The Biggest Problem for Democrats is that They Know the Swifties’ Story is True
We all love, or at least respect and give deference to, our chosen candidates. That’s the way human nature works: we believe our guy, and screw you!
That is why the Swifties’ story is having such a profound impact on this campaign, though so far unacknowledged at the temples of journalism in NYC and DC.
The Kerry loyalists have been totally blindsided by the revelations of John O’Neill and 253 others. The Kerry loyalists believed in their candidate. He was the best kind of man: a hero who hated battle, a reluctant warrior, a killer with the conscience of a saint.
Now it emerges that Christmas in Cambodia is a fake, and worse is on the way.
These folks were not prepared. That is why their defenses of Kerry have become so crazy and unseemly. That is why Chris Matthews can have a perfectly civil and professional conversation with Tommy Franks, but goes nuts with O’Neill. Ditto for Crossfire.
Fred Barnes was on Hugh Hewitt, and he said that his media friends recoil from the O’Neill book. “It’s partisan trash,” they say in so many words. But they don’t really believe that — they are afraid of the book.
Here’s a snapshot of what’s really going on, thanks to Glenn:
A frequent correspondent sends this:
Mr. Reynolds: In the (unlikely) event you decide to publish this e-mail on your blog, please don’t use my name on this one occasion, as I’m divulging some information about a close personal relationship. Anyway, last night I was talking to a friend who is a hardcore liberal Democrat and is, in fact, a first cousin of a very well-known Democratic Senator. He was very upset about the Kerry-Swift Vet-Cambodia controversy. He blamed Kerry for the whole thing, saying he had set himself up for this problem by making Vietnam the centerpiece of his campaign.
Two things struck me about this. First, this is a guy who gets all of his news from the biggies - the NYT, NPR, and CNN - and yet he knew all about the story. That means the Big Media filter isn’t preventing the story from reaching people. Second, he had concluded that Kerry deserves the criticism and is lacking in credibility.
This is a guy who, if there were any yes-but talking points in defense of Kerry, surely would have stuck to them. This says to me that if Big Media is in the tank for Kerry, they may actually have hurt him by not covering this story. They’ve abdicated coverage of a story that is negative to Kerry to the Blogosphere, thus resulting in more damage to their favored candidate than if they’d reported on the story, but with an eye toward knocking it down. They can pretend the story isn’t there, but they can’t make blogs go away.
Yeah, and they’re damaging themselves as more and more people notice that they’re ignoring it.
The fear among the conservative punditry, with the exception of Rush, I think, is that this story is going to go away. It is not, for several reasons. The first is that there is more bad news on the way via the SBVT’s, and O’Neill will rise in presence and stature as long as he keeps his cool. The second is: the confidence of the opposition has been shattered. The left is worse than the Red Sox after Bill Buckner had that ball go throught his legs in Shea Stadium: there was still another game to play, but the Bosox were already defeated.
Kerry is history, because in their heart of hearts, his guys know that he lied to them. Selling a dream to the enemy is just fine, but you have to level with your own kind. Kerry did not. A bond of faith has been broken. His army is demoralized. Kerry will lose. Those who have been let down by Kerry cannot convince the uncommitted, but the SBVT’s can.