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Me#1You#10
Site Admin
Joined: 06 May 2004
Posts: 6503
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 Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2005 8:02 am Post subject: NY Sun: "An American Story" |
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Via the WSJ James Taranto's daily column (a great read today in itself), a nice tribute to John O'Neill, the POW's and the Swiftees...enjoy.
| Quote: | Opinion Journal - Best of the Web Today
by James Taranto
WSJ
Jan 12, 2005
The New York Sun's Seth Lipsky calls the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth "the flip side of the tarnished coin of CBS":
One was the vaunted network that flubbed the story of a generation. The other was a true band of brothers, professional newsmen not, who had a story that none of the big institutions wanted. They put it on the air themselves with the contributions of more than 150,000 ordinary Americans and discovered that it resonated powerfully with an electorate that had grown tired of being treated with cynicism.
If the downfall of CBS and the voters' rejection of Kerry are the denouement of the Vietnam War, it couldn't have come a moment too soon. For many in the media have been working feverishly to discredit another war--a war that, unlike Vietnam, America cannot afford to lose.
Opinion Journal - Best of the Web Today
An American Story
By SETH LIPSKY
The New York Sun
Jan 12, 2005
As the special report on the scandal at CBS and “60 Minutes” was circulating around town, I was at a long-scheduled editorial dinner with the leader of the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, John O’Neill. Among the guests at the table was Jerry Corsi, co-author, with Mr. O’Neill, of the book that halted Senator Kerry’s surge in the polls,“Unfit for Command.” The Swiftboat Veterans for Truth is the 527 group that ran the advertisements on television and the Internet that so startled the American people and, many believe, did as much as any other single factor in delivering a second term to the president.
I’ve attended at a lot of editorial dinners over the years, but it is hard to recall one as enjoyable — or illuminating — as the sitting with Mr. O’Neill. One can call the story of the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth the flip side of the tarnished coin of CBS. One was the vaunted network that flubbed the story of a generation.The other was a true band of brothers, professional newsmen not, who had a story that none of the big institutions wanted.They put it on the air themselves with the contributions of more than 150,000 ordinary Americans and discovered that it resonated powerfully with an electorate that had grown tired of being treated with cynicism.
Quite a bit of discussion has taken place in respect of whether the Swiftboat Veterans should have focused on not only Mr. Kerry’s testimony before the Senate in 1971, when the future senator likened Americans in Vietnam to Genghis Khan, but also questioned Mr. Kerry’s medals for his service in the war itself. Here Mr. O’Neill was ahead of the curve. He understood before others the significance of the exaggerations about Mr. Kerry’s medals and grasped that it was precisely the legend built up around the medals that had served as the shield for his anti-war agitation.
A good bit of discussion rippled around the dinner table in respect of the bias at CBS and some of the other big news institutions. I don’t gainsay the allegation, even while the special panel at CBS seems to belittle it. But neither am I terribly troubled by the prospect of bias at one, or even several, of the big networks or newspapers. The First Amendment doesn’t require that one must check his or her biases to enter journalism. On the contrary, to protect the airing of bias is precisely one of the purposes of the Founders in crafting the First Amendment.
What impresses is the spirit of the American people and the point that Lincoln made, about how you can’t fool them all the time. The country finally handed up,in Mr.O’Neill,a man of extraordinary quality, a graduate of the Naval Academy who spent two years in combat in Vietnam, graduated first in his class at the University of Texas law school,and clerked on the Supreme Court for Justice Rehnquist. Mr. O’Neill, once summoned by his Vietnam commander, Admiral Roy Hoffmann, had to make but one or two calls to bring the Swiftboat Veterans scrambling to the defense of the Navy’s honor — and America’s.
NY Sun - cont'd |
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coldwarvet
Admiral
Joined: 03 Jun 2004
Posts: 1125
Location: Minnetonka, MN
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| Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2005 1:21 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you Mr. Lipsky for the article. And thank you Me#1 You #10 for the post.
CWV
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Defender of the honor of those in harms way keeping us out of harms way.
"Peace is our Profession"
Strategic Air Command - Motto
USAF 75-79 Security Police |
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Snipe
Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined: 03 Jun 2004
Posts: 574
Location: Peoria, Illinois
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| Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2005 1:46 pm Post subject: |
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That's the kind of articles that I like. I'm still passing around my
copy of "Unfit for Command" plus the DVD I made of the O'Neill/
Kerry debate from 1971 and re-aired on CSPAN. I think that it's
getting better legs AFTER the election.
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Tin Can Sailor |
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Mother
Former Member
Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 210
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| Posted: Thu Jan 13, 2005 2:13 pm Post subject: |
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Thank you for the article. And the clarification on where SWPFT stand today.
With Kerry's ilk multiplied by thousands, are there any words of wisdom for those of us tho intend to continue to protect the current generation from an experience that may be multiplied by that amount?
49 days 23 hours 43 minutes 6 seconds
until my son graduates from Parris Island
and perhaps eventually joins his cousin in Bagdad
and perhaps must shoot a wounded "insurgent" |
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NYCnative
Seaman
Joined: 15 Jun 2004
Posts: 151
Location: SI, NY
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| Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2005 7:47 pm Post subject: |
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ditto, thank you for posting the article and God Bless Seth Lipsky!
_________________
"From time to time, the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots." -- Thomas Jefferson
"Proclaim Liberty throughout All the land unto All the Inhabitants Thereof." -Inscription on the Liberty Bell |
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Fort Campbell
Vice Admiral
Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 896
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| Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2005 10:23 pm Post subject: |
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| NYCnative wrote: | | ditto, thank you for posting the article and God Bless Seth Lipsky! |
Same here.  |
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