Regarding the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth's ads

As I said in the previous post, how the campaigns react to the attacks by the various 527 groups is becoming more important to me than whether or not those groups are telling the truth. However, I did want to address the two ads by SBVT on their own.

The first ad presents the allegations that Kerry lied and exaggerated events during his service in Viet Nam in order to gain medals.

The second ad criticizes Kerry for the testimony he gave before the Senate after returning from Viet Nam, and his other anti-war activities as a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

As I wrote in my comment to this post over at TheGeekWithA.45's blog:

I think the second is more damning than the first. It's one thing to exaggerate events in order to gain a medal. It's quite another to sit before the Senate of the United States and denigrate every man you served with, and every other soldier who served in Viet Nam, for political gain.

There is some question of whether SBVT's account of Kerry's Bronze Star is accurate; it may be that there actually was enemy fire. But his words before the Senate are incontrovertible fact. We may never know for sure what happened the day that mine exploded under PCF-3. But we know beyond any doubt what Kerry said about his "band of brothers" that day in the Senate chamber. As Paul Galanti said in the second ad, Kerry gave the enemy for free what Galanti and others endured torture to avoid saying.