Several soldiers who served with Bowe Bergdahl, the recently freed U.S. prisoner of war in Afghanistan, would like to tell you how to deal with that dirtbag. They don't want to get into the politics, but they have ideas. Would you like to book them for your show? Just call the Republican strategists representing them. 
 
 Many soldiers who served with or searched for Bergdahl after he was taken prisoner in Afghanistan are justifiably angry about the circumstances surrounding his Taliban capture. The preponderance of the evidence suggests he probably deserted his Army post, and the search for him cost American materiel and lives. But rather than waiting for a military process to answer those questions and pronounce judgment on Bergdahl—the Army's top general, in fact, said today that charges are still possible—several of the soldiers have agreed to participate in a GOP-run dog-and-pony show, swift-boat style, for electoral advantage. 
 
 How do we know? We read it in the New York Times this morning: 
 
 The release of Sergeant Bergdahl (he was promoted in captivity) has created political problems for the Obama administration, which is having to defend his exchange for five Taliban detainees held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, but it also presents delicate politics for Republicans who are attacking, through surrogates, America's last known prisoner of war... "Yes, I'm angry," Joshua Cornelison, a former medic in Sergeant Bergdahl's platoon, said in an interview on Monday arranged by Republican strategists. "Everything that we did in those days was to advance the search for Bergdahl"... "He wouldn't drink beer or eat barbecue and hang out with the other 20-year-olds," Cody Full, another member of Sergeant Bergdahl's platoon, said in an interview on Monday also arranged by Republican strategists. "He was always in his bunk. He ordered Rosetta Stone for all the languages there, learning Dari and Arabic and Pashto." 
 
 Okay, but they are soldiers who were there, and they're just giving the facts, right? 
 
 The furious search for Sergeant Bergdahl, his critics say, led to the deaths of at least two soldiers and possibly six others in the area. Pentagon officials say those charges are unsubstantiated and are not supported by a review of a database of casualties in the Afghan war... A review of the database of casualties in the Afghan war suggests that Sergeant Bergdahl's critics appear to be blaming him for every American soldier killed in Paktika Province in the four-month period that followed his disappearance. Mr. Cornelison and Mr. Full both said they wanted to see Sergeant Bergdahl court-martialed as a deserter. "I'm not going to speak on the political, but I think that now that he's back, he needs to be held accountable," Mr. Full said. Mr. Cornelison echoed Mr. Full. "I won't get into the politics, but now that he's back he needs to be held 100 percent accountable," he said. "For putting myself and 29 other people in my platoon in hell for 90 days." 
 
 Not that this couldn't be predicted: As we noted yesterday, Cody Full, one of the soldiers provided to the Times by those GOP flacks (he's already made the rounds on Fox News, as well), has spent the last few weeks on Twitter castigating "libtard[s]" and decrying minimum wage hikes. 
 
 All soldiers have the right to relate their stories. Listening to them adds to our understanding of their lives and experiences, and it gives them agency and closure that doesn't always come at the end of their tour. Sometimes that entails an emotional rant—one that makes listeners uncomfortable—and that's okay. 
 
 But when you massage that emotion into a prepackaged, bloody-shirt-waving, data-denying political missile concealed as a neutral account—"one soldier's story"—you're "speaking on the political" before you even you open your mouth. 
 
 Update: Via Rosie Gray at Buzzfeed: 
 
 WASHINGTON — A former Bush Administration official hired, then resigned, as Mitt Romney's foreign policy spokesman played a key role in publicizing critics of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the released prisoner of war. The involvement of Richard Grenell, who once served as a key aide to Bush-era U.S. ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton and later worked for Romney's 2012 campaign, comes as the Bergdahl release has turned into an increasingly vicious partisan issue... 
 
 Grenell and his current business partner, Brad Chase, have spent the morning angrily tweeting that while they are the "Republican strategists" identified by the Times, they are not Republican strategists. They simply gathered all these soldiers to trash Bergdahl and the DOD and President Obama out of their desire to get the truth out, because there was clearly no possible way that could have happened without them. 
 
 Media bookers who brought the soldiers on air seem to feel differently, according to Gray: 
 
 "Obviously Ric is a well known Republican and these guys found him on Twitter and reached out asking for help in getting their story out," Chase said. "Ric obviously saw that this is something that needed to be told and came to me and others in our firm, and I and some of the others determined that this was a story that we wanted to work on." Chase said the New York Times' referring to them as "Republican strategists" was "100% factually inaccurate" because he himself is not a Republican. But a producer for the Michael Berry show, a radio show that one of the soldiers spoke on told BuzzFeed that Grenell was the point of contact for the bookings. 
 
 So let us clarify: Brad Chase is not a "Republican strategist." He voted for Kerry! He is simply working for Republican strategist Richard Grenell and uses his Twitter feed to antagonize Democrats and has campaigned to get the Keystone XL pipeline approved, boost "clean coal," support fracking, and limit Medicare coverage, and just happens to be helping Grenell in this well-intentioned campaign to get earned media for soldiers to opine on politics above and beyond their experience levels in a way that could score points against the Obama administration in an election year. 
 
 Now, stop politicizing this! ||||| [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]NATION... LAST WEEK I TOLD YOU 
 
 ABOUT RESCUED ARMY SERGEANT BOWEBERGDAHL AND THE GROWING CABLE 
 
 NEWS CONSENSUS THAT HE DOES NOTDESERVE TO BE ALIVE. 
 
 ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU CONSIDER WHOWE GAVE UP FOR HIM. 
 
 >> FIVE TALIBAN KILLERS,ESSENTIALLY THE CABINET OF THE 
 
 TALIBAN. 
 
 >> IT'S NOT JUST ANY RANDOMACCUSED TERRORISTS BUT FIVE 
 
 TALIBAN COMMANDERS. 
 
 >> SOUTH CAROLINA SENATORLINDSEY GRAHAM IS CALLING THE 
 
 FORMER DETAINEES THE "TALIBANDREAM TEAM." 
 
 >> THE PRESIDENT SWAPPED ANALLEGED DESERTER FOR THE TALIBAN 
 
 DREAM TEAM. 
 
 >> THE TALIBAN DREAM TEAM. 
 
 >> THE DREAM TEAM. 
 
 >> WE GAVE UP THE DREAM TEAM. 
 
 GREAT! 
 
 [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]GREAT. 
 
 NOW WHO ARE WE GOING TO SEND TOTHE RIO OLYMPICS IN 2016? 
 
 ABDUL WAS DEADLY IN THE PAINT. 
 
 WELL, DEADLY PRETTY MUCHEVERYWHERE, BUT ESPECIALLY THE 
 
 PAINT. 
 
 MEANWHILE, BERGDAHL'S A DESERTERWHO DID BALLET, WHOSE DAD HAS A 
 
 BEARD AND WHO PURSUED ALIFESTYLE THAT 99% OF AMERICANS 
 
 CANNOT RELATE TO, VOLUNTEERINGTO FIGHT IN AFGHANISTAN. 
 
 THE POINT IS: EVERYTHING ABOUTBERGDAHL IS AN AFFRONT TO THE 
 
 HEROS WHO SERVE ON THE FRONTLINES OF FOX NEWS. 
 
 >> BERGDAHL MAY HAVE EVENCOLLABORATED WITH THE ENEMY, THE 
 
 TALIBAN. 
 
 >> CLEARLY THE WORDS ARE WRITTENON THE WALL THAT HE WAS A 
 
 DESERTER. 
 
 >> A LOSER, A DESERTER WHO HASKILLED MEN. 
 
 >> HE'S A TRAITOR. 
 
 >> IT SEEMS TO ME HE'S PRETTYLUCKY HE WAS BROUGHT HOME THE 
 
 WAY HE WAS BECAUSE IF THOSESPECIAL FORCES HAD FOUND HIM, HE 
 
 WOULD HAVE COME HOME EITHER IN ABODY BAG OR COME HOME AND GONE 
 
 STRAIGHT TO JAIL. 
 
 >> THAT'S RIGHT, KIMBERLY. 
 
 IF OUR SOLDIERS HAD FOUND HIM,THEY MIGHT HAVE ARRESTED HIM, 
 
 BUT THEY JUST AS LIKELY WOULDHAVE MURDERED HIM IN A HEROIC 
 
 ACT OF VIGILANTE JUSTICE LIKE INTHE MOVIE 
 
 "FRAGGING PRIVATE RYAN." 
 
 [LAUGHTER]BUT EVEN MORE DISTURBING, EVEN 
 
 MORE DISTURBING THAN THE RESCUEOF THIS TRAITOROUS DESERTER WHO 
 
 DESERVED A FIELD EXECUTION ISTHE POSSIBILITY THAT HIS FIVE 
 
 YEARS OF TALIBAN CAPTIVITY MIGHTHAVE HAD SOME SAD PARTS THAT 
 
 MAKE HIM SYMPATHETIC. 
 
 >> BERGDAHL HAS TOLD MILITARYOFFICIALS HIS CAPTIVITY WAS A 
 
 TERRIFYING AND LONELY ORDEALWITH LONG PERIODS OF SOLITARY 
 
 CONFINEMENT THAT ONLY GOT WORSEWHEN HE TRIED TO ESCAPE. 
 
 >> ARMY SERGEANT BOWE BERGDAHLIS TELLING HIS DOCTORS THAT THE 
 
 TALIBAN TORTURED AND BEAT HIMDURING FIVE YEARS OF CAPTIVITY. 
 
 >> DURING ALL THIS TIME, HESTRUCK TO HIS RELIGION, 
 
 CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 THE TALIBAN SAY THAT THEY GAVEHIM PERMISSION TO CELEBRATE 
 
 CHRISTMAS. 
 
 >> Stephen: AND WORSE, WHILEHE WAS CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS, 
 
 THE TALIBAN WISHED HIM HAPPYHOLIDAYS. 
 
 FOLKS, FOLKS, THIS IS SO UNFAIR. 
 
 HOW CAN BERGDAHL BE A GOODCHRISTIAN? 
 
 YOU DON'T SEE JESUS WALKING OFFINTO THE DESERT. 
 
 IS THERE ANY WAY... IS THERE ANYWAY WE CAN SAY THAT HIS TORTURE 
 
 WASN'T SO BAD? 
 
 >> HE DID, BERGDAHL, ADMIT THATHE WAS TORTURED BY THE TALIBAN 
 
 AND KEPT IN A CAGE AFTER ANATTEMPT TO ESCAPE IS WHAT HIS 
 
 ACCOUNT IS RELAYING RIGHT NOW. 
 
 >> YEAH, SO THAT WAS REPORTED ONFRIDAY THAT THEY HAD A 
 
 CUSTOMIZED CAGE WITH HIM ANDLEFT HIM IN THERE MAYBE IN 
 
 SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. 
 
 >> THIS GUY HAD HIS OWNCUSTOMIZED CAGE? 
 
 OH, I COULDN'T POSSIBLY BECONFINED IN AN OFF-THE-SHELF 
 
 CAGE. 
 
 I'M TOO FANCY FOR THAT. 
 
 I WANT ONE WITH BRUSHED STEELBARS AND A MONOGRAMMED POOP 
 
 BUCKET. 
 
 OKAY, OKAY, THAT'S A GOOD START. 
 
 HE'S GOT FANCY CAGE. 
 
 BUT COULD WE MAKE IT SEEM LIKEHE ACTUALLY LIKED THESE GUYS? 
 
 >> IT SHOULDN'T BE A SURPRISE TOANYONE THAT HE WAS TORTURED AND 
 
 IT WAS HORRIFIC. 
 
 THERE WAS A REPORT TOO ON THISCHANNEL THAT BY THE END OF HIS 
 
 CAPTIVITY, HE WAS PLAYING SOCCERWITH THESE GUYS. 
 
 >> Stephen: PLAYING SOCCERWITH THESE GUYS? 
 
 FOR ALL WE KNOW THE TALIBAN'SMOM BROUGHT ORANGE SLICES. 
 
 IT SOUNDS FUN. 
 
 I'M BETTING GETTING CAPTURED WASCLEARLY HIS GOOOOOOOAL! 
 
 [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]BUT CAN WE PROVE THAT BEND IT 
 
 [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]BUT CAN WE PROVE THAT BEND IT 
 
 LIKE BERGDAHL HERE IS ON THETALIBAN'S SIDE? 
 
 WELL, LUCKILY CNN FOUND A WAY TOBOIL THIS COMPLEX STORY DOWN TO 
 
 THE ONE QUESTION THAT MATTERS:DO YOU WATCH "HOMELAND"? 
 
 >> IT'S A STORY WITH SO MANYSUBPLOTS THAT NO WONDER MANY ARE 
 
 COMPARING BERGDAHL TO BRODY, THEFREED AMERICAN HOSTAGE ON 
 
 SHOWTIME'S "HOMELAND." 
 
 >> YOU ALMOST THINK YOU'REWATCHING "HOMELAND." 
 
 >> Stephen: YES, AND I'DALMOST THINK I WAS WATCHING THE 
 
 NEWS. 
 
 [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]YOU SEE, BERGDAHL'S STORY IS 
 
 [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]YOU SEE, BERGDAHL'S STORY IS 
 
 EXACTLY LIKE THE SHOWTIME DRAMA"HOMELAND" ABOUT A RESCUED 
 
 P.O.W. WHO MAY HAVE BEENBRAINWASHED BY ISLAMIC RADICALS. 
 
 IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT, THESIMILARITIES ARE NEARLY 
 
 EXISTENT. 
 
 >> LOOK AT THE SHOWS. 
 
 THERE WERE FAMILIES INVOLVED. 
 
 THERE WAS A REINTEGRATION BACKIN SOCIETY. 
 
 >> THE SHOW "HOMELAND"ORIGINATED IN ISRAEL. AND ISRAEL 
 
 HAD REAL-LIFE EXPERIENCE WITHTHESE PRISONER SWAPS. 
 
 HOPEFULLY HE WASN'T WATCHING"HOMELAND" AND MODELING HIS 
 
 STORY AFTER THAT BECAUSE ITDOESN'T END WELL FOR BRODY 
 
 YES, I CERTAINLY HOPE HEWASN'T WATCHING SHOWTIME IN HIS 
 
 CUSTOMIZED TALIBAN CAGE. 
 
 [APPLAUSE]OR WORSE, STARZ. 
 
 THAT IS TORTURE. 
 
 FOLKS, IT ALL LINES UP. 
 
 THEY BOTH HAVE FAMILIES. 
 
 THEY BOTH COME FROM SOCIETY. 
 
 HOMELAND ORIGINATED IN ISRAELAND BERGDAHL IS REAL. 
 
 I'M TELLING YOU, I'M TELLINGYOU, FOLKS, YOU CANNOT MAKE THIS 
 
 STUFF UP, ALTHOUGH WE WILLCONTINUE TO TRY. 
 
 WE'LL BE RIGHT BACK. 
 
 [CHEERING AND APPLAUSE]
– The world has been hearing lately from soldiers criticizing freed soldier Bowe Bergdahl. While they have a right to their opinions, much of the publicity they're currently getting is thanks to a "GOP-run dog-and-pony show" reminiscent of the Swift Boat campaign against John Kerry, writes Adam Weinstein at Gawker. For evidence, he points to the New York Times, which spoke to several of these soldiers. The piece notes that the interviews were "arranged by Republican strategists." What's more, according to the Pentagon, claims of deaths linked to the search for Bergdahl aren't backed up by data. Both soldiers who spoke to the Times say they don't want to get political. But when you're supporting a "data-denying political missile" by calling it "a neutral account … you're 'speaking on the political' before you even you open your mouth," Weinstein writes. At Salon, Elias Isquith notices a similar problem: When soldiers don't conform to flag-waving GOP "fantasies," they're turned from heroes to "charlatans—or maybe even traitors." Click for his full piece; Weinstein's is here.