I’ve been wondering why this group in particular should not be allowed to voice their opinions regarding the current political race. Isn’t this America, the land of free speech? If their comments can be proven libelous, only then should they be forced into silence.
(Thanks, Keith. I pulled the link from your blog.)
14 Comments
karen Aug 28, 2004 10:10 AM
I feel the same way, Rebecca. I think the swift boat guys have something valid to say. Kerry seems to be so concerned with shutting them up and his story is always changing while theirs remains the same. The left thinks that the swift boat vets shouldn’t focus on the past but Kerry has pretty much made the past and his wartime experience the foundation of his campaign. Therefore, people are going to attack it. It’s just interesting to me how strongly Kerry is opposing these ads and claiming the opposite of whatever they say even though the number of the swift boat vets claiming one story severely outweighs the few with Kerry claiming another.
bethany Aug 28, 2004 5:01 PM
This election sucks.
Jason Aug 29, 2004 6:49 PM
True, even moreso than most.
Rebecca Aug 29, 2004 7:25 PM
Every election I’ve voted in so far has been full of mud-slinging and such. I don’t think this election seems any different.
I do, however, believe our nation is becoming more divided on key issues than ever before. It’ll probably be another close vote in November with plenty of crying going on for the losing side.
Jeremy Aug 29, 2004 9:51 PM
Rebecca’s right that all elections are full of mud-slinging, but this one may appear different because it’s being thrown from the left—who usually has a more visible position—with a greater than normal sense of urgency.
I believe this election appears to “suck” worse than others because a republican is the incumbant, and the media moguls are vying to undermine the usual advantage that provides with rather heavy-handed misdirection and even deception.
Jacinda Aug 30, 2004 2:26 AM
Who says they’re being silenced? I think plenty of people have heard them.
And as far as campaign smears go, I think that it’s a neverending saga, no matter which side you run to or from. We always take more notice to that which hurts our case, and which helps it–from our perspective. The left thinks the right is throwing mud, the right thinks the left is throwing it, and whichever side you believe is probably the side you were already on.
andrew Aug 30, 2004 8:37 AM
i find some of the attacks on john kerry from the swift boat ads to be distasteful, especially since i think the vets are reacting against kerry’s statements and anti-war leadership following the vietnam war, but are instead focusing on kerry’s ill-got military honors, which i don’t entirely support.
i think we can all safely say, however, that john kerry is a retard. yes, i said it, he’s completely devoid of charisma, attraction, and interesting catch phrases, which is to say that any person seeking the presidency without any qualification whatsoever (2 US senators have been elected president this century, all the rest were governors – that should tell you something) and is a regular BORE must be mentally incapacitated. however, should anyone ever point a bony liberal finger at W. because he is not the rhetorician that clinton was, then i suggest we elect alan keyes. how many moderated debates did he lost in the 2000 primaries: zero. a virtual gasp is heard from the left — how can a black man be conservative, i thought we had them contained in our social policy pocket. the left might also be surprised to learn that despite their best efforts a black man earned a Ph.D and did not join Rainbow/PUSH.
bethany, please let us know which election did not ‘suck’.
Rebecca Aug 30, 2004 8:52 AM
Ah, I was wondering when you’d chime in, Noon!
Jeremy Aug 30, 2004 9:14 AM
Jacinda I think you’re misled by the magnates of mainstream media. You need to look past what they’re telling you and notice what they’re afraid to discuss. The Kerry campaign and their hollywood lackeys (or maybe it’s the other way around) want nothing more than to mislead you into thinking that 90% of the veterans are lying and that the Bush campaign is secretly at the helm of the swift boat ads. Why? Because it enables them to create a scandal and thus effectively avoid the real issues—the issues from which Kerry will have a difficult time building a solid platform.
Jacinda Aug 30, 2004 9:44 AM
Misled by the media?! But I don’t even watch television! :)
Two of Bush’s top campaign advisors resigned because of their connections to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. While it’s not illegal, it’s unethical.
For the record, I don’t “like” Kerry, either.
bethany Aug 30, 2004 12:12 PM
I should probably put my comment in some context. I didn’t mean that this election sucks to the exclusion of other elections, or in other words, that other elections were any better than this one. I haven’t paid as much attention to previous elections as I wasn’t old enough to vote in them.
I think this election sucks in as much as I think politics at large sucks. I tend to follow politics really closely for a bit, get disgusted and ignore it, have something spark my interest again, pay close attention, get disgusted and ignore it, etc etc. Elections just tend to encapsulate everything that I hate about politics in general. I have little patience for double-speak and people saying one thing and meaning another, and that seems to the be MO for politics. People saying whatever will appease people, what will win them the election, what will piss off the least number of people whose votes they’re courting. I would imagine that presidential candidates that one feels they can throw the weight of their vote happily behind are once in a generation, but I’m still a bit discouraged by the prospect of the election being between Bush and Notbush.
Jeremy Aug 30, 2004 2:15 PM
First of all, my wife correctly notes that I often lack tact when arguing, so I’ll preface this with an apology and try to employ more tact.
Secondly, I agree with Bethany’s pronouncement that “This election sucks.” It does. Moreover, I agree that most politicking sucks. Of course, I also think that the word “sucks” sucks so I’ll be using a less unpleasant word, like stinks. One reason it stinks is because we (i.e. mankind) are often not considerate when disagreeing with one another. Case in point, myself.
That said, I’m probably going to stink things up a bit while disagreeing with Jacinda’s points (again).
The statement that “Two of Bush’s top campaign advisors resigned…” shouldn’t be read without some context. Context that I hope will show how media-spin can affect one’s impression of an event.
One person who resigned was Ginsberg, an outside legal advisor for the Bush campaign. His legal services were sought by the Vets because he is a leading campaign finance lawyer. That the two groups would seek the services of the same renown lawyer is not remarkable, nor is it unlawful, nor is it unethical. I argue that it wouldn’t be unethical for him to remain as counsel for both groups, assuming he keeps his work for the two entriely separate. In fact, his work for the groups is no different than the work of Robert Bauer, a lawyer for the Kerry campaign who also works with the “America Coming Together” group. I do, however, think it was wise of Ginsberg to resign, in order to help remove any appearance of wrong doing in an already controversial issue.
The other person who resigned was Col. Cordier. He served as volunteer advisory committee member for the Bush campaign. His involvement in the most recent SBV ad was unlawful and therefore mandated his immediate reignation. The SBVs thought his connection too tangental to warrant resignation but they were wrong. His connection is, however, too tangental to warrant a claim that the ads “are tied directly to President Bush” as John Kerry claims.
Overall, I think these ads have the unfortunate effect of distracting everyone away from the issues—I wan’t to see Bush and Kerry go head-to-head on issues, anything less would be dissatisfying. I do, however, appreciate one possible side-effect of the ads—namely, that they’ll raise peoples awareness of the truth of the Vietnam war, and not the fable espoused by the Kerry-Fonda team.
Matt Aug 30, 2004 8:51 PM
The reason the swift boat people should be silenced…is that none of them were there for the night in question. The two that were, confirm kerry’s story. I don’t believe anything they say, since this is an obvious smear tactic by the bush administration. They attack kerry, and then they take the moral high ground after the damage is already done. Typical right wing behavior.
kerri Aug 31, 2004 9:12 AM
I don’t think that the swift boat veterans should be silenced, nor should those who disagree with them be silenced…isn’t that what the 1st amendment is about, free speech? Let both groups put out their version of the story, and let people decide for themselves.
As to the election “sucking” or “stinking”, whichever you prefer, I think part of the problem is that we will rarely get a candidate that we can wholeheartedly and without any reservations or disagreements, support, unless we ourselves are that candidate. There are things that I don’t agree with President Bush about; however, it comes down to the issues that I feel most passionately about, and also about the integrity of the candidate. Does he have core beliefs that he will stick to, regardless of the political winds? Is he a person of integrity in both his political and personal life? I think that you have to look at those things, and then make your best decision.
Politics has always been somewhat distasteful–there has been melodrama and backstabbing going all the way back to the selection of our first president (I’m reading a biography of John Adams, who was President #2 by the way). As Ronald Reagan said, “Politics has been called the second oldest profession…and I’m finding out it has a lot in common with the first.”
(Note: for those who don’t know, prostitution is considered the oldest profession–which ties in nicely to andrew’s comments “on politics”!)