Here it comes
Letters from an Old Conservative, Volume V

In my inbox this morning, a forward from my aunt pointing to a op-ed by Oliver North, "Bring it on, John."

Some excerpts (my emphasis):

"... Well, if he wants to have a debate about our service in Vietnam, here is my answer: 'Bring it on.'" -- Sen. John Kerry

Dear John,

As usual, you have it wrong. You don't have a beef with President George Bush about your war record. He's been exceedingly generous about your military service. Your complaint is with the 2.5 million of us who served honorably in a war that ended 29 years ago and which you, not the president, made the centerpiece of this campaign.

I talk to a lot of vets, John, and this really isn't about your medals or how you got them. ...

[Repeats a lot of the SwiftVets' claims in the name of saying they're "not important"]

The trouble you're having, John, isn't about your medals or coming home early or getting lost -- or even Richard Nixon. The issue is what you did to us when you came home, John.

When you got home, you co-founded Vietnam Veterans Against the War and wrote "The New Soldier," which denounced those of us who served -- and were still serving -- on the battlefields of a thankless war. Worst of all, John, you then accused me -- and all of us who served in Vietnam -- of committing terrible crimes and atrocities.

[Repeats Kerry's testimony]

Your "antiwar" statements and activities were painful for those of us carrying the scars of Vietnam and trying to move on with our lives. And for those who were still there, it was even more hurtful. But those who suffered the most from what you said and did were the hundreds of American prisoners of war being held by Hanoi. Here's what some of them endured because of you, John:

Capt. James Warner had already spent four years in Vietnamese custody when he was handed a copy of your testimony by his captors. Warner says that for his captors, your statements "were proof I deserved to be punished." He wasn't released until March 14, 1973.

[Two more similar quotes from prisoners in Hanoi, inlcuding one that says Kerry's testimony was "a primary reason the war dragged on," some other stuf...]

Even Jane Fonda apologized. Will you, John?

This has been what they've been working towards all along. The SwiftVets just happened to set the stage perfectly for this line of the attack — independent of the campaign and all. (Anyone know where to find that quote where a Republican operative says something like, "By the end of the campaign, people won't know which side of the Vietnam War Kerry was fighting on"?) Surely Kerry knew this much was coming. He better be prepared.

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One other odd paragraph I came across while browsing a conservative media section:

Yes, there are differences among Republicans over issues like abortion, but there's far more tolerance for dissenting views on controversial issues in the GOP than in the Democratic Party... And as for supposed anomalies like "maverick" John McCain, he embodies the GOP's insistence on peace through military strength and a robust, assertive American foreign policy.

Besides the fact that the guy brought up abortion and tolerance in the same sentence, is it really possible to have peace through preemption? If you think this nebulous war requires preemption for our safety, uh, okay, but isn't it kind of fundamentally opposed to that whole peace thing?