I think that many had an axe to grind from Kerry's antiwar stance. I think they were whipped into a frenzy by Hoffman, who was pissed off at how he was portrayed in Tour of Duty. Mix in a little Karl Rove, and a dash of revisionists like Coulter who claim the war could have been won 'except for the liberals', and you have a group of angry vets who are reliving the Vietnam War. Most were no witnesses to the medal events in question; they are simply along for the smear...
I did not see Bush's speech live because of a family event, but saw some of the post speech shows and clips. Seems to me like the whole convention was a negative ad: little talk of Bush's record; little talk of how the Republicans, who control both houses, the SC, and the Presidency, are going to fix what's broke; lots of negativity about Kerry. Like Jon Stewart said, these people are angry because...they're in charge?
The negativity is backing Kerry into a corner, and it appears he's going to come out swinging. Bush wouldn't condemn the Swifties, so his 'service' and Cheney's 5 deferments are now fair game, it would seem. This is really gonna get dirty now, which does favor the Republicans, being the pros that they are at THAT game... |
