Playing the Lottery

Actually, I think my lotto odds would be slightly better, but here's a letter I wrote to the Washington Post in response to this editorial by Joshua Muravchik, who works for the American Enterprise Institute, which Today in Iraq appropriately calls a "stink tank."

Editor,

Once again, an individual, in this case Joshua Muravchik, apparently is too stupid to verify a statement he attributes to John Kerry:

As leader of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Kerry accused American soldiers of "war crimes . . . committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command."

Here is Mr. Kerry's actual quote:

I would like to talk, representing all those veterans, and say that several months ago in Detroit, we had an investigation at which over 150 honorably discharged and many very highly decorated veterans testified to war crimes committed in Southeast Asia, not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command....
Source

A five year old might have some difficulty in understanding the difference between making an accusation and recounting the testimony of others. However, I would like to think that ostensible adults like Mr. Muravchik are capable of grasping this relatively simple distinction. If he is an ignorant man, please do not waste space in your paper with such drivel. If, on the other hand, he is deliberately distorting Mr. Kerry's statement, then he should not only be banned from your paper, but thoroughly condemned.

Political debate is rancorous enough without adding fuel to the fire by misquoting someone. Do your readers a favor and explain this to Mr. Muravchik--and tell him to refrain from such idiocy in the future.

Regards,


I've noted before that I'm not so much high on John Kerry as I am on beating Bush--but I'm not going to sit and take crap from the likes of Mr. Muravchik--who received a carbon copy...

If by some miracle the letter actually DOES get published--well, maybe I'll go buy a few lotto tickets...