Posted on 09/21/2004 11:15:22 PM PDT by neverdem
OP-ED COLUMNIST
What I found most dispiriting over the last month of politicking was the sight of two senior statesmen in the Republican Party - yes, I mean you, George H. W. Bush and Bob Dole - climbing on the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth bandwagon in its campaign to turn Mr. Kerry from war hero to craven braggart.
Both former President Bush and Mr. Dole are honorable. And Mr. Bush has personal knowledge of such smears. The bomber Mr. Bush piloted was shot down in 1944. He bailed out, but the two others in the plane, Ted White and John Delaney, were killed.
Then in the 1988 campaign, a tail-gunner on another plane on the same bombing mission accused Mr. Bush of having been a coward and causing Mr. White's and Mr. Delaney's deaths. A couple of others on the mission backed this accusation, claiming that Mr. Bush could have tried a water landing rather than consigning the others to their deaths.
The accusations were rebutted by other witnesses, however, and journalists mostly shied away from them. Michael Dukakis dismissed the story, and few voters knew about the smear.
These days, though, accusations that have even less evidence behind them - that Mr. Kerry connived his way into getting medals he did not deserve - are widely aired and believed. A Times/CBS poll found that more than 60 percent of the respondents said Mr. Kerry is hiding something or mostly lying about Vietnam.
That's not a problem just for Mr. Kerry, but for the integrity of our political process. As I wrote in my last column, a careful look at Mr. Kerry's war record suggests that he stretched the truth here and there, but he served with immense courage - and he deserved all his medals.
Every single enlisted man who served with Mr. Kerry on his boats at the time he earned his Purple Hearts and Silver and Bronze Stars say the medals were all deserved, and they are all supporting his candidacy.
True, Democrats have also engaged in below-the-belt attacks. Some of "Fahrenheit 9/11," the Michael Moore film, was the liberal equivalent of the anti-Kerry smears. Its innuendos implying that Mr. Bush arranged the war in Afghanistan so backers could profit from an oil pipeline were appalling.
But I, along with some others, immediately complained about "Fahrenheit 9/11." Aside from John McCain, where are the sensible conservatives? Why don't they denounce the Swift Boat Veterans' attacks? And why doesn't President Bush condemn those attacks, showing the kind of integrity that Mr. Dukakis showed?
The news media also need to think through this issue, for we're being manipulated. I remember rumors about Mr. Bush in the 2000 campaign that were well known among journalists, but they never saw the light of print because we could not substantiate them. Every major candidate draws scurrilous charges, but responsible journalists - quite rightly - refuse to report unsubstantiated accusations of things like love children, drug dealing or mistresses. As CBS has found, to its chagrin, extraordinary charges require extraordinary proof.
Even though the Swift Boat Veterans' accusations are unsubstantiated, wealthy Bush supporters have turned them into campaign ads - and the press has often covered the result like a sporting event, rather than trying to find the truth. For voters who question both sides' rhetorical barbs, I recommend www.factcheck.org.
The only hope for stopping the mudslinging is if well-meaning people try to police their own side.
If they're intellectually consistent, Democrats will speak out not only against the Swift Boat Veterans but also against Mr. Kerry's demagoguery on trade, like his suggestion that outsourcing is the result of Mr. Bush's economic policies. Trade demagoguery may not be as felonious as an assault on a war hero's character, but it harms America by undermining support for free trade.
I'm afraid that the dishonesty of politics has infected all of us if we're so partisan that we're willing to point out only the sins of the other side. Intellectual consistency requires a tough look first at one's own shortcomings. So Republicans should be denouncing the smear against Mr. Kerry's war record, and Democrats should be denouncing their candidate's protectionist tone on trade.
In the spirit of taking a tough look at one's own shortcomings: on Saturday, I referred to William Rood as a witness for Mr. Kerry's Silver Star incident. It was the Bronze Star episode that he saw. Mea culpa.
That's astounding if he thinks McCain is still conservative. The fool doesn't want to recognize that the Swiftees' main grievance with Kerry is his treasonous behavior and libelous charges against fellow Vietnam Veterans for his obvious political ambition after his return from Vietnam.
How dare these men of honor and true heroism rain on Kerry's little game of dress-up!
Spare me the ignorant sanctimony, Mr. Kristof. John Kerry was no hero to anyone save the Viet Cong. John Kerry is no war hero. He is a traitor, plain and simple. He offered no aid and comfort to anyone save the enemy.
And considering the way the Left's leaders, ranging from Bill Clinton, Terry McAuliffe and James Carville, have conducted themselves toward the President of the United States of America, I'd say your boy got off easy. If we Republicans and Conservatives had unloaded on Kerry the way your kind (from the DNC to MoveOn.org to the Tides Foundation to A.N.S.W.E.R.) have abused Bush, John Kerry would have imploded under the pressure weeks ago.
So, with all due respect, take your outrage and -- in the words of Tah-RAY-za Heinz-Kerry -- SHOVE IT.
Aside from John McCain, where are the sensible conservatives?
News flash: John McCain ain't a Conservative by any stretch of the imagination. Sakes.
Well done!
Jeeeeez I hate that guy, kristoff!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bravo :-)
The continued mainstreaming of "Fake, but Accurate."
I usually don't even read him, let alone post him. The title grabbed my attention. The column was so off the wall that it needed to be mocked.
The American political system has been trashed in the last 90 days. As I have written, nobody worth knowing is going to recommend to their children that they enter politics after witnessing this SlimeFest.
The future of this country has been hijacked by what you see when you turn over a rock. The whole thing has a peculiar stench about it.
The stench is the same one which emanates from the domestic political squalor of some of America's erstwhile overseas "allies."
Sure...but just hope the hits from guys like this keep coming. Maybe they can all get violins and do serenades on the "Loser Lament Tour" with cameos by Loose BedSpring, the Ditzy Chicks and Bon Phoney. So I have a strange taste for entertainment, but these people getting hysterical and cracking up is real fun to watch!
BARF ALERT.
Please. Bush 41 didn't base his campaign for president on his combat experience in WWII. And the press DID cover teh BS allegations against him.
Then comes along Kerry, who trashed his fellow vets and called them war criminals, running on the 4 months he spent in Vietnam. Edwards says that if you have any questions about Kerry, asked the men who served with them.
So, the Swiftees, still steaming over his wild slanders get together. They find he, at best, embellished his record and they decide that they have at least as much right to speak as Kerry has to use them in his campaign commercials.
They catch him in at least one baldfaced lie, and while most of the other charges are mostly the words of a number of swift boat vets versus Kerry, one cannot help but see the weight of evidence is on their side.
Notice how proof and disproof inside the bubble have very little relationship to what might or might not stand up in court, as John O'Neill keeps skilfully pointing out. These clowns keep on and on about what they and their ilk have "disproven" or "discredited" about the truth put out by the Swift Boat Vets. In fact they have done no such thing, but they have convinced themselves that they have. They have not discredited a single assertion in any way that would stand up if they had to go to court on it. And they wonder why the disbelief in what they assert has grown? Still clueless after all these years.
Michael Dukakis dismissed the story, and few voters knew about the smear.
Mike may have dismissed this story, but you made sure we all know about it now, huh.
"What I found most dispiriting over the last month of politicking was the sight of two senior statesmen in the Republican Party - yes, I mean you, George H. W. Bush and Bob Dole - climbing on the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth bandwagon in its campaign to turn Mr. Kerry from war hero to craven braggart."
KRISTOF, have you read the book?
I don't make comments on the authenticy of the Moore movie F911. I haven't seen it.
I have read Unfit For Command. I will comment on that. These people have every right to call Kerry on his service in the war and especially his actions afterwords. These men
served honorably and have serious questions about Kerry's service and the effect his activism afterword wrought.
I will ask you, KRISTOF, to call on Kerry to sign the form 180 and allow ALL of his records be made public.
Basically one of Kerry's spokesmen will say something to the effect of "it isn't true". The press will then claim the swiftees' point has been disproven.
Note how this jerk very cleverly gets out the old smear on Bush 41 to once again attempt to say it's all moral equivalence, that Bush 41 was no hero in WWII, or conversly, that if Bush 41 is to be considered a hero, in spite of the "smear", then Kerry should be considered a hero too, even if there are questions about how he got his medals. Rats are such,.... Rats.
These days, though, accusations that have even less evidence behind them - that Mr. Kerry connived his way into getting medals he did not deserve - are widely aired and believed.
Kristof, if you did your JOB like you were supposed to, you would find that there is overwhelming evidence proving Kerry fraudulently acquired his medals, and for only one reason. He was a coward. Why don't you write about why Kerry will not sign the form 180 and put this matter to rest? Get another job kristof.
If Kerry was the Nominee of the pubbies, he would have most likely received the same treatment from the Swiftees, and certainly from me. He's a traitor who should burn in hell for what he did when he returned from Vietnam. Even Jane Fonda apologized.
After inspecting your recent posts, I doubt that your political sympathies are right of center. You picked a good screen-name.
Name one single accusation made by SBVT that has been disproved. "Unfit for Command" plus Kerry's history of lies and betrayal of comrades and country is all the substantiation I need in the face of an inability to disprove. If Kerry signs Form 180, releasing his entire naval record, and if a review of that record disproves "Unfit for Command," I'll believe that Kerry earned his medals. Until then, he'll always be the Chicken of An Thoi.
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