spot_img
Tuesday, February 18, 2025
spot_img
HomeTop NewsGOP attacks on Walz’s military service echo ‘Swift Boat’ attacks

GOP attacks on Walz’s military service echo ‘Swift Boat’ attacks

-


Now, with the first military veteran on the Democratic presidential ticket since Kerry, that tactic is resurfacing. And it’s being led by Republican Donald Trump’s campaign and its chief, who was a key part of the 2004 attacks on Kerry.

Within a day after Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was unveiled as the Democrats’ vice presidential pick, Trump’s running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, led the Republican attack on Walz’s 24-year service in the Army National Guard.

But Democrats said they’ve learned from 2004, when Kerry’s campaign responded slowly to what they called smears by the group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth after the type of small river patrol craft that Kerry commanded in the war.

Those 2004 attacks had such an impact the strategy became its own political term of art — swift-boating — and Democrats want to avoid having another candidate torpedoed by it.

“I think we saw 20 years ago with the swift-boating of John Kerry, who served honorably in Vietnam, that we cannot presume that unfounded attacks will implode under their own lies,” said Representative Jake Auchincloss, a Newton Democrat and Afghanistan war veteran. “We have to specifically and substantively call them out for the bad faith attacks that they are and then to hit back to make clear that we are not going to be pliant in this.”

Vance, a Marine veteran who served as a military journalist and deployed to Iraq for six months, hit Walz on two points on Wednesday, accusing him of “stolen valor garbage.” Vance criticized Walz for retiring from the National Guard in 2005 before his unit received orders to deploy to Iraq and for comments he made on at least two occasions referring to “weapons of war that I carried in war” when Walz never served in combat.

“When Tim Walz was asked by his country to go to Iraq, you know what he did? He dropped out of the Army and allowed his unit to go without him,” Vance told reporters in Michigan. “He said, ‘We shouldn’t allow weapons that I used in war to be on America’s streets.’ Well, I wonder, Tim Walz, when were you ever in a war?”

Other Republicans also accused Walz of misrepresenting his military rank when he retired.

Walz has rebutted similar attacks in past campaigns, with support from another soldier in his unit. Walz retired to launch his bid for Congress, not to avoid serving in Iraq, the Harris campaign said, adding that he began the process to do so before any deployment was official.

Walz was aware of a possible deployment to Iraq in March 2005 when he was already running for Congress, according to a press release from his congressional campaign at the time. He retired in May 2005 and his unit received its deployment orders two months later, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The unit did not finish its training and go to Iraq until March 2006, according to the National Guard.

The Harris campaign also defended his “weapons of war” comment while not disputing that he did not serve in combat.

“In his 24 years of service, the governor carried, fired and trained others to use weapons of war innumerable times,” the campaign said in a statement. “Governor Walz would never insult or undermine any American’s service to this country — in fact, he thanks Senator Vance for putting his life on the line for our country. It’s the American way.”

As for the rank dispute, Walz attained and served at the rank of command sergeant major, but retired without it due to incomplete coursework. The Harris campaign changed its website to say he had risen to the rank before retiring, according to multiple news outlets.

The Trump campaign sees an opening with Walz to slow the Democratic momentum since Vice President Kamala Harris stepped in as the nominee after President Biden announced he would not seek reelection. Trump’s campaign cochair, Chris LaCivita, was an adviser to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004 and said he intends to follow the same playbook.

“Birds of a feather will be tarred together,” LaCivita told RealClear Politics about Walz and Kerry. In a statement, Trump campaign senior adviser Brian Hughes echoed Vance’s comments and referred to the Democrat as “Stolen Valor Walz” and “a fraud.”

Then-Massachusetts Senator John Kerry with 13 former crewmates and Vietnam veterans arrived by boat at the Charlestown Navy Yard during the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004. Greene, Bill Globe Staff

Kerry’s Vietnam War service was the cornerstone of his political career. While serving in combat in South Vietnam, he commanded a swift boat and earned several medals, including three Purple Hearts for being wounded as a result of enemy action. Kerry returned from service and became an activist against the war.

With the United States enmeshed in the controversial Iraq war in 2004, Kerry leaned heavily on his military service in his campaign against President George W. Bush as the rationale for the war — the country’s supposed weapons of mass destruction — turned out to be unfounded. Kerry accused Bush, who did not serve in Vietnam because he volunteered for the National Guard, of misleading the nation into war.

After the convention, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth published a book and began running TV ads questioning his military leadership and the validity of some of his medals, while criticizing his anti-Vietnam War activities. The Kerry campaign called the attacks lies and tried to counter them. But Kerry later acknowledged they didn’t do enough in the weeks after the convention.

“Within the leadership of the campaign there was a strong view that the lies had been exposed. Some argued that there was no need to ‘waste money’ on ads regarding something the public wasn’t concerned about,” Kerry wrote in his 2018 memoir, “Every Day is Extra.”

But he acknowledged it ultimately was his fault for not responding more forcefully.

“What I should have done was stop the campaign, stand up with my crew and answer every lie in detail and create and air ads to run in every market where theirs ran,” Kerry wrote.

Asked by reporters Thursday about the Walz attacks, Harris said, “I praise anyone who has presented themselves to serve our country. And I think that we all should.” Democratic elected officials — particularly military veterans — have gone on TV and social media defending Walz.

“We’re not going to allow this to happen. We’re going to defend one of our own because it’s not okay,” Representative Jason Crow, a Colorado Democrat and Army veteran, said on a Democratic National Committee conference call Thursday that included Auchincloss and other veterans. The call was about the threat they said Trump and Vance pose to veterans’ benefits, but nearly every person on the call spoke up against the Walz attacks.

Criticizing Walz’s military record could be a problem for Trump, who avoided serving in the Vietnam War because of five draft deferments. But Republican strategist Doug Heye said attacking Walz logically falls to Vance. And the attacks could harm Walz, depending on what the facts ultimately are.

“The heart of what we’re being told about Tim Walz is his character,” Heye said. “So if there’s a problem with his character, whether it’s something he did or didn’t do in military service or as a coach or a teacher, it certainly matters.”


Jim Puzzanghera can be reached at jim.puzzanghera@globe.com. Follow him @JimPuzzanghera.





Source link

Related articles

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Stay Connected

0FansLike
0FollowersFollow
0FollowersFollow
22,200SubscribersSubscribe
spot_img

Latest posts