Conventional wisdom over the past week has been that the actual target of the CBS story — President Bush — could certainly try to sue CBS for slander, but that he obviously won’t due to the political implications of such a move. But observe this passage from from the CBS statement:
“Two of the examiners, Mssrs. Matley and Pierce, attested and continue to attest to their belief in the documents
Day: September 15, 2004
Deja Vu
“We established to our satisfaction that the memos were accurate or we would not have put them on television. There was a great deal of coroborating [sic] evidence from people in a position to know. Having said that, given all the questions about them, we believe we should redouble our efforts to answer those questions, so that’s what we are doing.”
Nothing to see Move along!
But even if the testimony was faked, the stories were true…
While we’re back on the subject of Vietnam (feels like we never left it – ed.):
Vet: I Lied About Atrocities
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
WASHINGTON
Enjoyed it so much the first time
Kerry’s supporters have apparently decided that since focusing on Vietnam worked out so splendidly for them in August, like to do it all over again in October:
Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry, a new documentary by George Butler, hits theaters in the United States on Oct. 1. The film, which had its world premiere here Tuesday evening, is sure to land the Swifties in the news again. For one, the movie is based on Tour of Duty, the Douglas Brinkley hagiography that the Swift Boat vets say incited them to action in the first place.
Brilliant. It’s times like these that the value of our political system shines through . If you run a stupid campaign, there’s a good chance you’d run a stupid Presidency as well.