Thursday, April 22, 2004

Media Whores for Bush Any hope that any American may still harbor that the Washington Post is not bought and paid for by the Republican propaganda machine should be put to rest by their page 1 story on Kerry’s military records.   Under fire from Republicans, who have raised character assassination to an art, a coordinated campaign of innuendo about Kerry in the military was begun.   In response, Kerry released his records. The best summary is on Daily Kos.   Throughout his four years of active duty, Kerry's superiors gave him glowing evaluations, citing his maturity, intelligence and immaculate appearance. He was recommended for early promotion, and when he left the Navy in 1970 to run for Congress, his commanding officer said it was the Navy's loss. The lowest marks Kerry earned were the equivalent of average -- in military bearing, reliability and initiative. But narrative comments from his commanding officers said he was diplomatic, charismatic, decisive and well-liked by his men. "Intelligent, mature and rich in educational background and experience, Ens Kerry is one of the finest young officers I have ever met and without question one of the most promising," wrote Capt. Allen Slifer, Kerry's supervisor aboard the USS Gridley, where he served his first tour in Vietnam but was far removed from combat as an electrical officer. Because this controversy was related to Bush’s release of his national guard records, it could be assumed that a comparison would be natural.   Instead, six paragraphs from the lead, the Post has this crap: “But a group of Vietnam veterans, some of them partisans, portray him as an ambitious young officer who attempted to collect undeserved Purple Hearts for minor injuries and used those medals to cut short his tour. A military policy allowed those who received three Purple Hearts, regardless of the extent of their injuries, to leave Vietnam. Kerry could have requested to stay but did not. A Web site -- www.vietnamveteransagainstkerry.com -- is dedicated to raising questions about his record and reminding voters that he returned home to become a leader in the antiwar movement, which critics allege demoralized the very troops he fought beside. “ I don’t mind fighting the right wing crazies in this country who bombed Oklahoma City, who attack homosexuals, who demand assualt rifles, or who lie about Iraq.  But when the Washington Post puts their garbage into their lead page 1 story on Kerry, it is a political judgment.  We must use all our abilities to develop independent sources of news, and spread these to the general public—this is a fight to the finish for democracy and liberty against state corporate fascism, and anyone who doesn’t think so is just kidding themselves.  When the major Washington newspaper becomes so nakedly partisan, it’s time to wake up to what real democrats are up against. 11:29:52 PM   comment []

© Copyright 2004 Toby Sackton. Last update: 5/5/2004; 9:03:13 AM.