What is almost invariably left out of the attacks on Kerry’s testimnony is that he was representing a group of several hundred Vietnam vets, and began his testimony by saying “I would like to talk, representing all those veterans, and say that several months ago in Detroit, we had an investigation at which over 150 honorably discharged and many very highly decorated veterans testified to war crimes committed in Southeast Asia, not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command..” Yet his words are pretty much always presented as him saying he observed all these things. Maybe it’s splitting hairs, but the attacks are at least partially (and deliberately?) confusing the messenger with the message.
Comment by Harry — Saturday, August 21, 2024 @ 10:57 am
Over the course of our Election Discussions last weekend, I warned Blair that the Democrats may be reaching a near-Republican level of cultism — and that means trouble for Tim’s beloved Bush.
“And you guys, you formerly cynical guys who now worship the incompetent Bush simply because you were told to do so, you’re only making it easier for the Kerry people to win.”
Blair, too drunk to follow the entire convoluted sentence, caught on at the end and whimpered, “How so?”
“Look at you people with this Vietnam boat nonsense. Every day, you’re pounding home the fact that Kerry fought in Vietnam. You jackasses started this stuff so early — with the “Oh he protested the war” and the Jane Fonda photoshops — that the Kerry people turned the whole Democratic convention into a celebration of the Vietnam War. Nobody even remembers being against Vietnam anymore. The next Vietnam movie will be a buddy comedy starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, and all they’re going to do is kill Charlie and win medals and dance with beautiful girls. It’ll make $300 million on the opening weekend. They’re going to tear down that bummer memorial in Washington and put up a 1,000-foot statue of a smiling American soldier proudly standing on a stack of golden skulls. You morons have made Vietnam the Democrats’ favorite memory and greatest victory. Then you scream hooray when a gang of addled old Nixon bagmen show up in a teevee commercial to bitch about Kerry fighting in Vietnam , and once again the normal people with lives only remember, again, that Kerry fought in Vietnam and Bush didn’t.”
“But,” Tim sputtered, “Kerry clearly claimed he was in Cambodia several days before he was in Cambodia. It was seared–”
“Stop that,” I said, poking his neck with the corkscrew worm. “Listen to yourself. What are you doing, again? That’s right, you’re reminding people that the other guy fought in Vietnam. Have you become so brain dead that you think this helps your girly boy Bush? Do you honestly believe the coward boy can beat the War Monster?”
Blair tried to shake the confusion from his head. Then his eyes brightened for a moment and he said, “Four months! Kerry was only in Vietnam for four months!”
“See? You did it again. You people can’t stop reminding everybody that Kerry was in Vietnam, taking lives like your boy eats cookies. Killing people, saving people, holding Life & Death in his hands like a savage gift. He kills the Viet Cong or anybody else he chooses, he saves a U.S. sailor who fell out of the boat, he walks the halls of the Senate deciding who he’ll kill or who he’ll save (http://timblair.spleenville.com/). In Vietnam, Kerry is a death’s head of gruesome power, while your Bush hides in Alabama, a scared little girl. And what did little Bush do in Texas?”
First off, I think I have been pretty reasonable on this whole Swift Boat thing.
Second, I don’t that the fact Kerry served in Viet Nam is some secret that the Reps are bringing up. Rather, Kerry is basing his whole campaign on it.
3) I have noted on multiple occassions that going after the medals is foolish, and I don’t think I have once blogged on the Cambodia issue.
4) I think that Kerry has a real problem that will manifest with swing voters in trying to square the circle of the war hero image he has tried to build juxtaposed with what he said as a war protester. I have argued this way back during the primaries, in fact
5) AsI noted in another post earlier today, Kerry in Viet Nam v. Bush in the Air National Guard is a false dichotomy, and not the one the Kerry campaign is pursuing: Kerry has actively argued that his Viet Nam service would make him a better Commander-in-Chief than Bush. As such, Kerry has made this race Viet Nam Kerry v. President Bush.
6) I continue to ask: where is the Senator’s Senate career?
The Senate career question is a valid one, and one that’s being ignored by both Bush and the Fellow Travelers. But then, if they tried to make too much of Kerry’s light resume, it could be turned back towards Bush’s light resume. Neither one of these guys would rate a well-qualified from me on the Presidential test. But I have to vote for one of them, and for me, voting for Kerry is an easy decision.
Comment by Harry — Saturday, August 21, 2024 @ 3:41 pm
Fair enough.
However, I would note, that a full term as President trumps a light Senate career if all we are doing is comparing resumes.
Clearly, you think that Bush’s four years aren’t to your satisfaction, which is your right.
What is almost invariably left out of the attacks on Kerry’s testimnony is that he was representing a group of several hundred Vietnam vets, and began his testimony by saying “I would like to talk, representing all those veterans, and say that several months ago in Detroit, we had an investigation at which over 150 honorably discharged and many very highly decorated veterans testified to war crimes committed in Southeast Asia, not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command..” Yet his words are pretty much always presented as him saying he observed all these things. Maybe it’s splitting hairs, but the attacks are at least partially (and deliberately?) confusing the messenger with the message.
Comment by Harry — Saturday, August 21, 2024 @ 10:57 am
Over the course of our Election Discussions last weekend, I warned Blair that the Democrats may be reaching a near-Republican level of cultism — and that means trouble for Tim’s beloved Bush.
“And you guys, you formerly cynical guys who now worship the incompetent Bush simply because you were told to do so, you’re only making it easier for the Kerry people to win.”
Blair, too drunk to follow the entire convoluted sentence, caught on at the end and whimpered, “How so?”
“Look at you people with this Vietnam boat nonsense. Every day, you’re pounding home the fact that Kerry fought in Vietnam. You jackasses started this stuff so early — with the “Oh he protested the war” and the Jane Fonda photoshops — that the Kerry people turned the whole Democratic convention into a celebration of the Vietnam War. Nobody even remembers being against Vietnam anymore. The next Vietnam movie will be a buddy comedy starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, and all they’re going to do is kill Charlie and win medals and dance with beautiful girls. It’ll make $300 million on the opening weekend. They’re going to tear down that bummer memorial in Washington and put up a 1,000-foot statue of a smiling American soldier proudly standing on a stack of golden skulls. You morons have made Vietnam the Democrats’ favorite memory and greatest victory. Then you scream hooray when a gang of addled old Nixon bagmen show up in a teevee commercial to bitch about Kerry fighting in Vietnam , and once again the normal people with lives only remember, again, that Kerry fought in Vietnam and Bush didn’t.”
“But,” Tim sputtered, “Kerry clearly claimed he was in Cambodia several days before he was in Cambodia. It was seared–”
“Stop that,” I said, poking his neck with the corkscrew worm. “Listen to yourself. What are you doing, again? That’s right, you’re reminding people that the other guy fought in Vietnam. Have you become so brain dead that you think this helps your girly boy Bush? Do you honestly believe the coward boy can beat the War Monster?”
Blair tried to shake the confusion from his head. Then his eyes brightened for a moment and he said, “Four months! Kerry was only in Vietnam for four months!”
“See? You did it again. You people can’t stop reminding everybody that Kerry was in Vietnam, taking lives like your boy eats cookies. Killing people, saving people, holding Life & Death in his hands like a savage gift. He kills the Viet Cong or anybody else he chooses, he saves a U.S. sailor who fell out of the boat, he walks the halls of the Senate deciding who he’ll kill or who he’ll save (http://timblair.spleenville.com/). In Vietnam, Kerry is a death’s head of gruesome power, while your Bush hides in Alabama, a scared little girl. And what did little Bush do in Texas?”
Comment by The God of War, Death & Madness — Saturday, August 21, 2024 @ 1:54 pm
BTW, thats not mine — its from Kem layne’s “The God of War, Death & Madness”
http://kenlayne.com/2004/08/god-of-war-death-madness.html
The GOP is making a big mistake getting into bed w/ the SBVFT
Comment by Barry Ritholtz — Saturday, August 21, 2024 @ 1:55 pm
Barry,
First off, I think I have been pretty reasonable on this whole Swift Boat thing.
Second, I don’t that the fact Kerry served in Viet Nam is some secret that the Reps are bringing up. Rather, Kerry is basing his whole campaign on it.
3) I have noted on multiple occassions that going after the medals is foolish, and I don’t think I have once blogged on the Cambodia issue.
4) I think that Kerry has a real problem that will manifest with swing voters in trying to square the circle of the war hero image he has tried to build juxtaposed with what he said as a war protester. I have argued this way back during the primaries, in fact
5) AsI noted in another post earlier today, Kerry in Viet Nam v. Bush in the Air National Guard is a false dichotomy, and not the one the Kerry campaign is pursuing: Kerry has actively argued that his Viet Nam service would make him a better Commander-in-Chief than Bush. As such, Kerry has made this race Viet Nam Kerry v. President Bush.
6) I continue to ask: where is the Senator’s Senate career?
Comment by Steven Taylor — Saturday, August 21, 2024 @ 2:11 pm
The Senate career question is a valid one, and one that’s being ignored by both Bush and the Fellow Travelers. But then, if they tried to make too much of Kerry’s light resume, it could be turned back towards Bush’s light resume. Neither one of these guys would rate a well-qualified from me on the Presidential test. But I have to vote for one of them, and for me, voting for Kerry is an easy decision.
Comment by Harry — Saturday, August 21, 2024 @ 3:41 pm
Fair enough.
However, I would note, that a full term as President trumps a light Senate career if all we are doing is comparing resumes.
Clearly, you think that Bush’s four years aren’t to your satisfaction, which is your right.
Comment by Steven Taylor — Saturday, August 21, 2024 @ 3:46 pm
Post-Vietnam Kerry
The Swiftvets have a new ad. It’s better than the first one because it’s not a he said/he said debate….
Trackback by The American Mind — Saturday, August 21, 2024 @ 4:18 pm