I will not bow to this War Hero from the Northeast, this Kerry, last of a ragged house long bereft of Lordship

Oh yes, such a geek, such a geek.

Attaturk was intending on working on a little skit called "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth - Throughout History" (hey, if you cannot repeat the same structured comic piece over and over and over again, what good is it?). Unfortunately, you never know when writer's block is going to hit you and make your "good idea" suck with the material you have. You know, like a typical Saturday Night Live sketch. So, I'll probably finish that soon (maybe not, some folks are throwing stuff out at Atrios' comments already; including ideas I had, but I don't want to be accused of stealing...shit!), but until then...

In any case, there was something interesting in the current edition of the Atlantic that tells you just how much scumbaggery the Bushies are ready to engage in and how ready they were to go on the attack about "Military Service" when it was going to clearly benefit them.

Now, of course, they want the meme to be "oh, it doesn't matter, it was so long ago". That is because their guy used his connections for a cushy gig protecting the gulf coast from "charlie" while the other guy was getting his ass shot at "in the shit".

But what if a non-serving liberal had been nominated, like Howard Dean? What was the "Chickenhawk" line going to be then? Well the Atlantic has the answer...unfortunately the article is one you have to pay for, so I'll just copy the applicable section from the always entertaining SullyWatch.

Brabender then played “Ski Patrol,” which was created with the Bush campaign in mind but never had a chance to air. It begins with a shot of blue sky and pristine alps. “Howard Dean was granted a deferment from the military after showing up at a recruitment office with an x-ray indicating he had a bad back,” the voice-of-God narrator says. Suddenly a skier shoots off a snowy precipice and slaloms expertly down the mountain. “That very same year, Dean went on to ski eighty times — eighty — helping him to become an expert skier and the perfect commander in chief ... if we ever go to war against Switzerland.”

SullyWatch is right that the GOP has been waiving the service "bloody shirt" for years (hell after Lincoln they did it for not one, but three generations until WWI when they became the pacifist party until Wendell Wilkie came along -- ah, the dynamics of politics). They had NO compunction against doing so in 1992 or 1996, and went out of their way to make fun of veteran (but non-war period veteran) Michael Dukakis in 1988. In 2000, Gore could have pushed more on the issue, but chose not to -- one of many errors made with the benefit of hindsight. They were all ready to waive it around again.

So for years, the Democrats have ignored the issue while the GOP beat the horse to death. For Republicans to get a bit of the taste of their own medicine is more than deserved.

But look to the depths they will go. To my recollection this is the FIRST time I recall a decorated veteran being questioned and mocked for his heroism, especially by a guy who cannot even demonstrate, and in fact may soon have it demonstrated, that he did not perform even the MINIMUM required of his non-lethal service.

On the face of it, it seems patently stupid to encourage such a game -- but these guys do not know any other way to play the game and the press is by and large so lazy that they may be able to get away with it.