WOW! The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have released their second ad "Sellout", and it is devastating. It gave me serious chills. No wonder the media assault began yesterday, they probably knew this ad was about to be released. Chris Matthews is going to have a heart attack after seeing this!

Hugh Hewitt had this to say about the new ad:

The new Swift Boat vets' ad switches from attacking John Kerry for exaggerating his own record to an attack on John Kerry's slander on the records of other vets. This is devastating. The day after John Kerry complains about having his war service questioned, the new ad underscores how Kerry did far worse to thousands of vets. Kerry built himself up over the years into a brave captain traveling deep into Cambodian waters to run guns, drop off SEALs and CIA men (hatless) etc. He did so after condemning a generation of soldiers and Marines as war criminals. He wanted to be praised for his own bravery even after he torched the reputations of hundreds of thousands of Vietnam-era vets.

Hindrocket at Powerline adds this:

This ad is absolutely devastating. It intersperses shots of Kerry testifying before a Senate committee on alleged atrocities in Vietnam with live appearances by veterans who describe the devastating effects of Kerry's sellout of his fellow servicemen. One of the vets says that Kerry gave the North Vietnamese for free what he and other POWs endured torture rather than fabricate--confessions of atrocities. Absolutely devastating.

One of the striking things about the ad is Kerry's voice. Kerry was a young man when he testified before the Senate, but he sounded then exactly the way he sounds now--smug, pompous, pretentious. It is infuriating to hear that voice smugly recounting his third-hand charges.

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President Bush is currently leading Kerry by eighteen points among veterans. It is hard to believe that many veterans who see this ad will vote for Kerry. It will be interesting to see how Kerry responds to this one. He can't very well say that the Vets are lying, since the ad consists mostly of him talking. And the timing is great: Kerry and his media minions have just attacked the Vets as liars who are distorting his record. This new ad pretty well knocks the props out from under that defense.

The Times will have to get cracking on a new story.

John Cole at Balloon Juice says this:

Should be entertaining watching Matthews, Carville, and Media Matters attacking the character of several men who were held as POW's for 6 years.

Update: Polipundit reports that the Swift Boat Vets raised over $300,000 over the Internet yesterday. You can contribute here to help air this ad. The more Kerry complains about them, the more they will continue to raise money.

Captain Ed had this to say about the new ad:

The strategy of the Swiftvets is nothing short of brilliant. Some people questioned why they didn't just start out talking about this instead of going after Kerry's service. It turns out that they knew a lot more than the naysayers could have imagined -- and they forced Kerry to withdraw a myth he's sold ever since 1979 about Cambodia. In fact, that effort has so unnerved Kerry that his campaign continues to put out changing stories two weeks later.

The predictable reaction to that would be a full-frontal assault on the motives and methods of the Swiftvets, which the New York Times and Washington Post helpfully provided this week. Some, including Mickey Kaus' bosses at Slate, considered the story to be over, as Mickey related on Hugh Hewitt tonight. But these military men know how to counterattack, too, and this ad provides the answer to the Times/Post shilling for the official Kerry position. Hardly motivated by Republican money, these men have a real grievance with Kerry that goes back a very long time, and when you see the commercial, you understand how sincere and deep that grievance runs.

No silly charts pointing to Karl Rove can get Kerry off of this hook. He set this trap himself 33 years ago, and the Swiftvets merely have forced him into it. The man who claims to have the superior intellect required to run the free world just got outfoxed again, this time by 250 men determined not to allow a man who dishonored them take command of the armed forces of this country.