But He’s Running on His Record!
By Digby, channelled by Ezra Klein, has it quite right:
Imagine if the swiftees had come out with this and the public hadn’t been given the full star spangled banner routine with the stolid shipmates and Cleland and Rassman standing up there with him and proclaiming him a hero. If people didn’t have that clearly in their minds, the swiftboat smear would have taken hold much better than it has.
The media has settled into a narrative which suggests that Kerry deserves what he’s getting. Even if the Swift Boaters are liars, the attacks are effective because Kerry has chosen to run exclusively on his Vietnam record. Needless to say, the RNC could not have done a better job if they had sat down and wrote a script for the CNN anchors to read from. Sure, these attacks are scurrilous, but Kerry set himself up by not having any accomplishments post-1968 to run on. And no, we won’t point out the obvious lies, but we will re-run the ad as often as we can, such that a $500000 buy becomes a $5000000 buy.
Imagine now that the Dems had not put Kerry’s military record front and center during the convention. Instapundit, Drudge, Bill O’Reilly, Mickey Kaus, etc. would fall over themselves asking “What is Kerry hiding? Why isn’t he proud of his Vietnam record? It seems that any sane candidate would run on their record, why is Kerry running against his?” Shortly afterward, the Swift Boaters would show up and supply the answer, and Kerry would be in a bigger hole than he is now.