Aug. 6, 2004  #01:  Political Satire/Commentary where satire is always commentary but commentary isn't always satire™ 
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Swift-Boat Veterans Unwittingly Expose Swift-Boat Journalism and Asymmetrical Media Warfare by Dominant Media Regarding Allegations against John Kerry and George W. Bush.

    I found the explanation by the soldier whom Kerry pulled from the water to be compelling and persuasive proof that Kerry exhibited courage in doing so.  Likewise, I also found George Bush's having become a National Guard fighter pilot (which requires more than a year of active-duty training in contrast to the six-months basic training applicable for most National Guard service) to fly what John McCain has described as one of the most dangerous fighter planes then in our inventory to be persuasive proof of Bush's courage.  The death-by-aviation-accident rate for this plane posed a greater statistical risk to its pilots than the risk of death faced by those serving in Vietnam in non-combat branches such as Al Gore, who served there as a military "journalist" (here).

    That Bush's Air National Guard service required intrinsically dangerous duties obviously requiring more courage than most active-duty assignments in non-combat-branches in Vietnam did not deter the investigative "journalism" instincts of the media to trumpet claims by some that Bush was "AWOL"-- i.e., claims that he failed to attend all drills during the final year of his multi-years service obligation.  None of those claims undermined the indisputable courage of his service during the years before the final year, yet the media found the "AWOL" allegations worthy of investigation.  Are not allegations of being "AWOL" the equivalent of challenges to one's patriotism?  Are not excused absences from duty or early releases in accordance with established policies the opposite of being "unpatriotic"?  Did the media not fan a firestorm of demands that Bush furnish decades-old records to "answer" the "AWOL" allegations?

    In contrast, did not the dominant media treat the persuasive evidence of Kerry's courage in pulling the soldier from the water as being sufficient to extinguish any journalistic obligation to "investigate" the claims of the Swift-Boat Veterans first made public many months ago?  Did not "60 Minutes" and other "investigative" journalists in the dominant media ignore those claims rather than trumpeting them the way they trumpeted the "AWOL" allegations against Bush?  Why?

    Just as claims that Bush may have obtained early release from duty during the final year of his Air National Guard obligation did not in any way negate his courage in flying dangerous fighter planes throughout most years of his service, the Swift-Boat Veterans' assertions do not negate the fact that Kerry pulled the soldier from the water.  The question is why the dominant media did not consider the "AWOL" allegations against Bush as being out of bounds but do appear to consider the Swift-Boat Veterans' allegations against Kerry to be out of bounds.  

    One of the Swift-Boat Veterans who was on the same mission (but commanding a different boat) when Kerry pulled the soldier from the water said that his boat stayed beside Kerry's boat the entire time and that there was no gunfire when Kerry pulled the soldier from the water following an incident involving explosion of a mine.  He also says a member of his crew (or said crew member of another boat) pulled two men from the water and did not receive (or expect) a medal for doing so.  He denies the implication (not corrected by Kerry) that only Kerry's boat was involved in such rescues.  He says the assertion to the contrary by the soldier Kerry rescued is the product of that soldier's perspective from his position in the water prevented him from knowing how long more than one boat had been in the vicinity at the time of, rather than merely immediately after, Kerry's pulling him from the water.  Fog of war.  

    There is no reason to doubt such soldier's sincerity in his recollection of Kerry pulling him from the water or in his recommendation that Kerry receive a medal for doing so.  There's no reason to doubt his sincerity in not recalling the presence of another swift boat while, rather than merely after, his being pulled from the water.  Fog of war.  Regardless of which version is correct, there is no doubt that Kerry was serving his country in a combat zone at great risk to his personal safety.  To my mind, that was indisputably courageous.  Likewise, to my mind, flying what is known to be a highly dangerous fighter plane even in the Air National Guard is also courageous.

    Do all who display courage seek to minimize its scope or do some seek to maximize it?  Most genuine heroes (Bob Dole, for example) try to minimize the scope of their courage rather than wearing their heroism on their sleeves.  Do some who've served in combat refuse to decline heroic credit for non-heroic acts because they perceive themselves as having performed other heroic acts without receiving recognition?  Would that be evil or just human nature?  The latter, of course.  In a campaign in which a candidate so aggressively touts his heroism, is it relevant that some who served with him and observed the incident in question first-hand perceive claims of heroism as being greatly exaggerated?  Of course it's relevant.  It would be irrelevant, of course, if Kerry, like most recognized for heroism, were to have aggressively sought to minimize rather than maximize its scope.

    If Bush were to have been the Vietnam veteran decorated for pulling the soldier to safety, would the dominant media not have hungered for fog-of-war assertions by other Swift-Boat Commanders on the same mission minimizing, rather than maximizing, his courage in doing so?  Does a wild bear fertilize the woods?

    I find the undisputed evidence of Kerry's post-Vietnam-service defamation of our military by speciously asserting (not merely implying) that commission of atrocities comprised military policy from the top down rather than having constituted isolated incidents that occur in every war to be far more disturbing than the allegations by the Swift-Boat Veterans, which could be construed as different recollections from the fog of war.  Likewise, I find the dominant media's asymmetrical interests in the "AWOL" and "Swift-Boat" allegations more disturbing than either set of allegations.  

    Regarding Kerry and his supporters now demanding that Bush demand that the Swift-Boat Veterans "shut up," has he, or any of those supporters (other than Joe Lieberman) demanded that Ted Kennedy "shut up" his hateful, mean-spirited allegations (here, here and here) against Bush?  Of course not.  Have they demanded that Howard Dean retract his attacks on Bush's patriotism?  Of course not.  Have they treated Michael Moore as pariah (rather than as a political celebrity)?  Of course not.  Did they denounce (rather than merely tepidly declining to endorse) Al Gore's Elmer-Gantry-like speech accusing Bush of "betraying" his country (here) and equating Abu Ghraib abuses by a few of our soldiers with Saddam Hussein systematic system of torture and murder (here)?  Of course not.

Swift-Boat "Journalism."

As dominant media tracking
the claims of the spokespeople flacking
against or in favor
of viewpoints we savor,
we're balanced reporting such flacking.

We're equally quick to disfavor
attackers of viewpoints we favor
as when we condemn
the ones who defend
attacks from the viewpoints we favor.

So therefore, we cannot perceive
the reason so many believe
we're biased not fair
in print or on air
on viewpoints in which we believe.

We're sure 'twas our duty to push
the claims charging "AWOL" by Bush
and equally sure
critiques from the tours
of Swift Boats we needn't have pushed.

In choosing the news to be pandered,
we're Media "Swift Boat" Commanders
obliged to suppress
the views we detest
and pacify those of our camber.

    The dominant media have demonstrated greater credulity in propagandistic allegations by Michael Moore than first-person assertions by Swift-Boat Veterans who served on missions with, although not under, Kerry in Vietnam.  The dominant media do not view the Democrats' treatment of Michael Moore as an honored guest (seated with Jimmy Carter) at their convention in Boston as being mean-spirited, yet they are prepared to view as mean-spirited the inability of Bush to silence the Swift-Boat Veterans.  Furthermore, if Kerry's service to his country in Vietnam entitles him to be heard about his service there and to defame the service of others as he has done, the Swift-Boat Veterans' service to their country entitles them to be heard regarding their first-person observations of his service as well as what they deem to have been his post-Vietnam defamation of virtually all who served in Vietnam. 

--Jim Wrenn, Editor at PoliSat.Com.

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