Gene Grant on Pickens & the Democrats: fool me once...

marjorie says...

Gene takes on the Democrats this morning, wondering where the protesters were when T. Boone Pickens came to town given he was a primary bank-roller of the "swiftboating" of John Kerry.

For those of you who don't remember, that was the emergence of some Vietnam vets and conservative organizations who attacked Kerry's service in the Vietnam war, saying he didn't deserve his Purple Heart or Bronze and Silver medals. The attacks were so loud that they gained a lot of political traction even when virtually every one of the actual crew members who served with Kerry disputed the allegations.

At the time, I personally found it amazing that the Republicans would attack someone who served on a swift boat in Vietnam, given their usual deification of that kind of service.

Anyhow, I can only speculate, but these days I figure a lot of Democrats see Pickens as someone who's come over to the other side in a period in which Republicans have one, and only one it seems, mantra in their playbook: drill, drill, drill.

So, you know, it kinda goes like this-- "lets offer Pickens a little hospitality even if he did attack John Kerry's vietnam war service through rumor and innuendo."

But Gene's warning is a good one: fool me once, shame on you...fool me twice, shame on me. Pickens ain't no Democrat.

I do have one question about the column. Gene repeatedly uses the terms "progressive" and "Democrats" interchangeably. What's up with that? Are all Democrats in New Mexico progressives? Does the word have no meaning? Do tell.