Here’s a full transcript, Magiver. Knock yourself out.
Mr. Romney could have made Mr. Reid shut up and apologize, all he had to do we release the tax forms. Romney made the calculation that releasing the forms would cause more political fallout than not releasing them- care to speculate why that was? As it was, he passed on some deductions so that the taxes paid on the year he did release wouldn’t be ridiculously small. I for one would not be surprised if on election night he filed the amended return to get those deductions back.
With Kerry, the Rovian spin machine twisted Kerry’s war record against him, so that the man who faced enemy fire and was wounded in action was a coward and the guy who dodged the draft by joining the National Guard, and then later dodged the dodge because they were about to test for cocaine was the next incarnation of Rambo. The Rather report was completely factual, Bush indeed used political influence to get into the Guard so that he wouldn’t have to risk his privileged coke-snorting ass in combat.
So you’re in the “fair” camp, then, I take it wrt the OP’s questions. All’s fair in love and politics?
Registered liberarian. IMO, there were three, seperate, distinct issues.
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The claim that Kerry did not earn his medals or somehow worked the system to get an early discharge.
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The claim that Kerry, upon his return, was exagerrating or fabricating the atrocities he claimed to have witnessed.
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The claim that years after his service, Kerry continued to lie about his service, even while on the floor of the senate; e.g. that it was “seared” into his memory that he was in Cambodia at a time he almost certainly wasn’t.
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Bothers me very little. It was Vietnam, can’t fucking blame him even if he did.
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Bothers me more. It suggests that he was a young man of very poor character. Then again, being as he was aiming to be a politician, I tend to take that as a given.
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Bothers me significantly. It suggests a public official willing to tell lies year after year, not in a moment of passion, but in a calculated way just to get some vote to go his way. Then again, he was a Senator, so I tend to take that as a given.
IMO, when most liberals attacked the “swiftboat vets,” they attacked claim #1. what most of the vets were really worked up about was #2.
Reid was fair because the accusation about Romney was true. The Swift Boat Liars For Bush are lying vermin who should be stripped of their citizenship.
Okaaaaaay…
You might want to fight this out with Budget Player Cadet, who is equally passionate in defense of The Cause, but whose defense rests on the claim that nobody believed Reid anyway. Other than “some particularly thick people” 
I don’t find the concept difficult. Exposing a tax dodger is admirable, lying about a wounded veteran is not.
Actually, I think they objected to his making the statements as such, regardless of whether they were true or false.
Shouldn’t you be bothered about the truth of the claims themselves? Why are you accepting them as true without question?
Reports on voter interviews show that very many switched to Bush because they had “doubts about Kerry’s military record.” If these included just 1.1% of Ohio’s voters, then the Swiftboat campaign swung the election.
knock YOURSELF out.
What are you asking me to do? Find his “lies” there myself? Or should I just take your word for it that they’re there? :rolleyes:
Not if you need 4 Pinocchios to do the “exposing”.
He’s asking this:
That was the claim elucidator made.
I’m not sure if it’s true or not, but it’s a pretty serious claim, and should be backed up with a cite. I didn’t see anything in your cite to back it up. Not saying there isn’t another, better cite out there, but I don’t think yours fits the bill.
How about letting him make his own arguments?
It’s the entire fucking transcript. :rolleyes: How’s that for a cite?
Sheesh.
Maybe that event that never happened but was nevertheless “seared” into his memory?
Sure there was. You may be confusing it with the chain e-mail from a Bob Jones University professor, which also happened (the link is a cut and paste of a Boston Globe editorial which is paywalled.)
Oops, more details and facts!
He did - he quoted magiver.
I apologize in advance if you’re being facetious. A whole fucking transcript (book, whatever) is not a sufficient citation.