J.F.Kerry Falls in a Trap

The funniest story in the media this week, and only the latest of many that demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that the Mainstream Media is in lockstep with the Democrat party, is this widely reported story:

"Kerry vows to disprove Swiftboat Claims"

A brief recap: When John F. Kerry (Democrat, Massachusetts) decided to run for President in 2004 and highlighted his service in Vietnam as a reason to vote for him, a sizeable portion of the soldiers who had served in his unit - serving on the "Swiftboats" - took exception and ran ads stating their opinion that he was unfit for command. One of the many "big lies" constantly repeated by Democrats (such as Bush stole the elections, Bush "lied" us into Iraq, etc) is that the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth - a 527 organization made possible by the Campaign Finance Reform laws - unfairly personally "smeared" candidate Kerry with unsubstantiated claims questioning his military service. In fact, this lie has been parroted so many times by Democrat activists that it has achieved verb status - as in "to Swiftboat" someone is to unfairly smear them with personal lies."

My own evaluation of the issue, after watching the ads and reading the book written by the SVT's, is that they were not unsubstantiated lies, but personal observations and testimony of soldiers who served with Kerry and in his unit. Their observations had credibility and weight. Almost to a man, and including all of the officers in Kerry's chain of command, they signed a letter saying that Kerry was lying about his service and was unfit for command.

The whole controversy of who was right, Kerry or the Swiftboaters, could be resolved by an examination of the Senator's military records. The problem, of course, is that the Senator never released his records. He has refused to this day to sign the Form 180 to release his records. George Bush signed his, but Kerry has not. So, in the absence of the records it is the SVT's word against the Senator's.

That brings us to the current news story. Principal Swiftboat financer, T. Boone Pickens, has been upset that the Democrat partisans have been able to effectively malign the veterans with the new verb "to Swiftboat", and made an offer at a Washington party of $1 million to anyone who can disprove any of the SVT's ad claims. John Kerry sent Pickens a letter offering to take up the challenge. The letter reads, in part:

I welcome the opportunity to prove that you are a man of your word and that the
so-called "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" lied. While I am prepared to show they
lied on allegation after allegation, you have generously offered to pay one
million dollars for just one thing that can be proven false. I am prepared to
prove the lie beyond any reasonable doubt.

The AP article reporting Senator Kerry's letter received widespread reporting in the MSM. Why is this funny? For two reasons:

1. This is not news! The Senator has not yet disproved the claims, only offered to. That's news? He's been saying that since the 2004 election cycle. When and if he actually disproves the claims, then it will be news. Apparently the major media can no longer discern real news from press releases.

2. He's fallen into the trap of the Swiftboaters. How is he going to disprove the claims? On what evidence?

Pickens responded to Sen. Kerry saying he would be glad to entertain his challenge, and that the appropriate evidence to dispute ad claims would be the Senator's military records. That's what the SVT's have been demanding since 2004, the release of Kerry's records.

The left-wingers (DemocraticUnderground, Daily Kos, etc.) are pinging on this news this week. First that Kerry had won a big victory by accepting the challenge, and then that Pickens had reneged on the bet. Have they lost the ability to reason on the left? Kerry did not win the bet by accepting the bet - he still has to disprove the claims. Pickens did not renege by stating the acceptable evidence of proof - Kerry's military records. But hey, don't let facts get in the way of celebrating Kerry's win.

So, what is the Senator to do now? He's publicly said he's going to disprove the claims. The release of his records is what it will take. The release of his records is what he's been successfully avoiding until now. Thus, he's fallen into the trap. Either he releases the records, which will be damaging to him, or he won't and he will fail to disprove the claims.

Classic. And very funny.

My eternal thanks to the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, for speaking the truth about the dishonorable Senator and contributing to his defeat.