McCain As Dr. Evil

During Friday's broadcast, Rush Limbaugh reported that one of the stars of the new commercial from the Swift Boat Vets is Paul Galanti, a former POW who also served as Virginia Chair of Senator John McCain's 2000 presidential campaign. Human Events Online adds that Galanti "was also an active member of Veterans for Mark Warner (the Democratic governor of Virginia) during Warner’s 2001 gubernatorial race." If true, these facts contradict the internet ad the Kerry campaign released this weekend, which attempts to connect the Swift Boat Vets' commercial with smear tactics allegedly used by the 2000 Bush campaign against McCain.

On Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, which I happened to be watching, former Senator Bob Dole displayed the passion, clarity and command that was missing from his 1996 presidential campaign when he criticized John Kerry's campaign and questioned his war record. He reminded me of the Bob Dole who blew Walter Mondale off the stage during the 1976 vice presidential debate. I am not comfortable second guessing Kerry's medals or brevity of service, but Dole is uniquely qualified to judge the merits because of his own wounds and tireless work on behalf of veterans. Near the end of the Vietnam War, Senator Dole wore a POW bracelet in honor of John McCain, who gave this nomination speech for his friend.

Alice Cooper, the 1970s gothic rocker seen most recently promoting Staples school supplies, has some very funny things to say about the upcoming concerts featuring anti-Bush artists. "If you're listening to a rock star in order to get your information on who to vote for, you're a bigger moron than they are. Why are we rock stars? Because we're morons. We sleep all day, we play music at night and very rarely do we sit around reading the Washington Journal." According to the online edition of the Edmonton Sun, Cooper is a Bush supporter who attends basketball games with his buddy John McCain.

Based on these three stories, I could infer that John McCain, not Karl Rove, is the mastermind behind recent attacks on John Kerry. We have enough evidence by Michael Moore standards and more than enough for the Kerry campaign to make accusations, certainly more evidence than exists to blame Rove if the criterion is how many friends you have that are somehow connected to public accusations against Kerry. Either scenario is flimsy, ridiculous and undocumented, but most of the mainstream media abandoned their fact checking long ago.

Journalists of the blogosphere, here's another assignment for you.