Swift Boat Brouhaha

The Dallas Observer has an interesting and balanced piece on one of the most heated sub-battles of Campaign 2004: Swift Boat Veterans for Truth vs. Veterans for Kerry. (I can't help thinking of these groups as somehow akin to the David Lee Roth Van Halen vs. the Sammy Hagar version.)

The story gives good background on John O'Neill, the vet who has battled with Kerry since the early '70s, arguing that the Bay State Blowhard mischaracterized American war crimes in 'Nam (the two memorably appeared on the old Dick Cavett show together and O'Neill eventually shilled for Richard Nixon at the GOP convention in '72).

Writes the Observer:

If there's any common ground between the two groups, it's that Swift Boat Veterans for Truth [SBVT] and Veterans for Kerry strongly believe in what they're saying, and they plan to keep preaching right up until the election. Their ongoing battle, they hope, will bring voters around to their side and their version of the truth. And so Americans are left to wade through the post-Vietnam muck, left to determine who's lying and who's not before casting their ballots. It is an important task for the country, and a difficult one, too--on that, there can be no disagreement.

The article also implicitly makes the case for 527 groups, those reviled organizations such as Moveon.org (and SBVT) that, whatever else you can say about them, have so far provided many of the most memorable moments in the current political season.

Whole thing here.