Washington whispers

The issue of the Weekly Standard out this morning seeks to raise the profile of the Vietnam-related issues the Kerry campaign and the media have sought to avoid over the past two weeks. Last night we linked to Matthew Continetti’s article reviewing the Kurtz chronicles, “The Kerry wars.”
This morning the Standard has also posted the article by Fred Barnes, “The bloody shirt is back.” In recounting the history of “waving the bloody shirt” as a campaign tactic, Barnes reminds us of the postbellum Republican slogan (new to me): “Every [dead] Union soldier was downed by a Democrat.”
And Drudge has flagged this article from this morning’s Washington Post: “Some veterans still bitter at talk of crimes.” For some additional evidence on the point of the Post article, see the messages from our readers below.