Quote:
Originally posted by Gattigap
I don't remember these, but am not surprised by them.*
All are stupid comments, and I condemn them. I realize that this doesn't satisfy your criticism, and can only suggest that you bring these scurrilous accusations up at the time that they arise. (Come to think of it, Penske might, but when he couples it with a picture of a shirtless Teddy climbing onto a boat, it kinda diffuses his ostensible point).
* Except Mfumi. He should know that by uttering the name, he automatically loses.
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Here's the difference I see with the Swiftees. They have made a lot of allegations, and there appears to be at least a modicum of support for many of them. There are 254 of them who served "with" Kerry in VN. Now they didn't serve on his boat of six, but many served on surrounding boats, or were his commanding officers, or treated his wounds, so I think we can safely assume that they at least knew him there. There are 60 or so that have signed affadavits backing the allegations in the book.
I have no idea whether what they say is true. It looks like they've got him, at least technically, on Cambodia. For the others, it looks like a he said/he said, and the truth probably lies somewhere in between (if not more to the Kerry side).
So given all this, I find it problematic to dismiss their allegations out of hand. Many if not most of these may prove to be untrue or unprovable, but I'd like to see someone do the research to find out. There has been some decent blog work done, but bloggers don't have the resources of the NYT, Post, etc. Instead what we have is a reverse smear campaign to discredit them, much like you see in many criminal cases (e.g., Kobe) where the facts don't look good for the one accused.
