Oliphant: Playing to the media in attacks on service

AS MOST people know because they are conventionally wise, John Kerry is about to lose the presidency because he is a commie-helping traitor who invented his Vietnam service and finally got caught 30-plus years later.

For those dupes who still support him, there is consolation in another bit of conventional wisdom -- that this is entirely his fault because when Bush supporters tried to destroy his service record he was unconscionably slow to respond.

By contrast, it is also accepted that because President Bush is such a strong leader it is of no political consequence that the liberal media and partisan opponents present evidence that Bush benefited from big shot connections to escape Vietnam via the National Guard, where he then proceeded to benefit from big shot connections in order to shirk his duty and get away with it.

As her latest best-seller (highly critical of the Bush family) hits the shelves, Kitty Kelley must be quaking in her boots as she awaits the onslaught this same wisdom asserts will marginalize her work.

But the only existing, objective evidence shows that the first three above bits of "wisdom" are flat-out false, and that leads me to at least want to read Kelley's book before judging its impact.

more…
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2004/09/12/playing_to_the_media_in_attacks_on_service/

is an immediate gratification society. Bush is the moral mushroom cloud.