A bit more on the Ben Barnes thing.
After the tape of Ben Barnes saying he was ashamed of helping President Bush duck Vietnam came out a couple days ago, Bush spokeswoman Claire Buchan said “It is no surprise that a partisan Democrat is making these statements.”
It’s a funny attitude considering how appreciative the Bush clan has always been for his being discreet about the issue. But Buchan’s right, as far as it goes, Barnes is a “partisan Democrat.” He is in the sense that he’s a Democrat; he’s an ex-pol who remains heavily involved in politics; and he’s actually a major fundraiser for John Kerry.
He just happens to be a major fundraiser for Kerry who is also the guy who helped Bush bend the rules to get out of Vietnam, which is inconvenient — to some degree for both sides.
You’ll notice that President Bush just had this exchange with NBC’s Matt Lauer …
Lauer: Did John Kerry serve heroically in Vietnam, in your opinion?
President GEORGE W. BUSH: I think his service is heroic, yes. I think he’s–and should be proud of it. And I think that we ought to move beyond the past. I mean, he’s proud of his service, I’m proud of mine. And the real question is, who best to lead us forward.
Nice try. After that the president’s people have been softening Kerry up for three or four weeks, now he wants to look to the future. That’s a pretty nice little scam, isn’t it? Lauer might have done better to ask the president why he’s only saying that now a day before the convention, as opposed to in early August. (Actually, why didn’t you ask that, Matt?) This is right out of the Bush family playbook: have your people savage your opponent and once the damage is done try to take the high road.
But it’s too late. As Max Cleland said a few days ago, President Bush’s “moment of truth came and went.”
And as for the Barnes thing, I think we can be pretty confident we’ll be seeing something a good deal more public in the next several days.
