Friends in Low Places

The incendiary accusations in Swift Boat Veterans for Truth's ad campaign smearing Senator John Kerry as having lied about his Vietnam record have now all but collapsed. In the meantime, President Bush, once again putting his leadership skills on display, repeatedly refused to join other politicians from both parties in condemning the attack ad, choosing instead to say piously that he is against all such ad campaigns. (Of course, the really dirty ads are coming from just the Republican side.)

With the White House refusing to rein in the attack dogs, the group has unveiled another ad. This one specifically attacks Kerry's 1971 congressional testimony opposing the war, saying he "demoralized" American soldiers and "dishonored his country...he just sold them out." The ad's producers have evidently learned their lesson from the firestorm over the false accusations in the first ad, restricting this one to showing angry reactions which cannot be definitively refuted. The fact that none of the men shown in the ad ever served with Kerry or even claim to have met him is apparently irrelevant.

Meanwhile, more information is coming out about the allegedly independent group's connections to the Bush campaign:

1. Benjamin Ginsberg, the campaign's chief outside counsel, also advised the Swift Boat group on legal matters. He resigned from the campaign after his dual role was made public.
2. Kenneth Cordier, who appeared in a Swift Boat ad saying "[Kerry] betrayed us in the past," was on the Bush campaign's Veterans Steering Committee. He resigned from the campaign as well after his activities were revealed.
3. A Bush campaign office in Florida handed out fliers publicizing a Swift Boat event.
4. Bob Perry, the group's primary financial backer, has close political and personal ties with Bush's chief political strategist, Karl Rove.

Swift Boat Veterans for Truth claims to be an independent group "not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee." But the connections are piling up, and as much as the White House may deny any link to the smear campaign, it is becoming more and more obvious that the group is little more than a front operation doing the Bush campaign's dirty work.

One would think the Bush campaign would learn from its mistakes and call a halt to this particular character-assassination campaign. But after four years of smearing political opponents as unpatriotic, we know better.