A CNN anchor who smeared Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) over his military service to give cover to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz who misled people about his, has now walked it back.
Walz, who was tabbed as Democrat nominee Kamala Harris’s running mate, has been the focus of controversy over alleged “stolen valor” and carrying a gun during wartime. On Thursday, Brianna Keilar showed that she’s little more than a Democratic Party activist by trying to besmirch Vance over his service with the Marines in Iraq.
Keilar was forced into damage control mode after being burned by the backlash over her smearing of Vance as an “imperfect messenger” to criticize Walz by suggesting to her viewers that the GOP vice presidential candidate was lying about his combat duty.
(Video: CNN)
“Informed observers connected to politics or the military, myself included, have noted that the Trump campaign is ‘swiftboating’ Tim Walz. Attacks on J.D. Vance’s service are also offensive,” Keilar began, referring to the term concocted to dismiss accounts from veterans that 2004 Democrat nominee John Kerry lied about his Vietnam service.
“J.D. Vance served honorably in Iraq, a combat zone where anything can happen and frequently does. As he said in his book, he was, quote, ‘lucky to escape any real fighting.’ That doesn’t make his service less than. ‘Lucky,’ he says. And luck is often what makes the difference in a combat zone or even a training mission. That today is not your day,” she said.
“In a country where so few shoulder the burden, military service should not be a liability, it should be an asset,” Keilar continued. “And despite our recent years as a country at war, many service members haven’t seen combat. That doesn’t make them or their service less admirable, or less necessary. Nor does retiring from the National Guard after 24 years. These kinds of attacks from the left or the right diminish the service of so many others who have served honorably, who sacrifice time away from family, who put themselves in harm’s way because the military is made largely of J.D. Vances and Tim Walzs.”
“They have unique insight into what America’s men and women in the armed forces and their families have been through and need, and shouldn’t that be the focus?” Keilar asked. “This is a presidential race for commander-in-chief, and so often, that candidate or the running mate has never personally served even as they vie to make decisions about sending people into dangerous situations.”
Keilar’s false equivalence between Vance and the truth-challenged Minnesota governor went sideways nearly immediately after the words left her lips with the senator taking to X to slam the regime media muppet and her employer.
Brianna this is disgusting, and you and your entire network should be ashamed of yourselves.
When I got the call to go to Iraq, I went.
Tim Walz said he carried a gun in a war. Did he? No. It was a lie. https://t.co/kt0oxzZb83
— JD Vance (@JDVance) August 8, 2024
“Brianna this is disgusting, and you and your entire network should be ashamed of yourselves,” Vance wrote. “When I got the call to go to Iraq, I went. Tim Walz said he carried a gun in a war. Did he? No. It was a lie.”
Keilar may have walked back her “disgusting” smear but she stopped well short of an apology.
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