JaBbA's Hut

With Sinclair Broadcasting pressuring their stations to pre-empt programming and broadcast Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal, the documentary purporting to "expose John Kerry's record", I thought I'd check it out. Media Matters is claiming that the broadcasting of this documentary is an in-kind contribution to Bush's campaign, since the movie is apparently a very one-sided anti-Kerry screed.

So I checked out the website. The "Background" section is very interesting. The first paragraph is actually factual, as far as it goes:

When John Kerry appeared before the U. S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the spring of 1971, his testimony sent shock waves throughout America and the world. Here was a young, articulate Ivy-Leaguer, a highly decorated Naval officer who had seen combat in Vietnam. Now, driven by conscience and lofty ideals, Lt. Kerry said he felt compelled to break his silence and tell the unvarnished truth about the Vietnam War and those who fought it. The war, he said, was a criminal endeavor driven by a “policy of atrocities.� The 2.5 million men who served in Vietnam were akin to “Genghis Khan’s barbaric hordes,� thugs and psychopathic war criminals who wantonly plundered the Vietnam countryside, murdering, raping and bombing hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians – old men, women and children -- each and every day.

Direct quotes, taken out of context but not inappropriately so. He also said many other things that are, of course, not quoted, but that's par for the course.
The trouble starts in the second paragraph:

Lt. Kerry’s widely televised statements were dramatic and persuasive, made all the more credible by the fact he had been there, said he had witnessed many of these same atrocities. His testimony catapulted him to international prominence and the ranks of leadership in the American anti-war movement, launching his once failing political career. It also permanently branded in the American psyche the image of Vietnam veterans as murderous “baby killers� and “drugged out losers,� a perception that persists today, one deeply embedded in our history.

Kerry never said he witnessed the atrocities. Note that he's not quoted....because he can't be. He said that he was TOLD of atrocities by other men who witnessed them...a very different statement. It's actually hearsay, and he probably should have checked out the reports more thoroughly, and for that he can be criticized. But this statement is wrong. "launching his once failing political career". He didn't start a political career until after this...it implies that his anti-war activities had ulterior motives, again false, or at least unprovable. the "baby killers" and "drugged out losers" quotes are unattributed, making it look like they came from Kerry, but that's not true, either.

The rest of the background simply implies that all front-line Vietnam Veterans and POWs were somehow grievously hurt by Kerry and his activiites. It is certainly true that there is a group of those men who carry a lasting anmity toward John Kerry - but they are neither a majority nor even a significantly large group of Veterans. In fact, most Veterans probably never gave John Kerry a second thought, and the majority of those who dislike him now probably do so as a result of recent publicity, rather than a 30-year-old grudge.
So put it in the theatres, sell it on DVD, make your case. But the airwaves are public property, and if you're going to give a political screed like this free airtime, you better be ready to provide equal time to the opposition.

And news reports of Iraqi bombings don't count.