Me#1You#10
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Joined: 06 May 2004
Posts: 6503
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 Posted: Sun Nov 05, 2006 5:15 am Post subject: Austin Bay:Military service, John Kerry, and honor |
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Austin Bay shows Kerry no mercy. Here's one excerpt from this excellent commentary referencing SVPT v. Kerry...
| Quote: | 11/4/2006
Military service, John Kerry, and honor
Kerry’s “stuck in Iraq” gaffe re-opens more than Vietnam War political wounds. Though the MSM won’t touch it, Kerry’s “Swift Boat” conundrum is back. “Swift Boat Veterans For Truth” was really the “third rail” of the 2004 presidential election. The MSM refused to truly touch the story, prefering to characterize it as pure politics and (Karl) Rovian lies rather than attempting to understand and appreciate what was one of the all-time most effective citizen-run issue groups in US history. An uncontested point in the Swift Boat Vets’ favor, one ignored by virtually every major national media outlet with the exception of the Wall St Journal: the Swifties backed Kerry off on his “Christmas in Cambodia” claim, the memory (faux-memory) that was “seared, seared” in his mind. That’s quite a feat, forcing a presidential candidate to retreat from a bold claim, especially one with a moral and experential dimensions that –if true–would add credibility to Kerry’s critique of his opponent’s defense policy. Kerry tried to obscure his retreat, with a diet of buts, maybes, and ifs –however, he retreated because the claim was false.
Kerry has never really faced his fellow Swift Boat vets to discuss their 2004 campaign charges. Why? Because they know the truth and at some reptilian level, so does he. He could have solved his Swift Boat problem in the late 1970s if he had just called his fellow sailors and said “Hey, I’m sorry. I regret the extreme statements I made in 1971. Your service was honorable, guys.” Even his political opponents would have welcomed him back to the brotherhood. I can hear the response from John O’Neill and other Swifties: “John Kerry, you’re a self-absorbed jerk but you’re our self-absorbed jerk. And you showed up in the combat zone. So we’re dropping it.”Soldiers understand this dimension of the Swift Boat affair– the dimension of honor. Kerry’s media enablers never delved into the Swifties deep issues, the restoration of personal dignity and reputation, the demand that their military service be duly recognized, not slandered, because Big Media bought John Kerry’s spin that the Swift Boat vets were all politics. They weren’t and they aren’t.
Imperious elites like Kerry and newshounds are sceptical of honor as a concept, much less as a real issue for real people who’ve done real things, like fight and suffer through the ordeal of war. Of course appeals to “honor” are abused, but appeals to “passion”, “compassion”, “righteousness”– the entire panoply of emotions are, on an hourly basis, twisted and manipulated. And claims of “honorable service” may be suspect. Faux-vets are exposed with regularity.
Austin Bay - cont'd |
One point of disagreement (if I dare). That "Big media" merely "bought John Kerry’s spin that the Swift Boat vets were all politics" rather understates the case. In my view, they were, with precious few exceptions, more-than-willing co-conspirators in the perpetration of a monumental fraud upon the American people...and history.
HT: Powerline |
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