Dirty Tricks, Patrician Style (CBS News) (excellent!)

[huckleberry]

(CBS) This Against the Grain commentary was written by CBSNews.com's Dick Meyer. (Dick Meyer is a veteran political and investigative producer for CBS News, is the Editorial Director of CBSNews.com, based in Washington.)

There are a million angles to the saga of John Kerry and his swift boat enemies and none of them reveal anything virtuous about politics. But one element that is missing from this story is surprise.

Any student of Bush family campaigns could have seen the swift boat shiv shining a mile away. This old family has traditions – horseshoes, fishing, bad syntax and having the help do the dirty work in campaigns as well as the kitchen. And they are very good at getting jobs done without leaving fingerprints, without compromising their patrician image and their alleged character.

snip

In 2000, McCain had George W. on the ropes and South Carolina was the do-or-die state. Flyers appeared from thin air alleging that McCain had a black child (he and his wife had adopted a Bangladeshi daughter from an orphanage there). Other fliers said McCain was the "fag candidate." Rumors swirled that McCain’s time in a North Vietnamese prison camp had left him unstable and downright crazy - again, hitting at the opponent's greatest strength. Other rumors were that his wife was a drug addict. Nice stuff, and none of it had Bush’s inky fingerprints on it.

At an event with Bush, a vet from some fringe group accused McCain of abandoning veterans. That really set McCain off and he demanded an apology from Bush. Bush simply said that he believed McCain "served our country nobly." That’s what he says about Kerry now. Above the fray, clean hands, patrician.


more at
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/08/25/opinion/meyer/main638571.shtml

[Nite Owl]

1. That was a good one.

Finally they are talking about the * Family. I sure hope Kerry has caught on now and there is some chance that the public finally says we've been down this road before and it didn't turn out well with either Bush*.

[fearnobush]

2. I like the part, it was a surprise to Kerry. Ha,ha.

More Big bombs of truth to come soon.