Republicans smear vets.

Have they right-wingers gone too far? I certainly hope so.

The Republicans, in a feverish attempt to extract “revenge” for the fact that Bush has been publicly exposed as having skipped out on the National Guard when it was his turn to serve, have been trying a pathetic “tit for tat” by demanding Kerry’s records.

That’s right: Because Bush has no military record, the right-wingers are trying to diminish Kerry’s. Some patriots, eh?

They are so blinded with rage that the obvious doesn’t occur to them: Bush had something to be ashamed of, and Kerry doesn’t.

So they are pretending that there is something fishy about Kerry’s service when there isn’t.

They are spreading lies.

They are hoping to accomplish by gossip, smear and innuendo what they can’t accomplish with facts.

And maybe, they’ve gone too far.

Kerry released his records. And the results really make the Republicans look like trash.

From the AP story:

The documents also included declassified reports that briefly explain the injuries that led to Kerry's Purple Heart awards. They show Kerry had shrapnel wounds in his left thigh after his boat came under intense fire on Feb. 20, 1969, and he suffered shrapnel wounds in his left buttock and contusions on his right forearm when a mine detonated close to his boat on March 13, 1969.

"Kerry received the Bronze Star for his actions after being wounded by the mine, which led to the third Purple Heart. According to his citation, one of Kerry's boatmates was thrown overboard and Kerry pulled him to safety with 'his arm bleeding and in pain and with disregard for his personal safety.'

How do you think the American public will feel about trashing that record?

The Republicans have succeeded in doing exactly what they don't want to do: draw lots of attention to Kerry’s exemplary service record. Which is a sterling record. The Republicans are trying to trash a war hero’s service, and are simply reminding everyone that he IS a war hero, and not someone who just played dress-up in a flight suit.

Understand how reprehensible the Republicans have behaved: the Democrats never tried to trash Bush Sr’s service. Or Dole’s. Those men were criticized on issues and politics. No Democrat ever tried to attack their service in the armed forces. That's has always been considered off-limits, and doing so has always been considered utterly contemptible.

But the Republicans are actually so unprincipled that they will do such a contempible thing.

The Democrats should make a major public issue of this:

Republicans smear vets.

They claim to “support the troops” – but any troop who comes home wounded and has the nerve to run for office as a Democrat will get smeared, trashed, and his service record attacked.

Some patriots.