Thursday, August 26, 2004
"His real band of brothers"
Finally, we've got an issue that makes even the "Boston Globe" editor's blood boil:
The editorial goes on to defend Kerry's notorious 1971 testimony before Congress about war crimes in Vietnam ("It is hard to imagine that anyone reading the full 30 pages of Kerry's testimony would see anything but a thoughtful, anguished young man trying to come to grips with his experiences in Vietnam and spare other soldiers the same," thus showing the limits of imagination at the highest levels of the respectable printed media), before slipping back into a didactic mode:
And how to better end your angry editorial than with a backslap at the President:
As always, no one can say it better than Mark Steyn:
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"An angry group of swift boat veterans has vowed to continue airing its odious ads attacking John Kerry's military service even after many of its claims have been discredited."One gets the impression that what the Globe find truly odious is that many of the vets' claims have indeed been found to be true. In politics you can forgive the potshots that just slide off your armor, but never those which find their mark.
The editorial goes on to defend Kerry's notorious 1971 testimony before Congress about war crimes in Vietnam ("It is hard to imagine that anyone reading the full 30 pages of Kerry's testimony would see anything but a thoughtful, anguished young man trying to come to grips with his experiences in Vietnam and spare other soldiers the same," thus showing the limits of imagination at the highest levels of the respectable printed media), before slipping back into a didactic mode:
"Yet the smear goes on and on. Speaking on CNN Sunday, former presidential candidate Bob Dole, himself a wounded veteran of World War II, said Kerry should apologize for his testimony and questioned whether Kerry actually bled from the wounds for which he received three Purple Hearts. This is inane. It is time to steer the campaign back to the issues voters care about: jobs, health care, education, the war on terror, and the one in Iraq. The voters are ill served by an ugly, distracting campaign fueled by bitter men."This is all very good advice that sounds like it could have come from the Republicans themselves. If only John Kerry had listen to it all those months ago, when he decided to make his military service the centerpiece of the campaign for the White House. If only the Globe had shared the same advice with the candidate at that time, instead of now, when with the benefit of hindsight the whole "Vietnam thing" is becoming a liability. If only...
And how to better end your angry editorial than with a backslap at the President:
"President Bush has steadfastly refused to call an end to this trash. On Monday Bush issued a broad condemnation of all so-called 527 political groups from both the left and the right that have been exploiting a loophole in campaign finance reform laws with a vengeance this season. This is fine, but the watchdog Federal Election Commission hasn't lifted a paw to do anything about it despite several formal complaints. If Bush is serious about returning this campaign to a reasonably civil plane, he will call on the FEC to close the 527 loophole immediately, and he will call his friends who are bankrolling the swift boat ads and ask them to stop."How about at least trying to sound bi-partisan and unbiased about your outrage? Nope. Too hard.
As always, no one can say it better than Mark Steyn:
"The story now is not John Kerry's weird secret-agent fantasies but the media's willingness to act as elite guardians of them. They're his real 'band of brothers,' happy to fish him out of their water, even if their credibility sinks in the process."Read also Jeff Jacoby's "Some of Kerry's biggest fans are in the press."
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