The crass class


Thursday, July 15, 2004 By: Ed Koch

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On Friday, July 9th the Kerry-Edwards campaign held a fundraising concert at Radio City Music Hall. By general agreement -- I was not there -- several of the performers, Whoopi Goldberg in particular, engaged in unprintable sexual references to President Bush, combining the President?s family name with references to the female anatomy. They did the same with Vice President Dick Cheney?s first name, this time referring to the male anatomy.

John Mellencamp sang a song, probably one he wrote, referring to the President as a ?cheap thug? and a ?Texas bandito.? We are told by reporters who were present that other performers joined the chorus with other personal attacks on Bush. Both John Kerry and John Edwards were present in the theater and sitting through the crude, obscene attacks without protest and, I assume, applauded generously each of these performers. At the end of the show, John Kerry and John Edwards appeared on stage and Kerry thanked all of the performers, saying they conveyed, ?the heart and soul of our country.?

Heart and soul of our country? Whatever happened to fundamental standards of conduct and the values that both Kerry and Edwards surely exhibit in their own lives and refer to in their campaign speeches? Were they embarrassed for themselves, their wives and, more important, the country? Did they simply lack the integrity to stand up and say to the foul-mouthed Whoopi Goldberg, ?Stop.?

For the sake of argument, if any of these performers had engaged in racial jokes or anti-Semitic references would the candidates have felt compelled to stop the show? If they could not summon the courage to bring the show to a halt, shouldn?t they have, at the every least, at the end of the show, noted what happened and disassociated themselves from the performers?

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