Dean's World has a couple of really good pieces up:
An interview with Swift Boat Vet George Elliot
and
A perceptive review of the pollsters.
I'm not really sure what to think about the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. On the one hand, I'm inclined to give them some benefit of doubt. They were there, after all. On the other hand, after 30 years of silence -- and, in some cases, even support -- it's not unreasonable to wonder about motives. The Elliot interview actually allays some of my skepticism, as in the following sequence:
DW: Do you intend to keep speaking out against Kerry if he is elected in November?
GE: Once it's over it's over. I have no reason to continue, the American people will vote and make their choice. I don't know that I---I would not continue to oppose a sitting American President if the people put him there.
DW: Has the Senator ever apologized to you for his statements about war crimes and atrocities supposedly committed everywhere with the full support of all levels of command in Viet Nam?
GE: Never.
DW: If he did apologize would you accept it?
GE: If he tried to apologize between now and the time of the election, no. Win or lose on the 2nd of November, if he were to stand up and apologize to me and the hundreds of thousands of other veterans that he has offended over the years, I would accept his apology.
DW: Do you think that anyone who protested the Viet Nam war was fink? Are you simply mad at Kerry for protesting the war?
GE: Of course not, of course not. Every American's born with the right to criticize their government. Even Jane Fonda, she didn't have to fight to earn that right, it's a birthright.
What is not a birthright is lying in order to support your protest.
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