Article published March 09, 2003
What Marcy said
If U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur is guilty of anything, it is discussing a touchy subject in far greater depth than most public servants would dare, and maybe poor use of an historical analogy. But, after two decades in which this daughter of working-class Toledo has represented the Ninth District in Congress, it’s clear Ms. Kaptur is not your average politician.
The veteran Democrat’s remarks, accurately quoted in a story on The Blade’s religion page last weekend, were taken out of context, misconstrued, and blasted across the country by her would-be 2004 election opponent, a gaggle of Republican operatives, and virulent right-wing Internet sites.
In short, Ms. Kaptur is being demonized and targeted by the GOP, apparently emboldened by Maggie Thurber’s victory in the Lucas County commissioner’s race last fall. This assault looks like it came straight from Washington, since Bernadette Noe, local GOP chairman, is still a political amateur.
Neither should arrogant local Republicans assume Ms. Thurber’s election last November elevated them out of their minority status. Once before, during the tenure of former Republican Mayor Donna Owens in the 1980s, the local GOP got a little full of itself, and ultimately the voters brought the party down. It could happen again.
Delving into the volatile mix of religion and politics may have been a tactical error for Ms. Kaptur, but fair-minded people would have to agree that the political firestorm around her is undeserved.
The statement in question came during an interview about a then-approaching workshop for local Catholic leaders titled "Preaching and Teaching Peace in the Face of War," which was held Friday.
Ms. Kaptur, a devout Catholic, talked thoughtfully in the interview about this nation’s roots in revolution and the fight for religious freedom, adding, "One could say that Osama bin Laden and these non-nation-state fighters with religious purpose are very similar to those kind of atypical revolutionaries that helped to cast off the British crown."
A sharp historian would note that the Green Mountain Boys, among the revolutionary fighters cited by Ms. Kaptur in a preface to the quote, were concerned not with religious freedom but with keeping Vermont independent from New York.
But she was not "equating Osama bin Laden with George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and our other founding fathers," as falsely claimed by Thomas Reynolds, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Maybe the Republicans believe they can defeat Ms. Kaptur by casting her as some sort of radical liberal, in the fashion of Dennis Kucinich, the Cleveland congressman who wants to run for president. Character assassination, after all, is the right wing’s game, and it’s easy these days to use isolated quotes on the Internet as a propaganda tool.
But she is not shrinking from the assault and in fact vigorously defended her position at Friday’s workshop.
If County Auditor Larry Kaczala really believes he can beat Ms. Kaptur next year, he should resign before launching his bid, not run from cover.
Only a campaign of distortion and misrepresentation would put Ms. Kaptur in jeopardy, though we are confident her constituents would see through it. Her victories in 11 elections have come with majorities in even heavily Republican areas. They can look it up.
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