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NEWS FROM THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY
2600 Virginia Avenue, NW, Suite 100
Washington DC 20037
World Wide Web: http://www.LP.org
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For release: February 4, 2000
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For additional information:
George Getz, Press Secretary
Phone: (202) 333-0008 Ext. 222
E-Mail: 76214.3676@Compuserve.com
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Should we send hate criminal Al Gore
to jail for assault on 'cripple' Kerrey?
WASHINGTON, DC -- Is Al Gore guilty of a hate crime?
Apparently so, says the Libertarian Party -- if the charges are
true that the vice president's campaign supporters mocked Nebraska
Senator Bob Kerrey as a "cripple" and splashed the handicapped Vietnam
veteran with mud this past Sunday.
"If Al Gore really believes what he says about hate crimes,
then he should immediately turn himself in to the police, and accept
punishment for what his campaign staff and supporters did to Senator
Bob Kerrey," said the party's national director, Steve Dasbach.
"If federal hate crimes are a good idea -- and the vice
president passionately insists they are -- then why should Al Gore be
treated differently than any neo-Nazi, Ku Klux Klan member, or bigot
who assaults a handicapped person?"
This past weekend, Kerrey was surrounded by a screaming mob of
Gore supporters when he arrived in Somersworth, New Hampshire to
campaign for Gore's Democratic primary rival, Bill Bradley.
The mob -- led by Gore's New Hampshire campaign chairman Bill
Shaheen and at least one unnamed Gore campaign aide -- taunted Kerrey
as a "cripple" and splashed him with mud.
Kerrey, who received the Medal of Honor after losing part of
his leg during an attack on a Viet Cong stronghold, confirmed the
insults, according to the Chicago Tribune, and said, "They were calling
me a cripple."
In response, Gore denied the assault took place. "It didn't
happen," the vice president said on MSNBC's Equal Time on Wednesday.
Words might have been exchanged between Kerrey and Gore supporters, he
admitted, but it was "in good fun."
However, noted Dasbach, Gore didn't seem to think that hate
crimes were "good fun" on July 6, 1999, when he issued a statement
calling on Congress to expand federal hate crime legislation to include
the very kind of physical disability his supporters taunted Kerrey
about.
At that time, Gore said: "This legislation [the Hate Crimes
Prevention Act of 1999] sends a clear, strong message to all those who
would attack others simply because they are different: Don't do it. It
is wrong, it is illegal, and if you do commit these terrible crimes, we
will find you, and punish you to the full force of our laws."
The bill would have redefined a "hate crime" to include an
assault on a person "because of [an] actual or perceived religion,
gender, sexual orientation, or disability." Violators could be
imprisoned for up to 10 years.
So if Gore thinks that assaulting a disabled person is a
"terrible crime," said Dasbach, the vice president should turn
himself -- and his hate-filled supporters -- in to the police
immediately.
"Al Gore, take a stand against hate crimes," he urged. "Send a
clear, strong message to all those who would attack others simply
because they are different. Turn yourself in. Admit your guilt as the
kingpin of a gang of disability-hating bigots. And demand the full
force of the law as punishment: 10 years in federal prison."
Of course, the Libertarian Party doesn't actually support
federal hate crime legislation, noted Dasbach, because "the government
shouldn't discriminate when it comes to justice."
However, Libertarians might be willing to make an exception
when it comes to hypocritical politicians, he said.
"If we must have federal hate crime laws, we might as well
start by applying them to the politicians who support them," he said.
"After all, what's good enough for the Ku Klux Klan should certainly be
good enough for Al Gore."
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