Take with a BIG Grain of Salt

I was hesitant to post this, but it is starting to make the rounds of talk shows, blogs, etc. on the Right-leaning side of the web. Put all of this under the category of "unproven allegations," but several members of John Kerry's swiftboat in Vietnam (where he won his purple hearts) have put out a new book where they claim the Senator invented a heroic story in Vietnam through a series of half-truths specifically for a some-day run for the presidency. Drudge is reporting some of the more bold allegations.



There are a number of reasons to be highly skeptical about this report, even if you dislike Mr. Kerry:

1. The timing is highly suspect. It is both the right time to most hurt the Senator, but also the right time to make a lot of money off of the book without leaving time for the "facts" to be disproven.



2. It is hard to believe anyone would be quite as foreward-looking as the book appears to claim. While I can understand a man having the ambition in his 20s to run for President someday, it seems out-of-place with the times he lived in for him to have "faked" the data specifically for this. (Now if they had claimed he was doing it then to impress a girl...)



3. The folks quoted and interviewed appear to have a strong personal dislike of Mr. Kerry. While the closest I have come to military life is Marching Bank and Scouting, I know it is easy for rumors to become "facts" if enough people in a group dislike you.

So be aware of this, as it is likely you will be hearing or reading more about it in the days to come, especially if it is a slow news day. But be properly skeptical about it all.