"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
news:fnctg.6780

Character assassination is not a sole tactic of the left wing. The combat
service records of Murtha, Kerry and McCain were all attacked by the
right.

They were? Have any examples?

You've already suggested that the Swift Boat thing wasn't
politically-motivated, which is ludicrous because it only came about when
Kerry became a leading candidate in the Presidential race. But, a
three-minute websearch yields plenty of examples:

[1]

"Rep. Jean Schmidt flung the word "coward" at a decorated war veteran from
Pennsylvania last week, but the Ohio Republican's comments landed with a
splat in her own Cincinnati district, where some supporters are backing away
as she scrambles to explain what she meant."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...112201699.html

[2]

"Summary: Rush Limbaugh twice falsely claimed that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)
had "admitted that torture worked on him" during his five years as a
prisoner of war in North Vietnam.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200512090006 [There's even VIDEO.]

[3]
Keating describes in detail how, in 1992, Sampley commenced a "scurrilous"
crusade to punish McCain:

"Sampley ... accused McCain of being a weak-minded coward who had escaped
death by collaborating with the enemy. Sampley claimed that McCain had first
been compromised by the Vietnamese, then recruited by the Soviets.

"To those who know McCain and are familiar with his behavior in captivity,
the charge is ludicrous. McCain resisted his captors to such a degree that
he was isolated in a special prison for troublemakers. He repeatedly refused
special favors, including early release, and emerged as a spiritual and
religious leader for other prisoners. Nonetheless, Sampley was persistent
enough in his claims that the press in McCain's home state of Arizona picked
up on the KGB story."

In 1992, Sampley wrote a long article that portrayed McCain as a "Manchurian
candidate," who had betrayed America to the North Vietnamese and then
enlisted as a secret Communist agent . But it wasn't until seven years later
that the celebrated Navy pilot and ex-POW found out how much damage such
smears could inflict. After McCain declared his presidential candidacy in
1999, Sampley revived the "Manchurian candidate" smear as a convenient
weapon for the Senator's political enemies.
http://dir.salon.com/story/opinion/c...ear/index.html