8.28.2004

Swift-Vet Impact



At this point I think most open minded people believe that neither Kerry nor the Swift Vets recollections of Kerry’s brief period in Vietnam are entirely accurate. Time may reveal one or the other as having more veracity, but it seems unlikely either side will be able to completely discredit the other within the timeframe of this election. While this means it’s unlikely the Swift Vets will be able to turn Kerry’s military service into a negative, it does effectively neutralize the “crown jewel” issue for the Kerry Campaign. Without his Vietnam achievements, Kerry is little more than a uniquely unaccomplished 4 term Democratic Senator from a particularly Democrat friendly state who knows how to speak French and windsurf. This will force him to run on the issues and his legislative record which for a Senator who doesn’t seem to believe in anything other than John Forbes Kerry will make it difficult to counter a Bush campaign that seems to have regained its momentum. The completely foreseeable, preventable Dukakis-Snoopy/Dean-Scream moment for this campaign may have been during the Democratic convention when “Lieutenant Kerry report[ed] for Duty”. It was Kerry’s compulsion for self-aggrandizement that made it inevitable.

1 comment:

Ben said...

Here's a relevant link from Dave Kopel author of Fifty-Nine Deciets.