It's Official: "Swift-boating"

Power Line has much more now on the Midwest Heroes controversy brewing here in Minnesota. It is interesting how the phrase "swiftboating" has gone from Kerry's lips to the whole of the land. Brian Melendez has it down:

"Minnesota has a chance to take a stand against this misleading and untruthful propaganda," he said. Referring to controversial ads that ran during the last presidential race, he said, "Minnesota TV stations should pull this ad and send a message that we will not tolerate this kind of 'swift-boating' anymore."

Frankly, the attack by the left is much more dishonest than the ads. The ads are soldiers and their families expressing their own thoughts. The Democratic Party has twisted those words to make false assertions about the ad, like this one from a DFL mass e-mail.

The ads erroneously make a connection between Iraq and the 9/11 terrorists attacks and suggest that the war in Iraq will prevent an attack by Al Queda in America.

What the ad actually says is:

[O]ur enemy in Iraq is al Qaeda--the same terrorists who killed three thousand Americans on 9/11, the same terrorists from the first World Trade Center bombing, the USS Cole, Madrid, London, and many more.

A soldier further asserts that he would prefer to fight al Qaeda in Iraq.

The Star Tribune reports on KSTP's decision not to run the ads, and the DFL press conference advocating the ads removal from the public discourse.

DFL Party Chairman Brian Melendez called a news conference to call the ad "un-American, untruthful and a lie."

Imagine that. Soldiers. Expressing their opinions. un-American. Unthruthful. A lie.

What remains a mystery to me is why the DFL wants to fight this battle. It is not a state issue. The ads don't erode their platform one bit. There is no endorsement of the governor or any aspect of Minnesota politics in the ads.

To date the state party has stuck to talking points on state issues. Health care, education, and compliance with the Clean Water Act, which will be needed for many municipalities to upgrade waste water treatment facilities. While I disagree with their positions on most of the issues, they are good, solid state issues.

The war in Iraq and national security are the national party's weakest issues. Why would a state party on solid ground suddenly embrace the Howard Dean wing at the expense of the very citizens who have been fighting on the front lines of those battles?

It makes no sense.