SwiftVets.com

[cjg]

"And so now we have the present mess that will go on for weeks and can only hurt Kerry. He is earning a reputation for once welcoming third-party hit ads, then (now) whining about them; for parading his service, then whining about scrutiny of it; for spouting braggadocio, then whining about hurtful speech. As the Greeks remind us, pride can lead to hubris and then to Nemesis — on its tragic and ultimate rendezvous with ruin."

The Fog of Battle
What comes around, goes....
by Victor Davis Hanson

In some ways he is giving Kerry a break as he speaks of the realities
of how to know what really went on in a war, he is honest that way
and being a war historian he should be.

Above are the comments I liked best on his column on NRO online, but
the column is a good one, as VDH is a good historian and comes to
the conclusion he will not vote for Kerry. (I like that and he is much
admired for his intelligence and people won't vote for Kerry because of this.)

http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson200408270843.asp
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[larrygj]

Hanson's erudite, reasoned, soft-spoken, even conciliatory tone in this article only makes his conclusions all that more powerful and credible: Kerry brought this on himself, he took it too far, and now he inherits the whirlwind he sowed.

The man is slowly, slowly turning into toast. I have said here elsewhere that he is like the Wicked Witch of the West when hit with water: "....aarggh, I'm melting, I'M MELTING!!!..."

Watch him sink further in the polls.

Larry

[Nomorelies]

I read the entire article. Not all people will ever see the acts that Kerry has committed in the same light. And, very few veterans will ever experience in their souls the calm voice of reason of Victor Davis Hanson. I respect this man as a historian and I have read several of his books. He is erudite, intelligent and worth the read.

However, a code of honor was broken by John Kerry and it cannot be taken back. It cannot be erased and it cannot be forgotten. It is a part of history and is a part of who he was then and is now. We cannot deny the facts as they are written. It is about "Stolen Valor" and he must pay the price now with the price of his lifelong dream....to become President of the United States of America. He forfeited his right 33 years ago. This is the lesson he must live with for the rest of his life.
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[Me#1You#10]

Sorry Mr. Hanson...no dice....

[GenrXr]

[kmmpatriot]

[GenrXr]

In my opinion Hansons approach is being a 12 year old watching a school yard bully harrassing a fellow student and knowing you should do something yet deciding the best way to help the harrassed student is to get between them and ask for peace. In your mind this accomplishes 2 things currys favor with the bully and potentially stops the harrasment. But truth is your just too weak to do the right thing and stop the bully outright. As much as I like Hanson he is having an arrested development episode with this article. Kerry deserves no good treatment for being the bully.
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"An activist is the person who cleans up the water, not the one claiming its dirty."
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and do nothing." Edmund Burke (1729-1797), Founder of Conservative Philosophy

[jrsdad]

I think you may be missing VDH's more subtle message --

He is saying that, giving Kerry every benefit of the doubt he is still going down in a self-created (almost wrote self-inflicted...) mess.

He is showing that, being a gentleman and avoiding any form of rash accusation or attack, Kerry is still toast.

As a classicist, VDH takes a much longer historical view than most. Like John Derbyshire (also of NRO) he illustrates that you don't need to use the heavy hammers that we tend to use here to break Kerry down.

One thing that VDH and virtually all of the pundits (outside Hewitt) do not understand is the level of scrutiny given to the documents in this case as well as the historical record of statements. It is easy enough to dismiss the SBVFT aging memories under a "fog of war", but what the blogosphere and sites like this have done is apply thousands of minds to the evidence. It is the world's largest jury deliberation, taking the case of the prosecutors (the Swift vets) and the defense of Kerry, and applying them to the facts as we have them in print as well as affidavit.

This is unprecedented. Just as Dean was lauded for his use of the web to build his campaign, the web here is tearing down Kerry's. There is a lot of time left, and much can happen, but the SBVFT may have achieved the "tipping point" in this battle.

[GenrXr]

[larrygj]

I think all those who have added to this thread have valid and thoughtful points. I think, though, bottom-line, Hanson is saying that Kerry is about to be destroyed by over-playing the war-hero posturing ("hubris") and he is about to be undone by it ("Nemesis"). Here's a defintion of the goddess Nemesis that Hanson mentions and that is about to descend upon Kerry: "Nemsesis: (Greek mythology) the goddess of divine retribution and vengeance." As ye sow, so shall ye reap. From both a classicist and Christian point of view ("pride comes before the fall"), it is an inevitable fate.

Catch the Tim Russert interview today with the Newsweek and Time Magazine editors. Though they still don't have it right with the info you can get here, they nonetheless credit the Swifties with undoing Kerry and give fairly objective analyses about how Kerry appears to be heading for the trashbin. I may be overstating that, so go see for yourself. I was amazed to hear this kind of stuf from MSM.

Never have so few (254 Swifties) done so much for so many (310,000,000 Americans) to effect the outcome of a presidential election. This is democracy at its best!

Larry

[cjg]

That is very good news, Larry

Think about it, it is only a few short weeks ago the first ad came out
and now the facts are coming out, if the facts are not always correct,
the fact is the people are getting the message loud and clear.

You are right, democracy in action!
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[Me#1You#10]

[d19thdoc]

This all seems to be good news, when last February and March I despaired of anyone ever paying attention to the facts of Kerry's past.

However, beware of a subtle convergence in MSM tone about all this. "The fog of war" routine started when? And isn't Hanson's article merely a very high-toned version of the same message: "We'll never really know the truth, because we never can know it." Thus the seductive invitation to disregard any and all further information on this matter is very subtlely etched onto the public mind. With each new "witness" for either side, and with the ever growing tidal wave of scrutinized detail (even winos in alleys are talking about the criteria for the Purple Heart), attention fatigue is being created. They are setting the stage to sweep all of this under the rug. It almost does not matter now whether the latest news supports or contradicts Kerry - as long as there is more of it.

Notice already this "attention glut effect" on the anti-war activities. There is nowhere near the exposure given to this - the most damaging and much better documented Kerry material - as there was to the medals charges.

We are dealing with very clever people whose expertise is in propaganda - and the uses of misinformation to mold (or fold) public opinion.
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[Me#1You#10]