Counterpunch

For all you Dems who might be thinking that Kerry needs to challenge John O’Neill to a duel or something to counter that ad, it really would be the wrong thing for him to do. Especially when he has John McCain out there duelling for him.

Here, you have the Republican Party’s most beloved Vietnam veteran saying publicly, with no holds barred and within the same news cycle that this is a dirty trick and that they president should disavaow any knowledge of it. He even said, “it’s the same deal they did to me.” This is a very effective counter to the ad and the publicity surrounding it, one that carries far more weight with the media than anything Kerry or anyone else could have said.

As Dave Johnson notes over at See The Forest, this toxic smear was entirely predictable. And, as a result, I think that some of those meetings in which Kerry was supposedly trying to convince McCain to be his VP, McCain agreed to cover Kerry’s back on smears against his war record. This was very well coordinated and McCain knew exactly what he needed to say. (The Kerry campaign had his comment blastfaxed instantly.) The media have had to include McCain’s comments all day, diluting the impact of the ad and putting it into perspective.(It is only a $500,000 buy — the point was the free media coverage of it.) Even the neanderthal Limbaugh crowd have some respect for McCain and although they will undoubtedly tout the party line, it won’t have quite the same resonance. The independents and moderate Republicans love the guy. They’ll listen to him. And that is the group of voters Kerry is going after.

McCain is a good Republican, but he isn’t a Stepford Wife. This genuinely pisses him off. Getting him to serve as a spokeman for Kerry against these pricks looks like good politics to me.

Media Matters has the full debunking.

Update:

Here’s Judy Botox’s framing of the issue. I think it’s exactly the Kerry campaign wanted it framed. You can’t silence these people, but you can spin them for all but the most partisan mouth breathers. Short of taking Limbaugh off the air (and into jail, which I’m totally in favor of) there’s nothing we can do about them. But, manipulating the mainstream press is something we must do if we are going to win.

JUDY WOODRUFF, HOST: Thank you for joining us.

Well, anyone who follows the presidential race knows that John Kerry’s Vietnam military service is a key pillar of his campaign. Kerry often refers to his combat experiences, and veterans who have served with him had staring roles at the Democratic convention.

Now, a group of veterans who oppose Kerry’s White House bid is taking aim at Kerry’s war record. They’ve launched a harsh new TV ad in three battleground states, and it is already drawing fire from members of both parties.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kerry lied…

WOODRUFF (voice-over): Vet versus vet, as the ghosts of Vietnam invade another wartime election.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Kerry lied to get his Bronze Star. I know. I was there. I saw what happened.

WOODRUFF: A new ad from a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth trashing John Kerry’s much heralded military service. They say Kerry lied about his heroics, lied about his injuries, and betrayed his comrades by agitating against the war upon his return to the states.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the chips were down, you could not count on John Kerry.

WOODRUFF: Tough ad, and it’s facing some tough criticism. For one thing, none of the 13 vets featured in the spot were actually aboard Kerry’s swift boats, though some were on nearby boats. And though it’s not a Bush campaign ad, it is largely funded by top Republican contributors.

All but one of the Democrat’s surviving crewmates, some of whom starred in a pro-Kerry commercial…

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When he pulled me out of the river, he risked his life to save mine.

WOODRUFF: … have rushed to his defense. And so, has one of the nation’s most admired vets, GOP Senator John McCain, who has endorsed the president. McCain denounced the commercial as dishonest and dishonorable, adding, “I think the Bush campaign should specifically denounce the ad.”

A Bush-Cheney spokesman responds that the campaign has never and will never question John Kerry’s service in Vietnam, insisting there’s no connection whatsoever between the reelection effort and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: Well, as part of his comments criticizing the TV ad, Senator John McCain also mentioned his own experience running against then Governor Bush back in 2000. During that primary season, McCain faced a whisper campaign against his own military service in Vietnam. Referring to the new ad against Kerry, McCain says, “It was the same kind of deal that was pulled on me.”

We’re going to have a debate in just a moment between two Vietnam veterans, one who has endorsed John Kerry, who was with him on his swift boat, another who was part of that anti-Kerry ad we saw just a moment ago.

Then the two guys engaged in a he said/ she said, but the ad had already been discredited as a partisan smear — and McCain quite helpfully reminded everyone that Bush did the same thing in 2000, so the campaign’s protestations of innocence are pretty unbelivable. I think the strategy worked well. (And it worked a lot better than the Berger counterspin which was non-existent.)

I’ll have to watch Tweety and the networks, but I have a feeling that the story will stall out. They fed their slavering beast, but it won’t stick with the swing voters. And we partisans should shove it down Bush’s throat every chance we get.

Why does he hate veterans and war heroes so much?