Swift Boat Veterans for Truth: What a fake movement looks like

Now the real men, the men who sat quietly by until they couldn't stand the lies any more, are coming forward to support John Kerry's service in Vietnam.

An Ohio factory worker who accompanied Kerry on his first mission in 1968 is confirming the events that lead to Kerry's first medal. Chicago Tribune editor William Rood has broken a 35-year silence to back Kerry. Why? He's sick of the lies. Another Republican is crossing party lines to decry the Swift Boat Veterans' allegations.

Swift Boater Larry Thurlow presented an extremly weak case on Hardball this week in support of the most scurrilous of charges: That Kerry arrived in Vietnam with a plan to manipulate the system, then executed it by inflicting his own wounds, trumping up his exploits, winning medals and going home. Thurlow asks us to believe this slander "because he felt it." He doesn't bother to supply evidence.

All of the Swift Boat attacks on Kerry are like Thurlow's. They do everything they can to cast doubts, to allude, to imply but at the last minute, at the point where it's neccessary to pony up a direct charge, they pull back. They have to stop talking when they have to supply evidence. That's because no evidence exists to support their claims. It's all hearsay - All of it.

They know it's hearsay. But the brain trust behind the Swifties isn't stupid. They are experts at building ugly rumors into full-blown smear campaigns. They have a couple hundred veterans who are seriously offended, still, after 35 years, by Kerry's high profile anti-war activites, especially his testimony regarding war crimes. They know feelings of betrayal and anger stemming from a difference of opinion are neither debatable nor inflammatory. So they manufacture stronger stuff. They take the hearsay of a few, combine it with the general fury of the group and bang you have what appears to be a movement. It is an illusion - all of it except the sense of betrayal and anger - that's real and a real legacy of the Vietnam War.