Purple Heartbreakers

As the swiftboating of Rep. John Murtha continues, some people are putting their foot down about this cheap, and often used, tactic to smear veterans who are critical of the Bush/Cheney organization. James Webb, a Marine who served in Vietnam (and a secretary of the Navy in the Reagan administration), has an editorial today in the NY Times looking at this practice-

IT should come as no surprise that an arch-conservative Web site is questioning whether Representative John Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who has been critical of the war in Iraq, deserved the combat awards he received in Vietnam...

...Military people past and present have good reason to wonder if the current administration truly values their service beyond its immediate effect on its battlefield of choice. The casting of suspicion and doubt about the actions of veterans who have run against President Bush or opposed his policies has been a constant theme of his career. This pattern of denigrating the service of those with whom they disagree risks cheapening the public's appreciation of what it means to serve, and in the long term may hurt the Republicans themselves...

...The political tactic of playing up the soldiers on the battlefield while tearing down the reputations of veterans who oppose them could eventually cost the Republicans dearly. It may be one reason that a preponderance of the Iraq war veterans who thus far have decided to run for office are doing so as Democrats...

Any others going to stand up to defend Murtha from these baseless attacks? Sen. McCain? Sen. Kerry?... Mr. President??