The "giving aid and comfort to the enemy" play...

[Kimber Scott]

This seems to be one of those plays that always works, but I don't know that it's going to this time. It actually seems to be a quite desperate move by the Republicans - along with "al Qaeda wants Kerry to win" and "if you want another 9/11, vote for Kerry." Oh, and how could I forget the "Democrats will ban the Bible" stab? Are these truly the signs of desperation, or will they have any real effect on Kerry's campaign? Should we respond to this lashing out, or just watch them melting away with it?

[sniffa]

1. i prefer to Laugh at them

which kerry shouLd do too.

[prodigal_green]

2. it'll consolidate either one's base, but I doubt it will have

much effect on the undecideds.

[Hepburn]

3. Kerry was not on active duty...

...so the UCMJ does not apply. He was a reservist at the time he did that. The UCMJ applies only to active duty military. Remember when the Navy vetted his medals and one of the issues raised by Judical Watch concerned Kerry's anti-war activities? The response as best as I can recall from the Navy was something about that fact that he was not on active duty.

[Kimber Scott]

4. I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. Did I miss something?

nt

[Famine]

6. Reserves are covered by UCMJ

Im a Navy Reservist and I'm covered by the UCMJ every minute whether I'm drilling or not. The only question is what he was doing, not what his status was.

[Hepburn]

7. Hmmmmm.....I chatted with a friend of mine last night...

...on IM and he is JAG, retired, and that is what I think I understood from him. What he seemed to say, as I understand it, that if Kerry did this on a weekend as a reservist when he was suppose to be on duty, then the UCMJ would apply. If not, it did not. Or if Kerry did something directly connected with the Navy while not scheduled to be on duty - like went on base and stole something, then the UCMJ would apply. But being a reservist and not being on duty, the UCMJ did not apply. I will try and get him again and clarify...but he left late yesterday evening for a vacation.

Edit for typo.

[Kimber Scott]

9. What did he do that was supposed to be illegal?

nt

[zbdent]

5. Halliburton in the 90s.

Made a Bushbot find a bug in his programming with that one once.

[wiggs]

8. Administration much, much worse

This administration has done much much worse in this regard by making horrible strategic decisions after the initial invasion.

Moreover, who remembers Rumsfelds leaked memo from last year detailing his serious concerns and misgivings? Let's dredge that up. Also the recent CIA report is not kind either. Is the CIA aiding the enemy? Did Shinseki give comfort to the enemy in saying more troops were needed?

Was McCain helping Al Queda when he said B*sh was not being straight with us?

There's a great response ad in there somewhere, but really this should have been immediately debunked by journalists and talk show hosts.