Playing Politics With Body Armor
FactCheck literally tears apart a television ad being run in Virginia Senate race. The ad uses flat lies to accuse Senator George Allen of "voting against body armor" for the troops. This is one thing that should be off the table for both parties. I do not like seeing any politician using the welfare of the troops for political advertising. Period. To do so using lies of this type, however, is even more egregious than has been the case up until now.
A new ad claims Republican Sen. George Allen of Virginia "voted against giving our troops" modern body armor. He did no such thing. The ad cites a vote on an appropriations amendment that had nothing whatever to do with body armor.
The ad also claims troops were sent to Iraq with flak vests "left over from the Vietnam war," another falsehood. The ad actually shows an improved vest that wasn't available until the 1980's.
The newly formed group responsible for the ad, VoteVets.org, is reported to be considering similar ads attacking several other Republican incumbents, and has already announced their intention to start running them against Sen.Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania.
This is a nasty tactic – accusing an opponent of playing with the lives of American troops – and both sides have stooped to it. This line of attack actually began with Republicans in 2004, when President Bush's campaign repeatedly accused his Democratic opponent John Kerry of voting against body armor.
We de-bunked Bush's claim at the time, but now there is even less excuse to make such an accusation because later investigations have made it clear that the initial shortage of up-to-date body armor was not the result of any vote in Congress, but instead was a classic supply-chain foul-up. The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office laid the shortage to the inability of manufacturers to meet the Pentagon's sudden increase in demand, and logistical mistakes by the Pentagon in getting the gear shipped to Iraq and distributed.
VoteVets is publishing lies and television stations should refuse the ads on that basis. Would all the politicians, regardless of party, please denounce this tactic? The FactCheck article has a thorough guide to body armor issues, including a history of its use in the armed forces.
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The Real Ugly American.com » Blog Archive » Playing Politics With Body Armor — Thursday, 21 September , 2006 @ 10:36 am
By Martin Morgan, Thursday, 21 September , 2006 @ 8:33 am
“This line of attack actually began with Republicans in 2004, when President Bush’s campaign repeatedly accused his Democratic opponent John Kerry of voting against body armor.”
I haven’tchecked your archives. Could you point me to the post where you told Bush to knock it off? Thanks
By Gaius, Thursday, 21 September , 2006 @ 8:36 am
Since I have only been blogging since January of this year, it would be sort of hard for me to do that, don’t you think?
By BubbaB, Thursday, 21 September , 2006 @ 12:22 pm
So, in the spirit of “fake but accurate”, the mantra of the Democratic party and their agents. the MSM, perhaps you could add a post after the fact!!