Swift Boat Liars For The AWOL Flier To Continue
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the Swift Boat Liars plan to continue to spread their anti-Kerry lies even with the election being over. Most likely they were getting a rush from all the adoration from the right wingers who were willing to listen to their lies no matter how much evidence was raised to dispute their claims.
In a way I see this as a good development. If Kerry is to run again in 2008, it is necessary for the Swift Boat Liars to be blown away. We do not want to have to face these lies in another election, and I bet many Democrats will not support Kerry if they anticipate this happening. It is easier for Kerry to stand up to them if they continue to spread their lies. Demolishing the Swift Boat Liars will also be an excellent first step in fighting the whole right wing attack machine.
In addition to refuting the lies about Kerry's war record, it will also be helpful to clarify the issues of both attrocities and the justification in opposing a mistaken war, especially as we are now facing these same issues again.
The attrocities issues has especially been distorted in two different ways. The Swift Boat Liars aired a commercial which edited Kerry's Senate testimony to make it appear he was making accusations against fellow soldiers when his actual statement made it clear he was repeating the testimony of others. Kerry has made one specific charge of war crimes, and his charges have been verified. This related to the use of free fire zones in which anyone would be shot at without evidence of hostile activity. After returning home from Viet Nam, Kerry found that this was in violation of international law, and Kerry showed courage in raising this issue. It should also be made clear that Kerry's charges were against those at the top who issues such orders, not the common soldier.
It was difficult for Kerry to devote much attention to this group during the campaign (although virtually everyone now agrees it was a mistake to wait so long to respond to them in August). Now that we don't have the rushed schedule of a campaign, Kerry and allies can devote the time to really blow out these arguments.
In a way I see this as a good development. If Kerry is to run again in 2008, it is necessary for the Swift Boat Liars to be blown away. We do not want to have to face these lies in another election, and I bet many Democrats will not support Kerry if they anticipate this happening. It is easier for Kerry to stand up to them if they continue to spread their lies. Demolishing the Swift Boat Liars will also be an excellent first step in fighting the whole right wing attack machine.
In addition to refuting the lies about Kerry's war record, it will also be helpful to clarify the issues of both attrocities and the justification in opposing a mistaken war, especially as we are now facing these same issues again.
The attrocities issues has especially been distorted in two different ways. The Swift Boat Liars aired a commercial which edited Kerry's Senate testimony to make it appear he was making accusations against fellow soldiers when his actual statement made it clear he was repeating the testimony of others. Kerry has made one specific charge of war crimes, and his charges have been verified. This related to the use of free fire zones in which anyone would be shot at without evidence of hostile activity. After returning home from Viet Nam, Kerry found that this was in violation of international law, and Kerry showed courage in raising this issue. It should also be made clear that Kerry's charges were against those at the top who issues such orders, not the common soldier.
It was difficult for Kerry to devote much attention to this group during the campaign (although virtually everyone now agrees it was a mistake to wait so long to respond to them in August). Now that we don't have the rushed schedule of a campaign, Kerry and allies can devote the time to really blow out these arguments.
posted by Ron Chusid at 9:51 AM
3 Comments:
Kerry, his supporters, and his legal team must go after these liars with all the legal ammunition we can muster.
Kerry is dead in the water in '08 unless we neutralize these political enemies.
We should publicly post all of their names and addresses and make sure their "good deeds" do not go unpunished. Boycott their businesses. Hit them where it hurts financially and make sure we're there to protest any events they stage.
Who's going to the Spitball and Liars Ball in February when Zell and his ilk gather to pat themselves on the back? We should stage a counter protest and hand out "Liars of the year" awards or something to that effect. Then we should slap them all with libel lawsuits.
Legal action may be unprecedented, but if you slander and get away with it they will only grow more emboldened.
Kerry's political future depends on taking them down.
All the logic in the world won't undo their lies with those willing to listen. We need to bring heavy legal action and real consequences to these republican shills.
Most of the discussion of this is after the same item was posted at the Light Up the Darkness Blog. Here's my response to a similar comment there on suing the Swift Boat Liars:
I suspect it might be very difficult for Kerry to win a slander suit. As not only a public personality, but a candidate for President, my bet is that the bar would be very high to win a slander suit. After all, it is traditional to say nasty things about the opposing candidate, and a certain amount of dishonesty in political attacks has always occured.
The Swift Boat Liars go beyond most other political attacks, and their claims are clearly lies, but I don't know if this would be enough to actually win in court. It would also be dangerous to file suit for slander and lose. Kerry could lose despite being correct on the facts do to the difficulty in winning such a suit regardless of the facts. If Kerry were to lose, the right wing noise machine would spin it to claim it means the charges against him are true, regardless of the reasons for failing to win the suit.
On the other hand, if there is a reasonable chance to win such a suit, then they should go all out in taking them on legally.
Hi IFK,
Good to see you. Come and visit the new Light Up The Darkness Blog - http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp
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