It’s hard to even think about this without reaching for the Maalox, but let’s give it a shot.
A group of Vietnam veterans was set to launch a 60-second ad today in three battleground states charging that Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kerry had lied about his war record, had engineered the injuries that led to combat medals and was unfit to be commander in chief.
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, whose members have spoken out against the Massachusetts senator in recent months, were scheduled to spend $500,000 to run the stark ad in Wisconsin, Ohio and West Virginia as part of a multimedia effort to discredit Kerry’s wartime record, a cornerstone of the Democratic campaign.
This is truly nauseating. It’s not only one of the most vicious ads I’ve ever seen, but it’s coming from a bunch of partisan hacks who never served a day alongside John Kerry and aren’t in a position to criticize.
Fortunately, John McCain has the courage to denounce this nonsense.
Republican Sen. John McCain, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, called an ad criticizing John Kerry’s military service “dishonest and dishonorable” and urged the White House on Thursday to condemn it as well.
“It was the same kind of deal that was pulled on me,” McCain said in an interview with The Associated Press, referring to his bitter Republican primary fight with President Bush.
When McCain says this attack is the “same kind of deal” Bush’s lackeys pulled on him, I wonder if he realizes how right he is. In fact, as Joe Conason explained in May, we’re seeing the exact same “techniques and personnel they used to attack McCain’s integrity four years ago.”
Any chance the Bush campaign will take McCain’s advice and “specifically condemn the ad”? I’m not holding my breath.