Monday, October 1, 2007

LAT equates Petraeus, Swift boat ads

In an editorial today, the LAT claims that Moveon.org's "General Betray Us" ad was no worse than the Swift boat ads during the 2004 presidential election campaign. Here are some differences:

The "General Betray Us" ad denigrated a general, a commander of 160,000 troops fighting a war in a foreign country. The general served in the military for many years, is highly respected and is non-political. And he came home from Iraq to give a Democratic controlled Congress a report they had demanded. No one has provided a fact-based reason why he should not have been received and heard respectfully.

The Swift boat ads concerned a junior officer who served in the Navy only a few months and then denigrated his own service. Many years later, he touted that service in a speech at a political convention with a ridiculous salute and a "reporting for duty" remark. The facts concerning his service are disputed but some aspects are highly suspicious. For example, he received three Purple Heart medals for injuries that occurred in a short time-frame but he was never hospitalized for any of these injuries. This raises questions about the severity of the injuries and the justification for the Purple Heart awards. These three Purple Heart medals got him home early after serving only a minor part of his planned tour of duty in Vietnam. It was hardly a basis for a presidential campaign.

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