Swift load of crap

Due to a recent bombardment of swift veterans for smear campaigns funded by wealthy texas bushie republicant's, I am compelled to post my thoughts on the "matter". I say "matter" because this is what the media, as well as both campaigns, are focused on at the current point in the race and it seems like there should be something more important for the talking heads news peeps to be covering.

So, a couple of different issues here. One being whether Kerry actually has lied about his service in nam, and another, which I believe is the core issue, and is in regards to the credibility of either Kerry or THE dub. When it comes down to it, this is the real issue, and it needs to be cleared up. I know that this "swift veterans for disinformation" ad has successfully affected some people's opinion of Kerry as people have told me firsthand, "man, Kerry lied; those men served with him". Of course the words "served with" amount to nothing more than having been in nam at the same time as Kerry and not necessarily by his side. And of course the ad was funded by friends of THE dub, "friends" meaning one of the top republican donors in Texas.

One might say that moveon has also donated to democratic advertisements and thus makes them just as guilty of fanning the flames of partisan smear tactics, only there is one difference; the not-so-swift ad is filled with false and/or misleading accusations, while the moveon ads are not. There is a new ad sponsored by moveonPac which gives a run over of THE dub's service in the texas air national guard, pointing out that THE dub failed to show up for guard duty and was released early to attend harvard law school. THE dub and his people have not been able to successfully refute this accusation... he was/is AWOL. WHY DOESN'T ANYBODY SEE THIS?? I mean, if the subject of Kerry's service is brought up, then shouldn't THE Dub's record be examined as well?? Oh, wait, that's right, it was examined, and the monkey team couldn't properly defend it. It just keeps getting brushed aside like it has no relevance; THE DUB FIGHTS TERRA, WHY WOULD WE HAVE TO QUESTION HIS SERVICE RECORD, RIGHT?

The swift ad is a fairly brilliant attempt at reaching the lemmings, making them consider less what THE dub did during nam and more on how Kerry apparently lied about his medals, lied about being under fire while pulling a partner out of the water and then joined nam protests upon returning to the States. So he protested the war, this makes him a dishonorable person? One could read the implication here... protest makes you dishonorable. Jesus Christ, if the question is who played more of an "honorable" role in Vietnam, wouldn't a rational minded person be able to compare the two and reach an obvious conclusion?? VP "go fuck yourself" Cheney replied to questions about his service with, "I had other priorities at the time". As far as the accusations that Kerry lied about his service, the sources are too questionable, these men weren't even by Kerry's side. The one's that were defend Kerry's side of the story. Who to believe, first hand witnesses, or secondhand heresay? See, Kerry to THE dub, "bring it on".

Overall, this seems like a huge ego battle and I wish Kerry would have never made such a hoopla about his service in the first place; maybe some mention wouldn't hurt, considering the comparison of THE dub's record with his own, but I do believe they went a little overboard with it. Both sides want to establish their own credibility and destroy the other's. THE dub's strategy is to gain credibility by destroying Kerry's and making himself seem more "honorable" than a Vietnam veteran with 30? years in public service. This is fine, it seems, it is politics after all, but the problem is that THE dub strategists have to take things out of context and twist the truth to an enormous extent to do so. Why? Because THE dub has no such credibility. The same happens to some extent in Kerry's campaign; the usual one liners about health care and defense, as well as the neverending grandstand that surrounds his service in Vietnam.

In the end, this campaign is more about putting credibility into question than it is about an honest representation of what they intend to do with the next 4 years. Constantly firing back and forth at each other, the climate is extremely polarized; to the point of ridiculous. Neither side really reaches the other, but rather is engaged in a constant effort to gain credibility, even if it means scapegoating and twisting reality. I know, this is politics.

(Note: Holy sh!t, I thought I lost this post for a few minutes there, blogger was telling me there was some crazy error. Phew.)