Posted on 08/25/2004 1:55:24 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
With a mix of passion and dismay, newspaper editorials are weighing in on the furor over John Kerry's service in Vietnam, with many coming to his defense, a few standing behind his critics and others bemoaning the attention to a 30-year-old war rather than today's problems.
Many newspapers used strong language -- smear, deceit-ridden, odious -- to condemn accusations by a group of Vietnam veterans that Kerry did not deserve his medals, that he mischaracterized a mission to Cambodia and that he maligned all the troops with his anti-war comments.
"No informed person can seriously believe that Kerry fabricated evidence to win his military medals in Vietnam," the Los Angeles Times wrote, arguing that the tactic of using others to fling mud was "perfected" by President Bush's father.
Others just as passionately defended the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. "Kerry can't very well insist in one breath that his Vietnam record is the linchpin of his claim to become commander in chief and in the next denounce his opponents for inspecting that record with the attention it supposedly deserves," The Rocky Mountain News wrote.
Many spread the blame: to each candidate, to both parties for letting independent groups do their negative campaigning; and to Congress for the campaign finance changes that steered more money to those groups and away from the political parties.
"We are confident that we speak for a sizable number of voters when we reply, who cares?" wrote The Mail Tribune of Medford, Ore. "What really matters to us, and, we trust, to most thoughtful voters, is not what either man did during Vietnam, but how each plans to lead the United States of America now."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
Even the lamestream media believes the Swift vets. Or they wouldn't be trying so desperately to cover for Kerry.
yeah, i haven't seen one newspaper that has not gotta bitch on about the swift boats' vets speaking out.
the leftists that run the media believe that they have a right to control information, and how dare those morons interfere?
Translation: There are too many sources of information. Newspapers are upset that they can no longer control informanion, set the agenda, and tell us what is and is not news.
Regardless of how Kerry framed his campaign, wouldn't the Swift Boat Vets have come forward anyway?
Therefore, even if there is proof, we won't report it.
I've been sending out e-mails to local papers, and I've noticed that a lot of the replies I get contain the same phrase: "None of the Vets claims would stand up in court."
The thing these columnists don't get is that the Vets claims are in the court of public opinion not a court of law where technicalities abound, and liberals generally rule.
Don't you love all the blanket assertions about what the Swift Boat Vets for Truth are saying coupled with a complete unwillingness to examine all the specific charges and actual proof?
"We are confident that we speak for a sizable number of voters when we reply, who cares?" wrote The Mail Tribune of Medford, Ore. "What really matters to us, and, we trust, to most thoughtful voters, is not what either man did during Vietnam, but how each plans to lead the United States of America now."
Proof that you have to be only 11 to write newspaper editorials.
BTTT
A bit off topic, but is there a resource anywhere that
lists all the medals & ribbons that Kerry is supposed
to have been awarded. A quick look at his campaign
site didn't have a concise list (nor images thereof).
All those awards I've heard about appear to be based on
fraud, but I suspect he has at least one that's legit.
Maybe the USN gave out ribbons for attendence ... hmmm
... on second thot, Kerry isn't very competent at THAT
either.
I'm an informed person, and I believe it. The fact that there are more than 60 men who are saying one thing, and only 2 saying another, and one of those is beholden to the other for his life, I'll go with the over 60! For some reason, these libs can't even fathom the notion that the reason the official records agree with Kerry is because Kerry wrote the action reports on which they are based.
The writer also repeats the lie about mud slinging on the part of Bush 41 regarding, I assume, Willie Horton. The media continues to ignore the fact that the use of Willie Horton against Michael Dukakis originated with the Algore campaign during the 1988 Democrat primary. The Bush campaign simply repeated the facts of the situation.
They don't need to. This is the court of public opinion and everything is fair game if folks believe the evidence brought forward.
The MSM fails to realize this is about the future of our country and the fact that Kerry is unfit to lead it.
The Oklahoman did not back Kerry -- in fact, this is today's editorial:
Ouch! Kerry, others bitten by campaign law
Oklahoman Editorial
Let's review the current political landscape, wrought by the campaign-finance reform law passed two years ago by good-government types (read: incumbents) who said money had a corrupting effect on politics.
The major political parties are poorer, banned from collecting unregulated or "soft" money under the McCain-Feingold law, which bears the names of its Senate sponsors. But the cash didn't just go away. It found new outlets. Boy, did it ever!
The effect of millions of dollars in soft money now is being felt in the advertising efforts -- mostly negative, mostly stinging -- of so-called "527" independent groups that are free to collect and spend unregulated contributions.
Most have ambiguous names that offer few clues about their underwriters. A group of Vietnam veterans opposed to Sen. John Kerry used a 527 group backed financially by admitted supporters of President Bush to lambaste Kerry's war record.
Payback? Liberal 527s have spent millions attacking Bush, including the hammering the president received from Democratic-favoring 527s at the height of the primary season.
Kerry, a big supporter of McCain-Feingold, is upset. He's talked so much about the group attacking his Vietnam record and their ads in recent days that he's in danger of being seriously off message, to use campaign-speak.
This is the system Kerry and others created. Now the fruit is bitter. The irony is that Democrats, who led the charge for McCain-Feingold, have become adept at dancing around it. Complaints from Kerry and his supporters about the work of Republican 527s just don't have much traction following the hatchet work done on Bush by similar Democratic groups during the primaries last winter.
Certainly, complaining about it now isn't doing Kerry any good. The 527 groups are legal under the law he enthusiastically supported. The best thing Kerry can do is found in the name of the liberal 527 group bankrolled by the mega-rich George Soros: Moveon.org.
Great minds think alike! I posted my sentiments before I saw YOUR post!
"others bemoaning the attention to a 30-year-old war rather than today's problems."
This is a timeless character issue.
If Kerry made bad decisions 30 years ago, he's likely to make similar bad decisions today. An investigation of his recent congressional voting record reveals this as true.
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