You Punch A Bully In The Nose

During the first Yearly Kos convention in Las Vegas, I remember heading to my room and encountering a hotel guest with a Southern accent who wasn't an attendee. She asked me what the gathering was all about and I explained that it was a convention for a Democratic website. We got out of the elevator and right before she went into her room she turned to me and said, "I still don't like John Kerry."

It occurred to me that if I had said "I don't like George Bush" unsolicited, I would be seen as an angry vituperative blogger. But after reading this I think I understood why she didn't like Kerry. During the campaign, he didn't have the gumption to stand up for himself. That was Kerry the Presidential candidate, a construction of consultants. Kerry the man has no such problem.

Sen. John Kerry, whose 2004 presidential campaign was torpedoed by critics of his Vietnam War record, said Friday he has personally accepted Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens’ offer of $1 million to anyone who can disprove even a single charge of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

"While I am prepared to show they lied on allegation after allegation, you have generously offered to pay one million dollars for just one thing that can be proven false," Kerry wrote to Pickens. "I am prepared to prove the lie beyond any reasonable doubt."

The Massachusetts Democrat, a Navy veteran and former prosecutor, said he was willing to present his case directly to Pickens and would donate any proceeds to the Paralyzed Veterans of America.

In an interview, Kerry added: "It’s beyond me; it’s important for all the vets who served with me, who cared about it, whose own records were lied about. The problem is, it’s the way they operate on the other side, and we have to end swift-boating forever. The way to do that is to have this public accounting."

T. Boone Pickens is one of America's worst people, a filthy rich oilman who is one of the behind-the-scenes forces behind movement conservatism. He made a crack that he would give a million dollars to anyone who disproved any Swiftie allegation, expecting nobody to take him up on it. As soon as John Kerry challenged him, Pickens started changing everything around:

In his response, Pickens wrote: "I am certainly open to your challenge," but he said he would not pay Kerry unless the senator first provided him with copies of his wartime journals, as well as movies he shot while on patrol and his complete military records for 1971 to 1978.

Pickens said such documentation, which the group has previously sought, would be needed to disprove its ads.

"When you have done so, if you can then prove anything in the ads was materially untrue, I will gladly award $1 million. As you know, I have been a long and proud supporter of the American military and veterans’ causes," Pickens wrote.

He also proposed a counter-challenge: "If you cannot prove anything in the Swift Boat ads to be untrue, that you will make a $1 million gift to the charity I am choosing — the (Congressional) Medal of Honor Foundation."

Now who's being defensive? T. Boone Pickens is a bully, who thinks that the fact that he has more money than God will sufficiently stop anyone who dares to challenge him. John Kerry did and now he's changing things around, moving the goalposts and generally running scared.

This was a good response.

In his letter to Pickens, the senator challenged the billionaire’s honor.

“I trust that you are a man of your word, having made a very public challenge at a major Washington dinner, and look forward to taking you up on this challenge,” Kerry wrote.

Why is this important? Because liars and con artists ought to be exposed for what they are. The Swift Boat allegations may be old news, but John Kerry is offering a model for the next Democrat in the line of fire. We all wish he had done this sooner, but it's great that he's doing it now.