Swiftboating

Presidential Campaign Enters the Silly Season

dlindorff — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:12:11 -0400

By Dave Lindorff

I’ve been getting some emails that refer to Barack Obama as a
“Manchurian Candidate,” a guy who is somehow hiding a secret radical
and/or Muslim jihadist agenda that will burst forth if he’s elected
president. There is a certain idiot factor at work here, since if Obama
were a closet Weatherman, who somehow learned of and adopted that 1960s
college dropout organzation’s creed at the tender age of 8, it would
have clashed badly with any Muslim teaching he might have picked up as
a student in an Indonesian public school at the same time (he attended
an Indonesian public schoolfrom the age of 6 to 8 before transferring
to a Catholic-run institution).

But since some low-wattage and conspiracy-minded people seem ready
to believe this kind of stuff, let’s consider John McCain’s early
background, and the possibility of his being a Manchurian Candidate
too. Fair’s fair, right?

Okay. McCain, it turns out, was actually born outside the US, in
the Panama Canal Zone, which in 1936 was territory leased from Panama.
His father, a Navy officer, was stationed there with his wife at the
time of McCain’s birth. Now it’s a safe bet that McCain was largely
raised—fed, diapered, and spoken to—at that age by a local Panamian
woman. That’s what, after all, you do when you are an elite officer and
the wife of an elite officer in a foreign country where low-wage help
is abundant. Who knows what subversive ideologies were poured into the
young McCain’s tender ears at that vulnerable period of his life by his
Panamanian nurse? Maybe that would explain McCain’s support for an
amnesty program for immigrants from Latin America a few years back.
Does he have a secret agenda to throw open the doors of America to
Latin American immigrants once in the White House?

And worse yet, maybe his Panamian amah was a Marxist! Lord knows
that Central America in the mid-1930s was a hotbed of revolution. The
dreaded Augusto Sandino had only just been executed in Nicaragua, just
north of the Zone, two years before McCain’s birth, following a bloody
guerrilla war against US Marines, and the region was full of bitter and
vengeful nationalist and Marxist revolutionaries bent on throwing the
US out of Latin America. Could his nurse have been one of these people,
whispering and implanting the language of liberation into the young
boy’s still unformed mind, ready to spring to life once he assumed high
office in Washington?

Then we turn to McCain’s prisoner of war days in the hands of the
North Vietnamese. Certainly his mind was weak and vulnerable to
control. While many of McCain’s fellow POWs endured five, six or more
years of torture without cracking, he is said to have begun spilling
secrets and agreeing to broadcast anti-American propaganda statements
after only four days of torture shortly after his capture. We also know
that the Communists had a sophisticated system of mind control
developed, which was shared among the Communist nations of the USSR,
China, North Korea and North Vietnam. Were these techniques applied to
the captive McCain, and did they leave him after five long years of
captivity robotically programmed to seek and win the presidency, only
then to launch a campaign of sabotage to soften America up for
Communist takeover?

This prospect seems much more likely than that some Muslim teacher got to Obama in his grammar school in Indonesia.

Actually, I find the Obama Manchurian Candidate theory much weaker
than the McCain Manchurian Candidate theory, just based upon my own
experience. I was, after all, put through some serious indoctrination
by my own family. My parents sent me to Sunday School at the local
Congregational Church, from the age of six to the age of about 11. I
can still remember the earnest parent volunteers teaching us all the
nonsense about the earth being formed in six days, about Adam and Eve,
the burning bush, the parting of the Red Sea, the Virgin birth (What
was a virgin, I wondered? They wouldn’t say…), and the crucifixion and
resurrection. None of it stuck. Despite the indoctrinators’ best
efforts, I left Sunday School an atheist and remain one today. The only
thing I really learned in Sunday School was how to smoke—something a
number of us learned together while skipping class and hiding out in
the church attic. Is Christian dogma that much weaker that it can fail
to impress a young mind while Muslim dogma can take a firm hold in an
even shorter time? What an insult to Christianity!

My daughter too, is testimony to the limits of early childhood
propaganda efforts. At the age of 7, we brought her to Shanghai, China,
where for a year, she attended first grade in a local Chinese public
school. She learned excellent Chinese there, but though there was
considerable indoctrination in Maoist theory, with special focus on the
life of the young Mao and also of the selfless workers’ hero Lei Feng
(they actually had one daily class called “Loving the Country class”
and most other subjects had a propaganda aspect), and though she also
attended a fifth grade Chinese public school when we returned to China
a few years later, for a stay in Xi’an, at 24 she is hardly a Commie or
a Maoist, I’m sure though, that should she someday decide to run for
president, some of the same people who suspect Obama of being a closet
Muslim terrorist will say she harbors secret Communist sentiments from
her early school years.

Such is the state of some American minds.
__________________
DAVE LINDORFF is a Philadelphia-based journalist and columnist. HIs
latest book is "The Case for Impeachment" (St. Martin's Press, 2006 and
now available in paperback edition). His work is available at www.thiscantbehappening.net

digg_url = 'http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/36666';
digg_title = "Presidential Campaign Enters the Silly Season";
digg_bodytext = "By Dave Lindorff\r\n\r\n I’ve been getting some emails that refer to Barack Obama as a “Manchurian Candidate,” a guy who is somehow hiding a secret radical and/or Muslim jihadist agenda that will burst forth if he’s elected president. There is a certain idiot factor at work here, since if Obama were a closet Weatherman, who somehow learned of and adopted that 1960s college dropout organzation’s creed at the tender age of 8, it would have clashed badly with any Muslim teaching he might have picked up as a student in an Indonesian public school at the same time (he attended an Indonesian public schoolfrom the age of 6 to 8 before transferring to a Catholic-run institution).\r\n\r\n But since some low-wattage and conspiracy-minded people seem ready to believe this kind of stuff, let’s consider John McCain’s early background, and the possibility of his being a Manchurian Candidate too. Fair’s fair, right? \r\n\r";
digg_skin = 'standard';

SWIFT BOATING BARACK

mikekohr — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 23:24:57 -0500

It's began.

I received my first e-mail blast claiming Barack Obama is both a radical Muslim and a radical Christain.

This widely distributed E-mail blast has been debunked and discredited by, Newsweek http://www.newsweek.com/id/91424 , NBC MSN, the Urban Legends website, and many other reputable organizations. It is a smear that attempts to claim that Obama is a radical Muslim and a radical Christen at the same time. Both claims can not be right, although both could be and are untrue.

It is unclear as to who or where this has originated. Some have pointed the finger at the Clinton campaign, others at right-wing attempts to :"Swift-Boat," Obama by telling outrageous lies.

"Thou shall not bear false witness against they neighbor." -GOD-

If you receive this message it is imcombant on you, in order to avoid the eternal hellfire of damnation, to immediately "reply to all," that sent you this crap.

Moderator's Note: Donation request removed as it violates the Rules of Democrats.com.

mike kohr
Chairman of the Bureau County ObamaManiacs

The Swiftboating of Governor Kathleen Sebelius

theBlueHighwayman — Fri, 11 May 2007 01:32:13 -0400

New sign on the Highways!

Dispatch from a Hotel in Normal, IL - 12:15A CST

Karl Rove and the gang are at it again, this time it is to destroy the Democratic Governor of Kansas. Her mortal sin was to tell the truth about the Kansas National Guard equipment.

Tony Snow, living up to his name, started the snowball rolling by stating "Governor Sebelius never requested anything from the Federal Government." Today that ball was picked up by none other than Sean Hannity. He interviewed two idiots from Pittsburgh, PA, who have a morning show on 104.7 FM (a Clearchannel station) and XM Radio named Quinn and Rose, and accused Howard Dean of orchestrating the Governor's statement for political gain.

The story goes like this:

Quinn and Rose say they have a "Confidential Source" who somehow managed to hear a conversation between the Senator and the Governor. It seems the Senator was displeased with Governor Sebelius's statements concerning the National Guard. In response she repents and claims that Howard Dean got her to do it. Presumably Howard Dean planned with Speaker Pelosi, Senator Reid, Senator Durbin and Senator Leahy to use the tragedy in Kansas to launch a political attack against Bush concerning the National Guard issue.

Here is the interview on Sean Hannity (It's an MP3 file about 6 minutes long)
INTERVIEW

After listening to these morons I called the radio station in Pittsburgh and left a message for Quinn and Rose's producer Jay Bahanon who returned my call and said:

We do have a confidential source on our report about the conversation between the governor of Kansas and Senator Brownback. I'm not going to give you any names if that's what you want, that's not going to happen. But we do have a good credible source on it.

If you would like to contact Quinn and Rose:
quinn@warroom.com
rose@warroom.com

Let them know how appreciative you are that they are busy carrying out Rove's dirty work! While you're at it maybe Jay Bahanon, their producer, would like to hear from you: 412-920-2796

I also think it would be a great idea to contact Senator Brownback to let him know how disgusting it is for a Presidential Candidate to be involved in this sort of thing.

Washington Office:
303 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-1604
Phone: (202) 224-6521
Fax: (202) 228-1265

Main District Office:
612 S. Kansas Ave
Topeka, KS 66603
Phone: (785) 233-2503
Fax: (785) 233-2616

If you'd like to contact Governor Kathleen Sebelius just to let her know she has your support and that this despicable lie will never stand.

Website: http://www.governor.ks.gov

Contact the Governor
Office of the Governor
Capitol, 300 SW 10th Ave., Ste. 212S
Topeka, KS 66612-1590

Voice 1-877-KSWORKS (1-877-579-6757)
Local 785-296-3232
For the Hearing Impaired 1-800-766-3777

It is truly pathetic how desperate the Republicans have gotten. Don't let them get away with these grotesque attacks on Democratic politicians. This will probably not play big in NYC but out in Kansas Governor Sebelius is going to have to deal with the Rove machine.

Update 1: Media Matters has a transcript of the Hannity show and full documentation on the national guard equipment shortage.

Update 2: On Thursday, the DNC's lawyer, Joseph Sandler, sent cease and desist letters to XM Radio and FreeRepublic.com adamantly denying Gov. Dean had any such conversation with Gov. Sebelius. The letter to XM Vice President Dara Altman demands they:

immediately cease and desist, and instruct Messrs. Quinn and Rose to cease and desist, from further dissemination of the above-quoted statements or any statements similar in substance and
immediately - on tomorrow morning's show or the next morning's show, at the latest - broadcast on the Quinn & Rose show an express retraction of these statements.

The letter to FreeRepublic's James Robinson demands they:

immediately cease and desist from further dissemination of the above-quoted statements or any statements similar in substance and
immediately post a retraction of these statements in a location on its web page a[t] least as prominent as that on which the story appeared.

Update 3: Several rightwing blogs jumped on the story. HotAir published flat denials from Dean, Sebelius, and Brownback. GatewayPundit published a denial from Brownback. Wizbang has not published the denials.

Major Swift Boat Donor To Kerry: "You're A Hero"

Bob Geiger — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 08:44:19 -0500

There are some things that you just don’t want to read about or watch on a full stomach -- this is one of those.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on Tuesday to consider the nomination of Sam Fox, a wealthy St. Louis businessman, to be the new U.S. Ambassador to Belgium. While it is not unusual for big political donors to be rewarded with ambassadorships -- and Fox is a huge donor to all things Republican -- what made everyone take note of this guy is that Fox gave a whopping $50,000 to help fund the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth smear campaign against John Kerry in 2004.

And in being questioned by the Senate panel yesterday, Fox had to face one of the senior members of that committee in… Senator John Kerry.

What followed was riveting theater, with Kerry coldly staring down a clearly-nervous Fox and Bush's nominee withstanding a barrage of questions from Kerry that the Massachusetts Senator nicely referred to as questions of Fox's "judgment" while many of us would have just flat-out called him a scumbag.

It all started out nicely, with glowing introductions, including one nauseating passage from Senator Kit Bond (R-MO) who said that "professionally and morally, Sam is eminently qualified to hold the post for which he's been nominated."

But it gets far worse than just hearing someone rave about the high morals of a guy who gave 50 grand to the Swift Boat Liars.

Kerry got his turn to question Fox and started out politely enough, praising Fox's up-by-the-bootstraps life story and his generosity with non-political charities, while also asking him about American foreign policy vis-à-vis the European community.

The tone then changed sharply when Kerry switched gears and, indicating he had concerns about Fox's judgment, said "I assume that you believe the truth in public life is important."

"Yes, sir," answered Fox.

"And might I ask you what your opinion is with respect to the state of American politics, as regards the politics of personal destruction?" said Kerry.

This started a lengthy monologue from Fox in which Bush's nominee railed against how campaigns are funded in the United States, saving most of his bile for 527 groups, saying " I'm against 527s, I've always been against 527s. I think, again, they're mean and destructive, I think they've hurt a lot of good, decent people."

I'm sure some people in the hearing room must have been stifling laughs hearing something like that coming from a man who was a major contributor to the scummiest 527 group ever, but the worst was to come in the next few sentences.

"Senator Kerry, I very much respect your dedicated service to this country," said Fox. "I know that you were not drafted -- you volunteered. You went to Vietnam. You were wounded. Highly decorated. Senator, you're a hero. And there isn’t anybody or anything that's going to take that away from you. But yet 527s tried to."

Here's the exchange that followed:

Kerry: I certainly appreciate the comments you just made, Mr. Fox, and I'm not looking for anyone to call me a hero. I think that most heroes died, and do die, and those of us who are lucky enough to get out of there are lucky.

But notwithstanding the comments you made, you did see fit to contribute a very significant amount of money in October to a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, correct?

Fox: Correct.

Kerry: Why would you do that given what you just said about how bad they are?

Fox: Well, Senator, I have to put it in the proper context and bear with me. Marilyn and I have lived the American dream -- there's no question about it. My father came here with the clothes on his back and the Fox family and the Woodman family have truly lived the American dream that's been very, very good to us.

I heard someone mention here that we gave to 250 charities. I also went back and had my staff count in '05 and '06, we've made more than 1,000 contributions. More than 100 of those were political, 900 and some odd were charitable and to institutions of learning and so forth. A great deal of those had to do with basic human needs. I think it was Senator Danforth who mentioned every time he got a letter that had Harbour Group on it, he shuddered because it was going to cost him money. Marilyn and I both raise a lot of money from a lot of people.

The point I'm making is this: We ask a lot of people for money and people ask us for money. And very fortunately, we've been blessed with being successful financially and when we're asked, we generally give -- particularly if we know who gave it.

Kerry: So, well, who asked you to give to the SBVT?

Fox: I can't tell you specifically who did because, you know, I don’t remember. As a matter of fact, if I…

Kerry: You have no recollection of why you gave away $50,000?

Fox: I gave away $50,000 because I was asked to.

Kerry: But you have no recollection of who asked you to give away $50,000?

Fox: No, sir. I've given away sums much larger than that to a lot of other places and I can't tell you specifically who asked me, no.

Kerry: Well, you don’t think that's it's important as a citizen, who doesn’t like 527s to know where your money is going and how it’s going to be spent?

Fox: Well, I think with most contributors and if you go to the other side of the political campaigns and we give to individual candidates, we don’t know how they’re going to use that money and what…

Kerry: Well at least it's accountable to an individual candidate for whom people have to vote or not vote. 527s as you said are mean, ugly and not accountable.

Fox: I agree with that. I absolutely agree with that.

As Kerry pressed Fox to explain why he would give $50,000 to a 527 group when he claims to despise them so much -- and that he now knows spewed lies at Kerry that were quickly discredited -- the Swift Boat Sugar Daddy repeated a theme he used several times in his testimony, which is essentially that he did it to level the playing field with the attacks coming from liberal 527 groups.

In other words, he all but said Kerry was simply collateral damage in a political fight.

Kerry: Why would you give $50,000 to a group you have no sense of accountability for?

Fox: Well, because if 527s were banned, then it's banned for both parties. And so long as they’re not banned…

Kerry: So two wrongs make a right?

Fox: Well, I don’t know, but if one side is contributing then the other side…

Kerry: But is that your judgment? Is that your judgment that you would bring to the ambassadorship? That two wrongs make a right?

Fox: No, I didn’t say that two wrongs make a right, sir.

Kerry: Why would you do it then?

Fox: Well, I did it because politically, it's necessary if the other side is doing it.

And no matter what Kerry asked, Fox played dumb, saying he forgot who asked him for the $50,000 and that he had no clue that the Swift Boat Liars were doing such dirty deeds with his money.

Kerry: My question to you is why? When you say you couldn’t have known -- these were people very publicly condemning it. How could you not have known?

Fox: I guess, Mr. Senator, when I'm asked I just generally give.

Kerry: So, again, I ask you the question, do you think now that you and others bear responsibility for thinking about where we put money in American politics? What we're saying, what we present to the American people -- is truth important or isn’t it?

Fox: Senator, if I had reason to believe and if I were convinced that the money was going to be used to, in any untruthful or false way, knowingly, I would not give.

Kerry: Well, sir, let me ask you this question: Did you or did you not in any of the public comments being made at the time, which I assume you were following, hear or read of any of the public statements at that point in time, with respect to the legitimacy of these charges and these smears?

Fox: Mr. Senator, I can say this…

Kerry: Did you miss this: In September of 2004, Vice Admiral Ruth, with the Navy Inspector General, wrote a letter to the Secretary of the Navy that was made public -- the New York Times, the Washington Post, every major newspaper in the country carried, saying their examination found that the existing documentation regarding my medals was legitimate.

Did you miss that too?

Fox: I don’t remember those, but I'm certain at the time I must have read them.

Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), who was chairing the meeting, told Fox that he found his answers to Kerry "somewhat unsatisfying" and said that "The swift boat ads were of a different degree, even in the ugly arena of politics. They were extraordinarily well publicized, that there was essentially a fraud being perpetrated on the American people. It had a profound impact on the election."

And Obama tied a nice bow around the whole afternoon by basically calling Fox, who spent the entire time disavowing any knowledge of the Swift Boaters' mission or methods, a liar.

"To say that you gave because it's ugly out there and somebody asked you to give. I mean, it sounds to me like you were aware of it -- that this was not the best of political practices -- and you thought it was OK to go ahead and contribute to that," said Obama. "By the time you contributed, it was pretty widely noted -- it would have been hard for you to miss the fact that there was something particularly nasty and insidious about these ads. It had been well publicized at this point."

"I don’t think you necessarily crafted the message but you certainly knew at that point what the message was."

I have a lengthy, partial transcript here of Kerry questioning Fox about his involvement with the Swift Boat Liars and how that lack of ethics and judgment should disqualify Fox from representing our country at a cocktail mixer, much less with an important ally abroad.

You can read more from Bob at BobGeiger.com.

Taylor Marsh on The Swiftboating of John Murtha

Bob Geiger — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 12:50:55 -0400

Even those of us who have watched the Republican smear machine for years have been sickened at how the GOP has coordinated its attacks against Congressman John Murtha (D-PA) for the crime of speaking out against our continued involvement in Iraq. After all, Murtha is only a highly-decorated combat Veteran, with 37 years in the Marine Corps, so who better to go after his patriotism and military record than a bunch of Republican Chickenhawks who have never served our country themselves?

Taylor Marsh comes to the rescue today on the subject of these attacks with an incredible piece of work called The Swiftboating of John Murtha and spells out in fascinating and repulsive detail what Murtha has endured over the last year.

An excerpt:

If Rep. Murtha didn't have real military clout, being the first Vietnam veteran elected to the House, the Republican Party wouldn't have bothered with him. But he does, so they did. It has now escalated into a conservative campaign to swiftboat a decorated Marine veteran.

Once called one of the most hawkish members of Congress, Rep. John Murtha is now being presented as some anti war coward. His remarks about Haditha have unleashed just the latest salvo in the swiftboating strategy invented by conservatives, which they are now being forced to defend and explain.

Prior to 2005, The Cybercast News Service (CNS), purveyor of all things conservative and run by L. Brent Bozell III, had only one article about Rep. John Murtha. The headline was laudatory: Congressional Bill Would Establish Memorial for Victims of 9/11 (March 8, 2002). But on November 18, 2005, Bozell's team shot into action and hasn't stopped attacking Rep. Murtha since.

For better or worse, Taylor doesn’t miss a disgusting trick, including attacks by the likes of Ann Coulter -- in which Coulter questioned the legitimacy of Murtha's many war medals -- Newsbusters, which did much the same thing and fellow Veteran Duncan Hunter (R-CA) who is more loyal to the sick GOP cause than another Vet and, as Taylor says, "is selling out a fellow brother in arms."

Taylor also covers, Diana Irey, Murtha's opponent for this year's election, who isn’t missing a chance to join the swiftboating and who happens to be married to someone profiting immensely from the Iraq war -- go figure.

If you only have time to read one thing this week, http://www.patriotproject.com/2006/07/the_swiftboatin.php " target="_blank">Taylor's article has got to be it.

Please go here to read more.

You can reach Bob Geiger at geiger.bob@gmail.com

Why Do Republicans Hate America's Veterans?

Bob Geiger — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 07:35:00 -0400

In his quiet moments, Rep. John Murtha must sometimes catch himself thinking about how much easier his life would be if he had just kept his damn mouth shut and gone along to get along on the Iraq war. The Democrat, who has represented Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District for 32 years, began angering the Republican party in late 2005 when, having seen enough of the Bush administration's incompetence, he became the most vocal critic of the White House's failed and dishonest Iraq policies.

"The war in Iraq is not going as advertised. It's a flawed policy wrapped in illusion," said Murtha, in November 2005, in calling for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. "The American public is way ahead of the members of Congress. The United States and coalition troops have done all they can in Iraq. But it's time for a change in direction. Our military is suffering. The future of our country is at risk. We cannot continue on the present course. It is evident that continued military action in Iraq is not in the best interest of the United States of America, the Iraqi people or the Persian Gulf regime."

Despite Murtha's standing as a highly-decorated combat Veteran, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps for 37 years, it was off to the races for the right-wing smear machine. They immediately set upon Murtha, who just turned 74, for requesting moderation and a cautious course when risking the lives of our military men and women stationed in Iraq.

And who did most of the attacking? Conservative chickenhawks, who have never served a day in uniform in their lives, but who immediately began talking tough and accusing a man of Murtha's stature of running from a fight.

It started on Nov. 18, 2005, the day after Murtha's initial remarks, when Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio, the most junior member of the House of Representatives at the time, implied loudly on the House floor that Murtha was a coward.

"Cowards cut and run, Marines never do," crowed Schmidt, as the House chamber erupted in shouting and came to a standstill. Schmidt was eventually forced to withdraw her statement as inappropriate but, knowing how the GOP leadership operates, it's safe to assume she was given major kudos behind closed doors for taking one for the team.

Dick Cheney, told in advance of Murtha's new stance on the war, had begun insulting former Marine Murtha almost immediately saying, "The president and I cannot prevent certain politicians from losing their memory or their backbone."

Meanwhile, Murtha, who was fighting in Southeast Asia while Cheney was kicking back on one of his five military deferments, fired back at the vice president.

"I like guys who've never been there that criticize us who've been there. I like that," said a disgusted Murtha. "I like guys who got five deferments and never been there and send people to war, and then don't like to hear suggestions about what needs to be done."

But that didn't stop the likes of Cheney and Schmidt at the time, and it's proceeded to get worse ever since -- the same ugly specter of Republicans who claim to be so patriotic and to worship at the military altar smearing decorated veterans at every turn for the crime of being Democrats and voicing dissent with GOP policies.

They did it with former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland, who lost three limbs in Vietnam, famously brought out the Swift Boat Liars to smear John Kerry's war record, and they immediately started doing the same with Murtha, who volunteered for Vietnam in 1966 and for his service was awarded the Bronze Star with Combat "V," two Purple Hearts, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry and the Navy Distinguished Service Medal.

In January 2006, a pseudo-news organization known as the Cybercast News Service (CNS) picked up with Murtha where the Swift Boat Liars left off with Kerry by questioning the circumstances in Vietnam that led to Murtha's two Purple Hearts.

This time it was David Thibault, editor in chief of CNS, who picked up the prevailing tactic of the GOP, which is to smear the patriotism and good name of any Democrat who dares question Bush and the war -- even if, like Murtha, you happen to be a 37-year military veteran and a former Parris Island drill instructor decorated for valor in combat.

CNS, which is part of the ultraconservative Media Research Center, trotted out the familiar, slimy routine of questioning the seriousness of Murtha's war injuries and the extent to which they were worthy of the Purple Heart awards. Thibault made his motivation clear, saying that Murtha had brought the attack on himself because "the congressman has really put himself in the forefront of the anti-war movement." There's the theme again: Shut up and go along with Bush or get slimed beyond recognition.

Which begs the obvious question: Why do the likes of Thibault and so many Republican operatives who so righteously question the courage and patriotism of guys like John Kerry, Max Cleland or John Murtha hate our veterans and the military so much?

Their deeds speak louder than their words, and one wonders how they would treat liberals who questioned the guts of men who put their lives on the line and bled for our country. The wailing and outrage would be deafening, and yet they believe it's perfectly acceptable to vilify certain veterans if they happen to be Democrats and it furthers the far-right political agenda.

And what of their disgracefully insulting treatment of the very military institutions they claim to support? Those of us who have served know that you don't just walk into the PX and buy yourself a Bronze Star or a Purple Heart -- they're awarded at great discretion by the leadership of the military. Yet even those who have reached the upper echelons of our Defense Department now have their wisdom and integrity called into question by people who will stoop so low as to question whether or not someone came close enough to dying in combat to receive a Purple Heart.

My guess is that it's just a matter of time before House Republicans don Purple Heart bandages to ridicule Murtha's service as their people did on the floor of the GOP national convention in 2004 in an effort to minimize John Kerry's service.

It's repulsive, insulting and demeaning to every veteran, whether or not they have ever been unfortunate enough to receive that decoration.

The latest salvo appears to be a new smear site, MurthaLied.com, which is about to be drawn out from under a rock and it certainly has all the looks of the same people who brought you pure fiction about Kerry in 2004. The website is run by a woman named Amanda Doss, who has a long alliance with -- guess who? -- the Swift Boat Liars and a whack job named Ted Sampley, who runs the hate site, The U.S. Veteran Dispatch.

That name may sound familiar to you. This is the same guy who once wrote of John McCain as "The Manchurian Candidate" and suggested that McCain had been brainwashed during his lengthy captivity while a POW in Vietnam. Oh, yeah, he also said McCain was a KGB Spy. It's also the same Sampley who headed Vietnam Veterans Against Kerry and was responsible in 1992 for faking a photo of Kerry allegedly shooting an American MIA in Vietnam.

It was Republican McCain who called Sampley "one of the most despicable people I have ever had the misfortune to encounter" and said "Sampley has a nose for publicity and knack for making money from invented controversies."

If you want to know what kind of people are going after a legitimate American hero like John Murtha, look no further than the likes of Sampley, Doss, Thibault and their Republican backers.

There's also right-wing prom queen Ann Coulter, who recently said that Murtha was "the reason soldiers invented fragging," suggesting that Murtha should be killed. She followed that up by saying that "if he did get fragged, he'd finally deserve one of those Purple Hearts."

Only time will tell how much more repulsive this gets, but the mainstream media needs to explain how these cretins keep managing to get ink and air time. At least in Coulter's case, it can be partially explained in her being a high-profile cretin who may be good for ratings. But the mystery endures of how little-known -- and discredited -- "sources" like Sampley and the laughable CNS continue to get attention and relevance.

So we'll watch and see what happens in the coming days and weeks to Rep. Murtha, a man who has dedicated his life to serving his country both in the military and in the halls of Congress. How much character assassination will the 74-year-old Murtha have to endure for simply being a veteran who has seen war, doesn't like war and believes that a solid national security posture has nothing to do with starting wars for no reason?

And how much stomach do the American people have to continue watching Republicans and their operatives so piously chanting "support the troops" while turning right around and treating veterans and our military with such outrageous disrespect?

"War's a nasty business," Murtha said on CBS's "60 Minutes" earlier this year. "It sears the soul. The shadow of friends killed, the shadow of killing people lives with you the rest of your life. So there's no experience like being in combat."

When I was in the military, no matter what personality conflicts arose during long sleepless hours at sea or on patrol, the main measure of your regard for a shipmate or fireteam partner was this: Who do you trust to hang tough when the crap hits the fan and true courage needs to kick in? Who do you want in that ditch, in those weeds or sitting in that foxhole with you?

It would be interesting to take a poll and see if, faced with those circumstances, most Americans would choose the likes of Ted Sampley, David Thibault, Jean Schmidt and Dick Cheney, or men like John Kerry, Max Cleland and John Murtha.

Yeah, that's a tough call.

Update: Is Congressman Duncan Hunter also somehow involved in the smears against highly-decorated Veteran, John Murtha? One of my favorite bloggers, Taylor Marsh , investigates here and here .

You can reach Bob Geiger at geiger.bob@gmail.com