A shameful attack on Kerry's service

A shameful attack on Kerry's service
Wednesday, April 28, 2004

E.J. Dionne / Syndicated columnist

FROM: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2001914095_dionne28.html
WASHINGTON — "Have you no sense of decency, sir?"

It was the classic question posed by Joseph Welch to Sen. Joseph McCarthy 50 years ago during the red-hunter's hearings investigating the Army for alleged communist influence. With his query, Welch, the Army's special counsel, began the undoing of McCarthy.

Unfortunately, the question needs to be asked again. It needs to be posed to shamelessly partisan Republicans who can't stand the fact that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are facing off against a Democrat who fought and was wounded in Vietnam.

Dick Cheney said in 1989 that he (in contrast to John Kerry) didn't go to Vietnam because "I had other priorities in the '60s than military service." While Kerry risked his life, Bush got himself into the National Guard.

Funny, isn't it? When Bill Clinton was running against Republican war veterans in 1992 and 1996, the most important thing to GOP propagandists and politicians was that Clinton didn't fight in Vietnam. Now that Republican candidates who didn't fight in Vietnam face a Democrat who did — and won the Silver Star, the Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts while he was there — the Republican machine wants to change the subject.

<SNIP>

One person who is outraged by the attacks on Kerry is McCain. When I reached the Arizona Republican, I found him deeply troubled over the reopening of wounds from the Vietnam era, "the most divisive time since our civil war." He called Sampley "one of the most despicable characters I've ever met."

<SNIP>

Now that McCain has spoken, will Bush have the guts either to endorse or condemn the attacks on Kerry's service? Or will he just sit by silently, hoping the assaults do their work while he evades responsibility? Once more, Welch's words call out for an answer: "Have you no sense of decency, sir?"

TO READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE GO HERE:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2001914095_dionne28.html

E.J. Dionne's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. His e-mail address is postchat@aol.com

Copyright 2004, Washington Post Writers Group

"Daddy, help me daddy! Get me in the Guard, daddy!"

Friggin' sissy Andover Cheerleader....