Tue - August 10, 2004 at 09:15 PM in

Jumping the shark on Swift Boats


Let me see if I have this straight. A well-funded Republican-sympathizing group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth issues a book and 60-second TV commercial basically claiming that Kerry isn't such a great war hero after all. The Kerry campaign counters with "are so!" John McCain blows the whistle and calls for a penalty, calling it a dirty trick and asking the Bush campaign to repudiate the commercial.

With me so far?

So how in the world did this morph into a huge debate (mostly promoted, as far as I can tell, by the right wing) as to whether Kerry was in Cambodia on Christmas Day in 1968? To the point where Glenn Reynolds went to the law library on a weekend to photograph the "incriminating" page in the Congressional Record to post on Instapundit.

I mean, WTF? The whole Swift Boat argument (I hesitate to dignify it by calling it a "debate") is a sideshow at best. But this is a sideshow to a sideshow. At best.

Oh, and here's a free clue to partisan Republicans: The longer you keep arguing about where Kerry was on Christmas Day 1968, the more likely someone is going to ask "Where was George W. on Christmas Day 1968?" And I can promise that the answer won't make for a flattering comparison.

UPDATE: Kevin Drum has a more complete discussion of the question, but no less mystified. I still think the Democratic response to "Where was Kerry on Christmas 1968" should be "Where was Bush?"

Posted at 09:15 PM   Permalink      

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