Cap’n Ed dissects a hypocritical piece in Business Week on the Swift Boat controversy:
So let me get this straight — MoveOn is more credible because of the transparent nature of the illegal coordination between the Democrats and the 527, while the Swiftvets suffer because no one can establish these links? And they claim inside knowledge because they served in the same unit and the same area as John Kerry, much the way William Rood did — they went out on patrols with Kerry and observed him from close quarters on rivers and canals where the two banks often spread less than 100 yards apart while they patrolled with their 50-foot PCFs. Peterson hasn’t spent much time distinguishing the operational tactics of PCFs, which rarely if ever went out alone on patrols.
Peterson’s perspective, then, is that while John Kerry’s testimony should go unchallenged because he served four months in combat, the Swiftvets — who to a man completed at least their one-year tours or left due to disabling wounds — should shut up about theirs. And the candidate who didn’t make his service any kind of qualification should expect to be slandered, but the nominee who wrapped himself in his four-month stint and surrounded himself with former shipmates for his nominating speech should get a free pass to avoid scrutiny of that record. It’s a point of view, all right — one that reeks of hypocrisy and self-service.