The American Spectator

Gene Hauber br> Meshoppen, Pennsylvania /p>

Indeed, it is time for the press to investigate and objectively report on, rather than attack, the allegations of the Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth. That dog’s not going to hunt, though.

The partisan press is rooting for and supporting John Kerry’s election. They’ve deep-sixed this story, just as they did with Juanita Broaddrick and the Arkansas state troopers during Bill Clinton’s presidential candidacy. The lady and the troopers raised unpleasant history-partisan-press-speak for legitimate, likely truthful issues-that was damning to Clinton.

As an opinionist said this week, if the partisan press gave one-tenth of the time it gave to Richard Clarke’s and Joe Wilson’s fantasies and lies — or even Michael Moore’s “9/11” fakeumentary — the public would know a lot about Mr. Kerry and his Vietnam service.

But, then, if the senator were just to release his entire service record and answer all the allegations-instead of engaging in his predictable attack-and-deflect, protest-way-too-much, bring-out-the-lawyers reactions-we’d know what he did or did not do.

p>That is, if he were genuinely honest and forthcoming, not nuanced. br> — C. Kenna Amos Jr. br> Princeton, West Virginia /p> p> You fail to mention the most troubling part of the SwiftVets accusations: Kerry’s claims to have been in Cambodia on Christmas, 1968, on a secret mission of some sort. The evidence has accumulated overwhelmingly that this is false. Thus far the DNC damage control on this issue is not convincing. What is most disturbing to me, however, is the June 2003 article in the Washington Post by Laura Blumenfeld describing Kerry carrying around a briefcase with a false bottom containing a cap given to him by a CIA agent during “a special mission in Cambodia.” Since all the available evidence that I have seen (and I have looked at tons) does not support his ever being there, this story, if true, causes deep concern that Kerry’s problem is not simply political opportunism but lies deeply in some sort of psychiatric disorder that cannot discern reality where his ego needs are concerned. I am no psychiatrist. But I do have common sense. And the above makes the current controversy alarming for all who love this country. He may have fantasized about his war heroism, inflating actual events and now these Cambodia questions arise. This needs to be seriously investigated and cleared up honestly for the sake of the country. This man wants to be our leader in a time of peril for us. Whether he is a fantasist, political opportunist, or true war hero should be determined as much as it can be. The consequences of blowing this off are too significant if these things are true.