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Edited on Mon Aug-01-05 03:53 PM by JPZenger
In 1992, in the Lehigh Valley of PA. we had an ultra conservative House member, Don Ritter. Paul McHale was his Democratic opponent. McHale was a Colonel in the Marine Corps Reserves. He volunteered to go into active duty and served in the Persian Gulf War. When McHale came back to run for Congress, he promised that he would not run as a war hero - he would not mention his service in the War.
Then, Ritter's people started a desparate whisper campaign to claim that McHale had not really been in the war, but had spent his time "serving coffee to generals." This showed complete lack of understanding of the military - a full colonel doesn't serve coffee to anyone.
The ironic thing was - this rumor campaign caused more and more voters to become aware that McHale had served in the War. It had the exact opposite effect. McHale wouldn't bring up his service, but his opponents did. McHale defeated the incumbent and was later re-elected.
(McHale voluntarily did not run for re-election a few years later, and now is a high-ranking Assistant Secretary in the Dept. of Homeland Security.)
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