| Xiggi - for what it's worth, I pretty much agree with your assessment of Kerry in post 169. My issue with the Swifties isn't based on support of Kerry, it's based on revulsion at the tactics which are accepted in American politics today, and how people that I would like to think would step back from getting swept up in them get caught up in a mob mentality, urged on by the amoral mouthpieces of the right wing. I totally understand how Viet Nam vets would be opposed to Kerry due to his post-war activities, and offended that he used his war service as a campaign issue. But that doesn't excuse lying about him.
Sorry, FF, I've done my research. Some of the Swifties have just let their memories get polluted by manufactured stories - that happens. But some of them are flat out lying - and the guys who head the group know that. They carefully crafted the stories they let grow, and carefully quashed the ones where the countervailing proof was too good. My verdict is in. The Swifties were a cunningly manipulated group of men - the leaders are dishonest, and the followers should know better. They have dishonored themselves. I'd like to think that anyone who might be considered a recruit for similar tactics in the future should take that simple moral lesson to heart. The ends don't justify the means. If you participate in dishonorable methods to attack your opponents, you have tarred yourself. |