That Was August (So-Called "Conservative" Slimes Swift Boat Vets, Bush -- BARF!)

The Daily Dish ^ | 8/30/04 | Andrew Sullivan

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

Sometimes, when you do the Euro thing and take August off, you half-miss the tussle of an election campaign, the twists and turns of blogging, the daily adrenaline shots of getting hammered by various critics.

But not this August. Every time I checked out the blogosphere or the cable news or the papers, I felt relieved to be absent with leave.

The low point was obviously the Swift Boat vets, jumping like bait on the end of Karl Rove's line. For a president who never served in Vietnam to get his cronies to lambaste an opponent who actually put his life in danger was, well, breathtakingly bold.

And you really have to hand it to Bush. He knows how to campaign hard, to deploy smears of opponents indirectly, to stoke fears of minorities to rally votes, and every other hardball tactic.

I wish I could get all huffy about this, but it's always been Bush's campaign mojo: divide, smear and beam. Kerry should have seen it coming.

The only thing that can deflect from it is a more effective smear in the other direction. But the Bush-haters have now so debased that currency Bush is essentially in the clear. Advantage: Rove.

P.S.: I loved Bush's comment yesterday about the smear-ad: "I can understand why Senator Kerry is upset with us. I wasn't so pleased with the ads that were run about me. And my call is get rid of them all, now." "Us"?? I thought Bush had nothing to do with it.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

For extra points: count the number of times Sullivan lisps the words "religious," "Christian" and "born again" in a disparging, watch-out-for-snakes!-type manner.

Explain it to me again, please, somebody: this sock puppet is regarded as being "conservative" because...?

[GeronL]

who knows? I have seen almost nothing to suggest he is a conservative.

[skaterboy]

Andy wrote something without mentioning Gay Marriage?

My heart be stilled

[dasboot]

I don't get where Sully sees all this alleged Bush slimeballin' ; from what I can glean, GW's a straight-up guy. Truth and honesty must throw his opponents. (mebbe more projection: if he's winning hearts, he must be lying?)

[skaterboy]

My fave part is him saying"I wish I could get all huffy"

If Andy isn't huffy then I pray Im not around when he gets there.He says the right are the moralists but he is the preachy one

[kingattax]

raggedy andy sullivan gets the weekly "smack me cause i'm a

dumb@ss" award. well-deserved.

[NYCVirago]

Explain it to me again, please, somebody: this sock puppet is regarded as being "conservative" because...?

He burned whatever bridge he had to the conservative movement by not only endorsing Kerry, but calling him the true "conservative" candidate. Hope he enjoys his new-found lefty friends, because he won't be getting any more donations from people on our side, a fact he's ruefully admitted.

[thegreatbeast]

I'm glad to say that I never fell for Sullivan's posturing. Creep.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

For a president who never served in Vietnam to get his cronies to lambaste an opponent who actually put his life in danger was, well, breathtakingly bold.

NOTE TO MISS THANG: For a faux "conservative" bareback rider whose never served either in Viet Nam or the Air National Guard to knowingly slander 250+ decorated war verterans and former POWs, on the other hand, is...

... well: "breathtakingly bold" doesn't even begin to cover it, really.

Here's an interesting riddle, Andrew. What are the two most important differences between you and Shari Lewis' "Lambchop"...?

1.) Shari's puppet was (comparatively) more butch.

2.) Lambchop, at least, only had one inserted hand dictating his words via means of direct recto-manipulation.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

"whose" = who's. Typo.

[Brandon]

*sigh* Sullivan's gone off the rails. I don't think he was a poseur; I think he's one of those people who embraces a candidate or a cause, picks up the banner and waves it in the air -- and then when the first speck of dirt appears on the object of his worship, he casts it away in horrified disappointment, and looks around for a new candidate or cause.

He was all for the war on terror, for pre-emption, for the invasion of Iraq -- but now that it's turned out to be the long, hard battle the president repeatedly predicted, and not the cakewalk Sullivan persuaded himself it would be, he's abandoned ship.

As for the attack on the Swiftvets -- that's just vile. Sullivan has been "in the hammock" for the past month. He was AWOL (not "absent with leave" as he put it) while the rest of the blogosphere developed this story and forced the Kerry campaign and the major media to address it. But endorsing what was done in his absence might force him to reevaluate his decision to jump ship, so he's just going to blow it off.

It's too bad. He's got a good head on his shoulders, but he doesn't have the cojones to stand firm when things get tough.

[garbanzo]

Oh and he's apparently failed to mention the MO vote on gay marriage - you know the one where voters spoke instead of judges.

[keithtoo]

Andrew is having hot flashes again. There must be some gay angle to this. There always is when he starts whining like a liberal.

[Pokey78]

BTTT