Chickenhawk Chuckleheads

E. J. Dionne on the pro-abortion right wing:

What's maddening here is the unblushing hypocrisy of the right wing and the way it circulates -- usually through Web sites or talk radio -- personal vilification to abort honest political debate.

The particular instance of abortion Mr. Dionne is referring to? Why, it's the shameless smear of John Murtha by the men who brought us the Swiftboaters. Same cast, same script. Only the target has been changed to protect the guilty-as-sin chickenhawk chickenshit of a president.

Let's take the subject piece from the top:

I underestimated the viciousness of the right wing.

Last November, Rep. John Murtha, a Democrat and a decorated Marine combat veteran, came out for a rapid American withdrawal from Iraq. At the time, I wrote: "It will be difficult for Bush's acolytes to cast Murtha, who has regularly stood up for the military policies of Republican presidents during his 31 years in Congress, as some kind of extreme partisan or hippie protester."

No, the conservative hit squad didn't accuse Murtha of being a hippie. But a crowd that regularly defends President Bush for serving in the Texas Air National Guard instead of going to Vietnam has continued its war on actual Vietnam veterans. An outfit called the Cybercast News Service last week questioned the circumstances surrounding the awarding of two Purple Hearts to Murtha because of wounds he suffered in the Vietnam War.

John Kerry, as well as John McCain -- who faced scurrilous attacks on his war record when he was running against Bush in the 2000 South Carolina primary -- could have warned Murtha: If you're a Vietnam veteran, don't you dare get in the way of George W. Bush.

What was that Dubya said about welcoming honest debate about Iraq?

And, by the way, here's a bit of info on the patriots at Cybercast News Service, whose editor-in-chief is David Thibault:

David Thibault -- Editor-in-Chief
Has been in this position with CNSNews.com since April 2005 after joining the organization in 2000 as managing editor, assigning coverage of stories and developing the site’s overall news philosophy. Before arriving at CNSNews.com, David worked for nearly 20 years in either radio and television news or as a congressional press secretary. He worked as a newscast producer and general assignment reporter for ABC affiliate WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C., between 1989 and 1993 before becoming senior producer for GOP-TV's Rising Tide, the televised weekly news magazine broadcast by the Republican National Committee. David first came to the nation's capital in 1987 as press secretary for Rep. Judd Gregg after serving as a news anchor and later news director for WFEA-AM in Manchester, N.H., between 1981 and 1987. David holds a degree in communications from the University of New Hampshire.

And here's what they have to say about themselves:

The Cybercast News Service was launched on June 16, 1998 as a news source for individuals, news organizations and broadcasters who put a higher premium on balance than spin and seek news that’s ignored or under-reported as a result of media bias by omission.

Study after study by the Media Research Center, the parent organization of CNSNews.com, clearly demonstrate a liberal bias in many news outlets – bias by commission and bias by omission – that results in a frequent double-standard in editorial decisions on what constitutes "news."

In response to these shortcomings, MRC Chairman L. Brent Bozell III founded CNSNews.com in an effort to provide an alternative news source that would cover stories that are subject to the bias of omission and report on other news subject to bias by commission.

See? Just your everyday honest, unbiased news outlet. No agenda there, nopenopenopenope.

See also this WaPo article.

Technorati Tags: Murtha, Swift Boat, smear, hypocrisy