November 19, 2007
They say better late than never, but it’s still too late to matter
Their tactic of standing behind a bold and baseless lie to turn an enemy’s strength into a weakness was so successful it’s been verbed. As the campaign season approaches, the phrase “swift-boating” and its various conjugations is rolling off the puns and pens of the media blabbermouths at an increasing pace as the legacy of the simple lies that took down John Kerry’s presidential bid continues to grow.
Yet now, close to four years after the Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth subverted his bid for the White House, Kerry is finally ready to once and for all prove them wrong. Many experts seem to feel that this group’s claims that Kerry played up his heroism while serving in the Vietnam War cut into voter’s belief that he could be a strong war leader. Their efforts and ads challenged his medals and service records and inspired mass mockery of a wounded veteran from those same self-righteous people who love to accuse war opponents of not supporting our troops.
Yup, Kerry’s finally decided to stand up and defend his name after Texas oilman and Swift Boat financier T. Boone Pickens issued a $1 million challenge to anyone who could prove even one of the Swift Boaters’ claims false. The apparent gauntlet was thrown at a conservative fund-raising event and at the time Pickens apparently offered the cash for each lie disproved.
Upon hearing of the offer, Kerry gamely stepped to the challenge saying he could easily prove at least one falsehood. He told Pickens to get his $1 million check made out to Paralyzed Veterans of America. Well with challenge laid and accepted, it would seem to be time for a truth-off, but then why should anyone expect honesty from a man who bankrolls liars.
Pickens responded to the acceptance with a new set of stipulations. According to his new terms, he will require Kerry’s military journal, his military record and all movies and tapes made during his service. Oh yeah, he also demanded Kerry put up his own $1 million in case he fails, with that money to go to the Medal of Honor Foundation.
Now the challenge was laid without any rules as to just how the “truth” would be determined, so thus far all we’ve learned is that Pickens has some sort of weird fetish for military-age Kerry and might be planning some sort of multi-media Web site or slide show, and that our politics are so fractured that we can’t even agree on what group of veterans to give cash to.
It’s a bit of a silly mess and it really means very little. No matter what evidence Kerry presents, Pickens will say it’s forged or insufficient proof. No matter what he brings to the table will be met with complete skepticism from a group that doesn’t want to believe anything it doesn’t already know for sure.
Kerry should have stood up like this a few years back and he might have won the presidency. Of course his inability to verbalize a coherent and succinct point might have been part of the problem anyway.