Apparently, McSame was against the Swift Boat Liars before he employed them.
In 2000, during McCain's first failed attempt at the presidency, he was ruthlessly savaged by his own party. The Bush camp attacked his service and his family and questioned his sanity in a blistering campaign for the Republican nomination.
In 2004, when the Swift Boat Liars for Bush went after Sen. Kerry's service, McCain called them "dishonest and dishonorable". Of course, McCain wasn't running for president at the time, so it was pretty easy to take the high road.
It didn't last long.
In 2008, all is apparently forgiven and forgotten, as McCain has embraced both George Bush and the Swift Boat Liars he had previously condemned. In his latest flip-flop, McCain has brought on "dishonest and dishonorable" Swift Boat Liar Bud Day as a surrogate for his 'truth squad', set up to debunk attacks against McCain's service that haven't and won't occur from anyone associated with the Obama campaign. Yet McCain and his Swift Boat Bud tested out the squad yesterday with a bit of faux rage over an inartful but basically true statement Gen. Clark made about military service not being a qualification for the Presidency. No matter how they try to twist it, General Clark in no way disparaged McCain's service, in fact, he praised it, and if McCain and Day think they can twist "I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in Armed Forces as a prisoner of war." into an attack on McCain, well, let's just say the 'truth squad' is off to a lousy start.
I have to believe that dragging out a Swift Boat Liar to attack General Clark and repeat the smears against Sen. Kerry to boost McCain's long-lost credibility will hurt McCain more than it will help. Is anyone really going to believe Day's intent is to defend McCain's service when his MO is to attack other vets simply because he doesn't agree with their politics? McCain doesn't need a 'truth squad' to defend his service, because no one is attacking it. But the fact is that honorable military service doesn't give either McCain or Day a free pass on everything they've done since, and a Swift Boat Liar is still a liar, no matter how honorably he served his country.
Video Credit: MSNBC
Yesterday, Sen. Kerry released a statement in response to Colonel Bud Day's comment that the Swift Boat attacks "were simply revelation of the truth"
"Colonel Day's comments today only further highlight the McCain campaign's disregard for a new kind of politics. John McCain condemned these kinds of attacks in 2004 when he called the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth 'dishonest and dishonorable.' Senator McCain should condemn these remarks and cut ties with the Colonel and anyone else connected to SBVT. Day's comments only serve to disparage all those who served on swift boats in Vietnam."
In unrelated but equally bizarre news, McCain again got credit for the GI bill that he opposed when his BFF Mr. Bush praised McCain for supporting it when he didn't. Not only did McCain not vote for the GI bill, but he campaigned against it openly. Watch it here, documented in three You Tube clips.
Where's a truth squad when you really need one?
