Galling smears - MN Strib editorial

[question everything]

Perhaps it should no longer surprise, but it does: the guiltless ease with which the Karl Rovian forces of the far right smear a perfectly fine person. They did it with former U.S. Sen. Max Cleland; they did it with Sen. John McCain, and now they are attempting to do it with Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic candidate for president this fall.

A clandestine slime campaign against Kerry has been ongoing for many months on the Web. It surfaced this week when Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie demanded that Kerry open all his military records from his Vietnam-era service, as Kerry had pledged to do last Sunday in an appearance on "Meet the Press." Kerry complied by posting his record on the Web for all to see.

(snip)


It is particularly galling to have this smear campaign thrown up on behalf of people who didn't have the guts to serve in a war they supported. President Bush didn't serve; nor did Vice President Dick Cheney, or Karl Rove, or Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz or many other high-ranking officials in the Bush administration. In the broader right-wing community, the so-called chickenhawks also include Rush Limbaugh, Bill Bennett, Newt Gingrich, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly, to name a few. Not one day did they serve in Vietnam; not one bit of shrapnel came within thousands of miles of them; not one enemy aimed a B-40 or an AK-47 at them and pulled the trigger; not one of them bore the enormous responsibility of keeping other sailors safe in combat.

These sorts of smears have worked before, those against McCain and Cleland being two good examples. The American people should be resolute in ensuring the smears won't work this time.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/561/4739243.html

[NMDemDist2]

1. great article

and isn't this in a "swing" state?

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Skittles]

4. you are my kind of people

welcome to the DU :hi:

[Skittles]

3. this has been SOP for gutless republicans for some time now

look at the way they smeared Clinton.

[Jim__]

5. Why can't this be turned around?

It's pathetic. People who dodged the draft are actually able to smear decorated military heroes. If the press is really that much in the hands of the right, and the American people can't see through these blatant lies, then we may have already lost.