George Epstein: A few words about fairness

You need three hands when a politician uses the word fair – one for each ear and the third to grab hold of your wallet. The Democrats see the swift boat ads as unfair. They cry that most of the vets in the group did not serve at the same time as Kerry. They chant in unison that members of the group directly contradicted these ads in previous written reports and statements. Most of all, they howl that President Bush’s campaign crew instigated this whole thing in violation of campaign finance law.

Gimme a break. Thousands of Vietnam vets – maybe hundreds of thousands – despise the things Senator Kerry said about war when he returned from Vietnam. Kerry made his wartime service a central factor in his campaign. The Republicans have the right to challenge him on that service. John Kerry has three choices as to how it might respond to these attacks. He could whine about how unfair they are. He could re-argue the whole Vietnam War issue, or he could do what he is finally beginning to do – point out that he actually fought in the war while our president and vice president chose not to, and he earned the right to express his opinion on that war.