Swift Boats and Double Standards

Ginsberg responds.

My take on it is that Ginsberg's response is a proper one. No coordination should mean no coordination. Unfortunately Mr. Bush's sympathizers have a tougher case to prove. It's much easier for groups to be critical of a sitting president and his policies independent of any political campaign. But a negative ad directed at Kerry owes its very existence to the fact that a campaign is underway. The deck is stacked against the incumbent in this regard.

Another factor is the content of the messages. The SBVT ads contradict long standing official records. Extraordinary claims call for extraordinary proof. Generally the claims made by the most effective anti-Bush ads are matters of public record mixed with a specific interpretation of that record. The controversial veracity of the SBVT claims leads naturally enough to the credibility of the people making the claims and the motives behind the claims. It turns out there are plenty of reasons to question that credibility and that leads back to a coherence with the goals of the campaign.

SBVT claims aside, the interpretation of those claims strains credulity. If Kerry was a fraud as a hero how could he possibly have hoped to be taken seriously as a critic against the war? He never shied away from using the events in Vietnam as a touchstone for his political life. No one is alleging that his records were sanitized or that he received special treatment.

So please, Mr. Ginsberg, release your hounds on the 527 of your choice and bring it on. The best way to get high-quality free speech, whatever the source, is to put it all under the same magnifying glass.

On a related topic:
The SBVT are continuing with more ads about the VVAW activities. My prediction is that they are going to hang themselves with their own rope. They are going to bring focus to the genesis of Kerry, the fiesty and fearless public servant. Kerry didn't get into office based on family connections. He got there the hard way, he earned it. And earned the respect of his constituents as well. This is the real danger of the 527s to a candidate, that they damage the campaign with their unbridled zeal.