Is the Swiftboating beginning?

Update August 2009: Bluestem Prairie welcomes readers coming in to this post via Dave Thul's blog, Domestic and Foreign.

If you were expecting to visit the Walz campaign web site, this isn't that web site.

Please note that Bluestem Prairie is a personal web site which is independent of any candidate, political party, political action committee, 527, corporation, nonprofit or association. From July 2006 through early April 2009, it focused primarily on Minnesota's First Congressional District, where the owner and blogger Sally Jo Sorensen was born and raised. Beginning in June 2009, this site began to be a New Media venue for progressive Minnesota writers living in Greater Minnesota.

Thank you for visiting

Sally Jo Sorensen
Editor and Proprietor, Bluestem Prairie

[end update]

A letter in today's Mankato's Free Press:

Back in February, from here at LSA Anaconda, Balad Air Base in Iraq, I sent an email to Tim Walz, who is running for Congress.  Walz has failed to respond, so through this letter I'll ask him again. 

I have read the information on his military career. It is impressive and has gained him significant support, to include Al Franken. It strongly suggests that he fought in Iraq or Afghanistan, but does not say which country. Because the information is not classified, Walz can tell the voters where he deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan and his BOG (boots on the ground) dates.

If Walz did not deploy downrange, he should say so.

Will he answer this time?

Major Walter Gates
Mankato

The letter is not yet online as I transcribe it from the print edition.

Gates came away with the impression that Walz fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Tim Walz has always been quite clear that while he was deployed with his National Guard battalion as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, he did not serve in country, but rather in a support function overseas. 

Let's take a look at some of these representations.  The DCCC has this:

After he was named the Outstanding Young Nebraskan by the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce for his service in the education, military, and small business communities, Walz served overseas with his battalion in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

From his web site bio:

Prior to retiring, Walz served overseas with his battalion in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Operation Enduring Freedom is the name for the conflict in Afghanistan. Surely Gates knows this, as well as what "in support of" means.

But don't take my word for it.  Major Gates could go straight to the one Walz supporter whom he mentions in the letter: Al Franken.  On Tuesday, January 24, 2006, Air America  featured Tim Walz as a "Fighting Dem." Here's what the Air America web site says:

Tim Walz is a National Guard vet, a high school history teacher and served in Italy in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Walz, spent 24 years in the Army National Guard before retiring in the spring as a command sergeant major.

UPDATE: Tim Walz has also been pretty clear about his service in interviews and news articles.  Take this exchange in the widely  circulated City Pages interview:

CP: You are a member of the Minnesota National Guard. How long was your active service?

Walz: I did two stints where I was full-time. I did it in 1989 and then again in 1992. Then in '03 and '04 I did 10 months with Operation Enduring Freedom, where, by luck of the draw, I served in Italy. It was originally Turkey or Iraq and then they changed it to Enduring Freedom and I said, "That's Afghanistan." But they said, "You guys are going to do the supply lines between Turkey and England." We provided total base security and the training for soldiers coming in.

And in an article in Capital Eye, a money-in-politics newsletter from the Center for Responsive Politics, Walz provided straight-forward information about his service:

Walz, who participated in Operation Enduring Freedom—the U.S. military action in Afghanistan—from a base in Italy, called fundraising a “necessary evil” and said he doesn’t like making calls outside of his district.

And here's an excerpt from a  2004 Nick Coleman column about Walz' threatened ejection from the Bush rally, the incident that late prompted Walz to run for office after he had retired from the National Guard:

Walz is a first sergeant in the 125th Field Artillery Battalion in New Ulm. He returned in April from duty providing security at a U.S. base in Italy. (Star Tribune, August 13, 2004)

From a Roll Call article reprinted on Veterans for America in 2005:

Tim Walz, for his part, served in Italy in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Now back in Minnesota, the Mankato High School teacher is taking on Rep. Gil Gutknecht (R-Minn.) next year.

From the BBC in March 2006 in an article about veterans running for office:

Also running are Bronze Star winner Patrick Murphy (Pennsylvania), Joseph Sestak Jr (Pennsylvania) a Navy veteran, and Tim Walz (Minnesota) who served in Italy in support of the Afghan mission.

Sure, sometimes bloggers and supporters get things wrong. (I had to edit a post by Evil Bobby that was up for a nanosecond). But often, the online community of Walz supporters posts corrections.  Witness this comment by DFL Veterans Caucus chair Nancy Gertner on  MNPublius.

Comments

[chancuff]

LARRY BAILEY (BOOTMURTHA.COM) OCTOBER 1ST RALLY IN JOHNSTOWN, PA.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Cliff Hancuff
September 29, 2006 [email protected]



"American troops could be home now, except for critical mistakes by our current Commander in Chief," charges Cliff Hancuff, Director of The World of Journalism Is Flat, Too.

"Media and right-wing bloggers are ignoring this fact. For weeks I have been challenging political activists and journalists to act with a minimum of ethical standards," continued Hancuff.

"I became involved when the Sun-Sentinel in Florida reported that Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) said the U.S. poses the top threat to world peace. I watched in dismay as the media and bloggers worldwide reported on this misquote."

"My involvement continued when I discovered Diana Irey, John Murtha's political opponent, had attacked Murtha using a fictional quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln."

"Larry Bailey of bootmurtha.com is continuing his three year blind support of our current Commander in Chief's incompetence in war. President Bush declared war in Iraq without the 4th Infantry, our most lethal, modern, and deployable heavy division in the world," added Hancuff.

This mistake lead to the atrocity of Al Qaqaa. Iraqi insurgents stole hundreds of tons of high explosives to be used as weaponry.

"These are the explosives being used by Iraqi insurgents and al Qaeda to perpetuate the war in Iraq."

"I am distressed that the same issues ignored by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004 are being ignored again in 2006," said Hancuff adding, "Americans, American soldiers and their families deserve better."

"Without these critical mistakes made by our current Commander in Chief, our American troops would be home with their loved ones, with honor, right now."

On October 1, 2006 Hancuff be at the Cambria County War Memorial Arena located in Johnstown Pennsylvania for Larry Bailey's Swiftboating of John Murtha rally. It is there Hancuff will continue his wait for Mr. Bailey to recall the values of honor and integrity taught him by our US Navy.

There is a youtube.com video online at:

YouTube - Rovian Architecture Unplugged

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5jcyHokFyE


The World of Journalism Is Flat, Too

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