似的傲慢蠢才們才想得出來(lái)給納稅人加稅的名堂。在這些批評(píng)家看來(lái)，一個(gè)自由派分子是非常壞的，而“馬薩諸塞州自由派”則是一幫最壞的專橫霸道、花錢無(wú)度、不負(fù)責(zé)任的人。