This Swift Vets thing is a big hairy deal. I've read the letter they put up on the web. It's fairly damning on its own. I haven't seen the commercial, seeing as how I don't watch television. I don't really think the content matters all that much.

The relevant thing here is that Kerry is allowing himself to be deflected from actual campaigning.

Kerry placed so much weight on his Vietnam service in the beginning that he can't afford to allow it to be besmirched. So, he's wrangling with the Swift Boat Vets who certainly don't hold him in high esteem. He's doing so in order to protect his reputation and all, but this bickering makes him look weak and narcisistic (more so). In the meantime, Bush sails along campaigning and presidenting like a madman.

Kerry set himself up for this situation by making his veteran status a cornerstone of his campaign. Rather stupidly, I might add. He went to Vietnam. When he came home he basically spit on his fellow soldiers and turned his back on them. As far as I can tell, it was a political decision aimed at currying favor with the left (which had much more influence then). He gambled on the left thirty years ago. At the time more socialist policies were necessary or at least tolerated for the sake of fighting the Cold War. Nobody had any reason to think that the left would eventually outlive some of its usefulness or that conservatives would take their turn at the helm again.

Anyhow, Kerry misjudged. He didn't count on their long memories. The Swift Boat Vets have been biding their time, waiting for a chance to get back at Kerry for his disloyalty. His slight against them was a major deal to these people. It would have been okay for him to disagree with the war, but he actively worked against it, undermining and, from their perspective, disrespecting them and their efforts in Vietnam. It's the same reason we don't much care for France. The French claimed to be our friend and ally, but when we asked for their support they not only said no, they actively worked to oppose us.

The actual content of the arguments is no longer much of an issue. It still boils down to spin, to one's word against another's. What matters now is that Kerry must defend his reputation and he seems to be doing so to the exclusion of other considerations. He appears shallow and petulant.

At this point it would be a disaster if Kerry abandoned his Vietnam platform since it is the cornerstone of his bid. It's the only evidence he can offer that might make him remotely attractive to hawkish Americans. But in defending it so strenuously, he turns into a five year old on the playground "Am so." "Are not." "Am so."

 

He's damned if he does and damned if he don't.