corrente

Delegates to the Republican National Convention found a new way to take a jab at Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's Vietnam service record: by sporting adhesive bandages with small purple hearts on them.

Morton Blackwell, a prominent Virginia delegate, has been handing out the heart-covered bandages to delegates, who've worn them on their chins, cheeks, the backs of their hands and other places.

Blackwell is president of the Leadership Institute, a nonpartisan educational foundation he founded in 1979. According to its Web site, the institute prepares conservatives for success in politics, government and the news media.
(via CNN)

How low can they go, folks?

I mean, heck, they just de-valued every purple heart every awarded and they've certainly given the very clear impression that they don't give a damn about the blood of American veterans.

Surely soldiers and veterans are smart enough not to vote for these guys, right?

Bush clearly views our soldiers as his own personal green army men to do with as he pleases and, hey, who gives a damn if they die?

And those purple hearts (at least 3,700 of them so far have been awarded for his immoral war), they're not worth anything. They're worth so little W and the boys make fun of them.

I assume the media's going to run with this outrageous disrespect for veterans, right?

Oh yeah. I second Atrios -- feel free to contact Morton Blackwell's "Leadership Institute" and let them know what you think about this.

Despicable.

UPDATE So where the hell was the Kerry rapid response team on this one?

NEW YORK -- A GOP delegate handed out bandages with purple hearts on them Monday night at the Republican National Convention in a swipe at Democratic nominee John Kerry's war record, but national GOP officials have asked him to stop.

Party Chairman Ed Gillespie spoke to Blackwell, and they agreed that he would not distribute the bandages tonight, said GOP spokesman Jim Dyke.
(via Chicago Sun Times

An absolutely classic case of Republican over-reaching, and did the Democratic war room immediately take advantage? No! They give Gillespie a whole news cycle to shut it down. Get it together, guys!—Lambert