The Media, Bud Day and Wes Clark
Want proof of how tacit and friendly the media is with Senator John McCain? Take a look at how the media treats both candidates’ leading military men; Colonel George ‘Bud’ Day and General Wesley Clark. Both are highly decorated officers, and Bud Day is generally thought to be the most decorated officer since Douglas MacArthur, being a medal of honor recipient and a roomie of John McCain at the Hanoi Hilton. Wesley Clark is also a multiple award winner and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He was also the NATO commander during the war in Kosovo. Both were wounded in Vietnam and both have been politically active since their retirement. When comparing two great and decorated American patriots like Day and Clark it is useless to try to compare the magnitude of their sacrifices or service, so do not take the following as criticisms of either man so much as it is a criticism of the media to provide a fair and even coverage of the news.
Wes Clark has recently come under fire for a comment he made about John McCain’s Vietnam experience. During a discussion of John McCain’s command experience Wesley Clark made the rather uncontroversial point that John McCain’s time in Vietnam, nor his time as a Senate liaison or legislator has left him with any command experience. McCain has admitted as much in high biography, and all Wes Clark was trying to say (as a man who has led some large combat operations) is that the people who say John McCain’s experience in the military leaves him more fit to command troops are wrong. Valorous though it may have been, McCain never led troops.
What Wes Clark said wasn’t controversial. In fact it was accepted by the interviewer as rather uncontroversial when it was first spoken. The mistake Clark made was that when asked the question again he provided a good sound byte:
“Well, I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.”
The funny thing is that he isn’t lying, though it is a harsh way of stating the truth. There are a number of other things to point to in McCain’s record which could be considered relevant preparatory experience for being president, just not that one. That didn’t stop the media from playing that clip over an over again however. Much criticism fell on Clark’s head for the innocuous statement and he stood by it creating more controversy about the issue.
John McCain said that Obama must, “not only repudiate him but to cut him loose,” and formed a ‘Truth Squad‘ intended to protect McCain’s military record from spurious attacks. A little prima donna, but OK, and McCain picked the best pro-military attack dog to do it; one who had already helped sink another Vietnam veteran’s presidential bid. That man is Colonel Bud Day, former mouthpiece of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
Do we all remember the Swift Boat Veterans who tried to invalidate the medals of Senator John Kerry and criticized his war protestation as betraying his fellow servicemen? Of course, none of the veterans in the group were actually present when Kerry earned his medals, as all of those stood by Kerry during the campaign. Many more members of SBVT were not contesting Kerry’s awards but his actions after the war, when he protested the war and gave testimony about atrocities occurring during the War in Vietnam. Bud Day drew a “…direct comparison of General Benedict Arnold of the Revolutionary War, to Lieutenant John Kerry…” and of his testimony in Congress said:
“While the Commies were hanging on, innumerable U.S. Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Air Force members were being killed in combat. Every battle wound to Americans after Kerry’s misdirected testimony is related to Kerry’s untruthfulness. John Kerry contributed to every one of these deaths with his lies about U.S. atrocities in Vietnam. He likewise defamed the U.S. with our allies and supporters. His conduct also extended the imprisonment of the Vietnam Prisoners of War, of which I was one. I am certain of at least one POW death after his testimony, which might have been prevented with an earlier release of the POWs.”
There is no evidence that John Kerry’s testimony caused the death of any soldiers or POWs. At the time John McCain repudiated the ads put out by SBVT, saying, “I condemn the ad, it is dishonest and dishonorable, I think it is very, very wrong.”
One of the men responsible for the attacks on John Kerry’s record is now responsible for defending John McCain’s. Now, there are some good reasons for why McCain would employ Bud Day to defend his record. Day was of course there at the Hanoi Hilton and the two became very close in the experience, however that John McCain can call for Barack Obama to “cut loose” Wesley Clark and make a surrogate out of Bud Day is hypocrisy at its finest.
The bigger sin here is not really the actions of Wes Clark, Bud Day, Barack Obama or John McCain, but the media’s inability to give balanced coverage of this issue. There has been barely a peep out of the main stream media on the fact that McCain is employing a former swift boater to defend his military record.
In fact, the only major network to even interview Day was Fox News, who didn’t even bother to question the remarks by Day that what SBVT had alleged about John Kerry was “absolutely true.” Watch.
Now we all know that the state of our national media has been spiraling down, down, down for quite some time; and its not just a liberal or a conservative spin that’s happening but a total lack of quality and context. Whats wrong is that the media has forgotten how to challenge the assertions of politics and be he sane voice in this political circus, instead they are more than happy to become a part of the dog and pony show.
Here’s hoping for better times.
-Marc-
If I can add one tiny amendment: Wesley Clark’s statement, which you rightfully call uncontroversial, is also less harsh than you say. It was the interviewer that proposed that McCain might be more fit to lead since he was shot down. Clark was simply commenting on what was asked of him. The statements he said after that are even less harsh and even less controversial and in the following comments he even states that because of McCain’s service history he is rightfully considered a hero by millions. It is simply untrue to say that Clark was demeaning McCain’s military past.
Thanks for this post. It offers a genuinely thorough analysis of the hypocrisy at work.
Thank you very much. I, too, would like to have seen Clark’s statement with its context. But it almost doesn’t matter. The rest of your piece was so exactly right.
Anna & Jim,
I had blogged Wes’s comments before when they had been initially made and included Wes’s full statement.
If you are looking for even more context, a link to the original interview I believe is included.
Here’s the blog:
http://outtheotherear.wordpress.com/2008/07/01/why-mccainiacs-should-toughen-up-about-wes-clark/
Of course, none of the veterans in the group were actually present when Kerry earned his medals…
Of course?? This statement is, quite simply, factually wrong. Are you personally familiar with the facts of this issue or are you simply parroting someone equally uninformed?
What is your source for this mis-statement of fact?
I do apologize, one member of Kerry’s crew did join SBVT, however, he declined to appear anywhere or make any public statements abut his service with Kerry.
sources are:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,599034,00.html
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040806/news_1n6swift.html
Marc…
You’re almost there…but not quite. Several Swiftvets of note (Thurlow, Chenoweth & Odell…not to mention Dick Pees who was OIC of PCF3 that was blown out of the water) were intimate participants in the “Mining Incident on the Bay Hap River” which was the basis for Kerry’s Bronze Star and his 3rd purple heart.
Van Odell was also a participant in the action which led to Kerry’s 2nd purple heart.
While not an actual “member” of SBVT, Admiral William Schachte (USN, ret.) insists he was the OIC of Kerry’s boston whaler for the incident that led to Kerry’s 1st purple heart and strongly supported the SBVT position and was a very vocal critic of John Kerry’s rendition of events.
Dr. Louis Letson was the physician who actually treated Kerry for the “wound” Kerry used to personally petition his CO (Grant Hibbard…also a Swiftvet) for his first purple heart (the thought of which would make most veterans gag…but that’s another story).
But all this is neither news nor even in contention. I haven’t read your “sources” just yet, but you’re either misinterpreting what you’ve read, or someone is propagating pure bilge.
Sorry Marc…one more afterthought. Inre Steve Gardner…
…one member of Kerry’s crew did join SBVT, however, he declined to appear anywhere or make any public statements abut his service with Kerry.
Marc, you just must not have been listening.
Other than John O’Neill, there was no “Swiftvet” more active in terms of media appearances and exposure than Steve Gardner. His life was a frenzy of TV, radio, print media and blogosphere appearances for the duration of the campaign….unlike, I might add, the Kerry supporters who were kept on an incredibly tight media leash…to include Kerry himself.
I really do not care to be dragged into the swiftboat debate. I’ve read plentiful evidence on the issue and yes the SBVT has some convincing arguments but they also have some huge inconsistencies.
However, his all distracts from the main point behind this post, which was the failure of the media to create a discussion on the matter of McCain bringing on Bud Day to defend his military record and telling Obama to cut Wes Clark loose.. Truth or not, Day’s still a controversial figure, in many ways moreso than Wes Clark.
The media should be presenting the facts surrounding both military figures, their history and then leave it up to us to decide. Instead however, you and I debate source materials.