Do over: Bush needs to denounce swift-boating

[ProSense]

Arianna Huffington: The President Needs to Denounce the Swift-Boating of Murtha... Now!
Arianna Huffington
Mon Jan 16, 6:08 PM ET

Snip...

Last week, President Bush said that he would welcome "an honest debate about Iraq" -- as long as "the tone of this debate is respectful."

Oh, really? Then he should start by denouncing the despicable smear campaign being launched against Jack Murtha.

Denouncing the swift-boating of Murtha would have the additional benefit of being something of a "do over" for the president -- a second bite at the Swift Boat apple. Another chance to finally do the right thing.

During the 2004 campaign, Bush was repeatedly asked if he would denounce the charges being leveled against John Kerry's war record by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. But he refused, dancing around the issue by calling on Kerry to join him in condemning all ads paid for by 527 groups.

From an August 23, 2004 press availability at the Crawford ranch:



Q: Why won't you denounce the charges that your supporters are making against Kerry?

BUSH: I'm denouncing all the stuff being on TV of the 527s. That's what I've said. I said this kind of unregulated soft money is wrong for the process. And I asked Senator Kerry to join me in getting rid of all that kind of soft money, not only on TV, but used for other purposes, as well.


It was the old, "I'm not going to call off my attack dogs in the middle of a campaign unless he calls off his" dodge. The politics of mutually assured personal destruction.

But, with Murtha, there is no presidential campaign going on -- and no one around Murtha is running ads against the president. What's more, Bush has called Murtha "a fine man, a good man, who served his country with honor and distinction as a Marine in Vietnam and as a United states Congressman."

So what's the president's excuse for remaining silent this time?

There is none. He needs to speak up and do the right thing. Now. Anything less will not only be a slap in the face of Murtha but in the face of all combat veterans and their families.

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20060116/cm_huffpost/013928

[WildEyedLiberal]

1. I just really don't like Arianna Huffington

All her outrage sounds so processed and manufactured.

[ProSense]

2. I know what you mean.

It's also ironic that after all this time, when everyone should have been coming to Kerry's defense, they now choose to use Kerry as the example to denounce Bush's actions.

Still, I'm glad it's being said because it needs to be (if their hypocrisy shows, so be it).

[WildEyedLiberal]

3. Oh I know

Where was Arianna's outrage when this shit was being done to John Kerry? I remember a handful of liberal/left pundits and writers who were either silent about the Swift Boating or who even went as far as to imtimate that there was something to the lies (ie, "where there's smoke there's fire"). I think I become more and more disillusioned with the "left" every day - so many seem more interested in promoting their own egos or ambitions above the good of the country while others turn their noses up at tireless defenders of our democracy like John Kerry because he doesn't meet their arbitrarily defined standard of progressive purity. To hell with the snobbery and arrogance of these self-proclaimed politicos.

Now that other people are being "swift boated" it's okay to wholesale condemn the practice, though John Kerry's true record of heroism and the magnitude of the lies told against him seem to be an afterthought (Dean's email about Murtha that neglected to mention Kerry's silver star springs to mind).

[ProSense]

4. You're right, but get ready.

Jan. 16, 2006, 7:09PM
The dishonorable business being done by right wing

By E.J. DIONNE JR.

I UNDERESTIMATED the viciousness of the right wing.

Snip...

But from 2000 forward, the Republicans had a problem: They confronted Democrats, first Al Gore and then John Kerry, who actually did go to Vietnam, while it was their own standard-bearers who had skipped the war. Suddenly, Vietnam service wasn't the thing at all. When a Democrat goes to war, there must be something wrong with the way he's done it. Gore's service was dismissed because he worked "only" as a military journalist. You can even find Bush's defenders back in 2000 daring to argue that flying planes over Texas was actually more dangerous than joining the Army and serving in Vietnam the way Gore did.

The Republicans had an even bigger problem with Kerry, who did unquestionably dangerous duty patrolling rivers. Not to worry. The Swift Boat Veterans simply smeared him.

"War's a nasty business," Murtha said on CBS' 60 Minutes Sunday. "It sears the soul. The shadow of friends killed, the shadow of killing people lives with you the rest of your life. So there's no experience like being in combat."

Unfortunately, politics is a nasty business, too. And there is no honor given to those who serve if they choose later to take on the powers that be.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/3590976.html

[WildEyedLiberal]

5. Oh, no one can top the radical right for pure disgusting sleaze.

There is a special spot in hell, I swear.

[JI7]

7. EJ Dionne is one of the few non whores out there

[ProSense]

8. Probably, but

I think too many people make these statements as a matter of convenience. When I see the frenzy around Gore's speech, and it was an excellent speech, I can't help but wonder if people forget the attacks on Gore and the lack of defense from many. And these same people will use Gore's speech to indict other Democrats instead of indicting the real culprits.

An aside: When are people going to get it: Democrats are not the problem and a new crop of Democrats is not the solution as long as the Republicans control the main stream media. When someone of Gore's caliber delivers a speech and it's broadcast on CNN with the same deference given Karl Rove (breaking), then I'll be convinced change has actually occurred.

It all ties together, though, because people like Huffington miss this point every day when they attack the Democratic Party as a whole. And I agree, it's ego. I believe in taking back the media, and being the media and all that stuff, but really, until the MSM (broadcast) playing field is leveled, the struggle continues. Another route would be if people turn away from the MSM en masse, opting for alternative media.

[karynnj]

9. You would think though that Huffington would see the problem of unequal

access to the media - as she is part of it. Gore's speeech actually got more press than I would have expected. That is because I have low expectations at this point - but even with this, equal time seemed spent on repeating Gore's attack and the Republican response.

[JI7]

6. i agree

don't care for her. on edit, want to add that considering Arianna was with the right for so long and spewed their shit (while people like Kerry and other Dems she bashes worked for the people against the right wing) she should understand that things aren't so easy as just saying this or that in order to get change.

but as you say, her outrage seems kind of phony and she has her own agenda.

[CBHagman]

10. It says more about Bush than it does about Huffington.

I just hate that the press has promoted the myth of Bush as a nice guy whose Christian faith is very sincere, when in fact Bush is the legendarily vindictive son of a vindictive mother, and of course surrogates perform a lot of the smear work while he maintains the sanctimonious stance he cultivates. In fact, even Bush's wife wouldn't denounce the Swift Boat attacks. Her reasoning? There had been "millions" of attacks on her husband. :eyes:

In one of the books about Bush and Rove (I think it was one by Lou Dubose and Carl Cannon), Bush was quoted as saying during the 2000 South Carolina primary that he would not make his attacks against John McCain on TV. That particular campaign against McCain was apparently one of the ugliest on record, but again, Bush was not the one performing the dirty work.

But we all know these attacks work very well indeed, thanks to the way the media is set up in this country, where talking points can be spouted by two-bit radio hosts and top corporate news figures.