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The subject of one of the segments was indeed one
of our genuine war heroes — John Kerry —
but interestingly there was no glorification or honoring
of his deeds during his tour of duty in the Vietnam
War.
Instead, the guest was an anti-Kerry veteran who
went out of his way to impugn Kerry’s war record
and criticize his actions after his return from Vietnam.
This was disappointing — but not surprising
— given that it was Fox, but what was shocking
and what really got under my skin was one of the questions
Monica Crowley (who was sitting in for right-winger
Hannity) asked the gentleman about Kerry.
In a deadly serious tone and with a straight face,
Ms. Crowley actually asked him whether or not he thought
Kerry was a “traitor” because of his actions
after returning to the U.S. When Colmes took over
the questioning of the guest he dismissed Crowley’s
statement and pretty much insinuated that it was so
ridiculous and over the top that it didn’t merit
a response.
But for me, it was just another sign of how low some
right-wingers will stoop and also how desperate they
are to taint both John Kerry’s honorable service
in Vietnam and his heroic criticism of the government’s
policy afterwards.
Conservatives will argue that it’s Kerry who
opens himself up to such scrutiny over his war record
(as if this justifies the smears) because he brings
it up time and time again in his making his case before
the American people.
But the fact remains this is a necessary tactic for
Kerry given the fact that in the PC (patriotically
correct) atmosphere, which prevails after 9/11, he
has to repeatedly stress the truth that he has served
and shed blood for this country unlike the chicken
hawks who would fire cheap shots about anti-Americanism
in his direction. When you have people like Rush Limbaugh
and Tom DeLay calling you “French Looking”
— which in essence means an “un-American,
cheese-eating, surrender monkey” — and
you have others like Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity
complaining that liberals are “traitors”
and that they want to “be nice to terrorists,”
it’s paramount that you stress your patriotic
bona fides at every turn.
Conservatives have been very effective at playing
the patriotism card in the past, but over the past
three years they have become increasingly shameless
in their attempts to cast their opponents and Bush
critics in general as un-American limp wrists. Limbaugh,
by far, is the biggest offender in this disgraceful
campaign to taint their opponents and de-legitimize
any negative critique of Republican policies by impugning
the patriotism of the critics.
When Tom Daschle had the temerity to voice concerns
about our failure to capture Osama bin Laden, Limbaugh
rather crudely branded him “Hanoi Tom.”
Then when Daschle and Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-Harlem)
made critical statements about the War in Iraq, Limbaugh
stated that they sounded like were from the “Hammurabi
and Nebuchadnezzar” (Iraqi army divisions) wing
of the Democratic Party despite the fact that Daschle
is an Air Force veteran and Rangel is a decorated
veteran of the Korean War.
Thus, accusations of anti-Americanism and weakness
are an important weapon in the Republican arsenal.
This is why these allegedly pro-military, support-the-troops
conservatives feel the need to sully John Kerry’s
exploits surrounding Vietnam.
As such, the anti-Kerry Swift Boat Veterans smears
are useful to those on the right since their criticism
of Kerry fuels the legitimacy of conservative attacks
on his patriotism.
One of the Swift Boat accusations is that Kerry somehow
maliciously made up bogus stories about atrocities
in his testimony before Congress in 1971. Many conservatives
have demagogically cited this as a calculated, unfounded
and unpatriotic slander against fellow veterans in
their volleys against Kerry.
But a report in the Toledo Blade regarding the atrocities
committed by a group of American soldiers in Vietnam
called Tiger Force actually corroborates much of what
Kerry said before Congress in striking detail.
Don’t expect the Swift Boat Vets or their cheerleaders
on the right to acknowledge this detail, however.
It drives them crazy when Kerry’s service is
brought up — especially when juxtaposed with
Bush’s dereliction of duty during the same period.
It’s imperative that they succeed in their
attempt to heap scorn on Kerry’s actual record,
because when compared to Bush’s or Cheney’s,
it torpedoes the myth that conservatives are somehow
more patriotic and more likely to sacrifice for their
country than liberals.
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