Hyman Slanders Kerry--Again

Man, I don’t want to write this rebuttal to Hyman. Not because it’s going to be tough. Quite the opposite. Does faux outrage really need to be rebutted?

Hyman joins (in a timely fashion—more on that in a moment) the caterwauling of right wing talking heads who’ve spent several days delivering dinner-theatre-level performances of pseudo-outrage at the alleged “slur” of American troops by John Kerry.

Never mind that Kerry’s prepared remarks showed that he was making fun of the president, not the troops, and merely flubbed the joke.

Never mind that even if you think Kerry is Beelzebub himself incarnate on earth, you can’t possibly believe he’d be stupid enough to make a scripted slam of American troops the week before midterm elections.

Never mind that even right wing zealots like Tom DeLay and Bill O’Reilly have said Kerry obviously didn’t mean to insult the troops with his comments.

Nope. Never mind all that. If there’s political hay to be made by willful ignorance, there are some, such as Hyman, who are only too happy to do it.

Hyman tries to claim this is just one of a long series of Kerry blasphemies regarding the honor of U.S. troops, tying it to his testimony in 1971 before Congress (ignoring the fact that Kerry was testifying on behalf of the troops and ripping the civilian leadership for sending them into a war, and lying that Kerry said U.S. troops “routinely” committed atrocities) and a comment on ABC news last year in which he said U.S. troops shouldn’t be “breaking down doors” of Iraqi civilians (ignoring the fact that Kerry’s remark was made in the context of saying why he—like the president—thought it was important for the Iraqi military to take a more active role in maintaining order in the country).

But the pattern isn’t in any alleged Kerry slander of the troops. Let’s remember, he was a combat soldier himself, for crying out loud!

No, the pattern is in Hyman’s continual willingness to lie about a decorated combat veteran because he disagrees with the man’s politics.

Let’s remember that during the 2004 campaign, Hyman delivered a slew of commentaries demeaning John Kerry’s war record, including charging him with shooting an unarmed, wounded child.

And let’s remember Hyman’s role in hyping the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth [sic] and the running of anti-Kerry propaganda on Sinclair stations days before the election.

While were at it, let’s add to Hyman’s list of repeat offenses his attempt to swing elections. I know from some inside folks at Sinclair that Hymn tapes his editorials about a week in advance. Given that schedule, I was expecting to have to deal with Hyman’s predictable piling on regarding the Kerry comment on Election Day, or so.

But Hyman clearly rushed back to the studio to crank this editorial out mid-week to get it out quick (the better to sway voters, my dear). Not only that, but it clocks in at a bloated 300 words, Roughly 75% longer than his editorials have run of late. And, if there was any doubt about his intentions, Hyman closes his diatribe with this little gem:

Imagine how much damage Kerry could do to the troops as Senate Armed Services Chairman.

Meanwhile, the theatre of the absurd that’s gone on this week, with right wingers pretending to be outraged and the rebuttals and corrections by others, including—groan—yours truly, has taken away time from talking about *real* affronts to our troops.

This past week, the Bush administration caved in to the Iraqi government by calling off checkpoints in an area where a U.S. serviceman was kidnapped. We’re now leaving soldiers behind when the ragtag government of Iraq, in order to curry favor with the likes of Moktada al-Sadr, tells us to take a hike.

Then, you’ve got Republican John Boehner defending Rumsefeld’s handling of the war by saying that he’s not in charge—it’s the generals on the ground.

This is shades of Condi’s infamous statement about how thousands of “tactical mistake” (i.e.,, mistakes made by the troops on the ground) have been made in Iraq, but no strategic ones (i.e., those made by Rummy, Cheney, and Dubya).

So tell us again Mark: who’s slandering the troops?

And that’s The Couterpoint.

Hyman Index: 6.00