Not so Swift

This is my first post, and I'm going to make it count.

I've heard reports on NPR and Air America Radio today about Vietnam-era swift boat veterans who "served" with John Kerry. Basically, they claim in this ad they've put out, under the name "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" that John Kerry has lied about his service and betrayed his comrades.

Now we all know that both political parties have stooped pretty low in the past when it comes to negative ads. We also know that Karl Rove is pretty much the current master of attack politics - remember the garbage in South Carolina during the republican primary where Bush campaign surrogates phoned folks in the Palmetto state and claimed John McCain fathered a black baby? Classic, eh?

This ad by SVT, however, may be the lowest of the low. First problem, no facts, none, zip. Read it.

Second problem, none of these clowns actually served with Kerry - that is none of them were on the same boat with him when it was getting made into swiss cheese by vietcong guns. Not shipmates, didn't share a bunk, none of that. Under their criteria, my uncle served with Kerry even though he was in the army, not the navy. Here's a list of the guys who actually did serve with Kerry and what they say about him, courtesy of the blog 'Daily Kos'.

Third, Louis Leston, who claims to have treated Kerry's injury for his first purple heart, says Kerry is lying about how he got it. What he doesn't say is that, according to Navy rules at the time, Kerry deserved his purple heart. Here is Salon's Doug Brinkley on the issue. I heard on the Al Franken Show today that one of the people now criticising Kerry, Grant Hibbard, is on the record praising Kerry when he sustained the injury. Here's the offical award letter to Kerry for the PH, so I guess my question is this, is the US Navy lying too?

Kudos to Senator John McCain for condemning these jerks and doing the right thing.

Like I said, this is my first post, and I have about a million things to say about this campaign so I'll save them for future posts.

Thanks for reading.