Phila. Inquirer Editorial today: Swift Boat Politics

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http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/9490687.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

Posted on Wed, Aug. 25, 2004

Editorial | Swift Boat Politics
It's still about Vietnam

As Americans elect a president, their nation faces a grave terrorist threat, a sputtering economy and an ailing health-care system.

So, of course, for two weeks the presidential campaign has been mired in a spat over the Vietnam War, which ended before about 50 million of the eligible voters were born.

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John Kerry is not the greatest hero to serve in that cursed war. To the degree the convention theatrics tried to convey that impression, they erred. Others stayed longer, faced more risk.

But others of his generation never served, or used connections to get into a stateside unit that had no chance of being shipped to a rice paddy.

In the spectrum of service, Kerry falls well within the range labeled Honor. Any effort to falsely denigrate his service for political reasons is without honor.

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