Friday, August 20, 2004
Annie Get Your Gun...
In the latest installment of "Arming The Choir," I thought I would try to provide a quick one-stop shop for the latest links that contain the expert debunkery of the deceitful and erroneous claims as presented by the latest version of the partisan smear campaign, the ironically named, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
When you stop laughing at the misnomer, take a look at what real journalism looks like. These sources actually go as far as to reveal lies and deceptions in the shadowy realm of the pseudo-scandal, fabricated for obvious political motives. I'd kind of forgotten what debunking lies looked like, it's been so long you see:
The latest from the New York Times (front page I might add, which used to be the sole purview of Judith Miller's Ahmed Chalabi fantasma-musings). This piece has an in depth review (possibly too long) of the right wing funding machinery and how they breathed life into this product, including some tantalizing ties to Karl Rove and President Bush. There is also a nice play by play of some of the factual inaccuracies and contradiction that the Vets are promulgating.
Because pictures are worth 1,000 words, the Times throws in these pretty ones here, which neatly collates the funding ties to Bush and Rove, and sets out some basics on the contradictory statements of the Vets themselves.
The Washington Post from yesterday, also opting for the front page treatment, delves deeply into the claims of one vet in particular, Larry Thurlow. It seems that Mr. Thurlow has some explaining to do since his citation for his Bronze Star, earned in the same incident as John Kerry's, contradicts his claim that there was no enemy fire being taken when Kerry fished Green Beret Dennis Rassman out of the water.
Also from the post, an actual PDF copy of Thurlow's Bronze Star citation which contradicts his current testimony. Oh Larry.
For an interesting back and forth between conservative William Saletan and liberal Jacob Weisberg, check out Slate.com's take. It is worth noting that, much to his credit, even Saletan has harsh words for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, openly conceding to the lack of veracity behind their story.
The non-partisan watchdog group FactCheck.org has the most thorough point by point analysis of the claims by the Swifties. Not an impressive record guys.
Last, but not least, David Brock and Media Matters has a constantly updated list of links and stories. Surely he will be monitoring the situation closely.
More to come as the story evolves....
When you stop laughing at the misnomer, take a look at what real journalism looks like. These sources actually go as far as to reveal lies and deceptions in the shadowy realm of the pseudo-scandal, fabricated for obvious political motives. I'd kind of forgotten what debunking lies looked like, it's been so long you see:
The latest from the New York Times (front page I might add, which used to be the sole purview of Judith Miller's Ahmed Chalabi fantasma-musings). This piece has an in depth review (possibly too long) of the right wing funding machinery and how they breathed life into this product, including some tantalizing ties to Karl Rove and President Bush. There is also a nice play by play of some of the factual inaccuracies and contradiction that the Vets are promulgating.
Because pictures are worth 1,000 words, the Times throws in these pretty ones here, which neatly collates the funding ties to Bush and Rove, and sets out some basics on the contradictory statements of the Vets themselves.
The Washington Post from yesterday, also opting for the front page treatment, delves deeply into the claims of one vet in particular, Larry Thurlow. It seems that Mr. Thurlow has some explaining to do since his citation for his Bronze Star, earned in the same incident as John Kerry's, contradicts his claim that there was no enemy fire being taken when Kerry fished Green Beret Dennis Rassman out of the water.
Also from the post, an actual PDF copy of Thurlow's Bronze Star citation which contradicts his current testimony. Oh Larry.
For an interesting back and forth between conservative William Saletan and liberal Jacob Weisberg, check out Slate.com's take. It is worth noting that, much to his credit, even Saletan has harsh words for the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, openly conceding to the lack of veracity behind their story.
The non-partisan watchdog group FactCheck.org has the most thorough point by point analysis of the claims by the Swifties. Not an impressive record guys.
Last, but not least, David Brock and Media Matters has a constantly updated list of links and stories. Surely he will be monitoring the situation closely.
More to come as the story evolves....
