John Kerry testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by William Fulbright, in April 1971. Photo UPI
Posted on 08/20/2004 10:50:50 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
US Senator John Kerry’s campaign team today called for a book which contains “proven falsehoods” about the presidential candidate’s Vietnam war record to be taken off the shelves.
Unfit for Command, written by a former US sailor who served in Vietnam, alleges that Mr Kerry lied to win his war medals.
It also claims that the former Swift Boat captain, who hopes to oust George Bush from the White House in November, won a silver star for bravery by actually shooting a lone, fleeing teenage Viet Cong soldier in the back.
Mr Kerry yesterday made his first direct attack on a group called “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth”, which made the damaging claims.
He said President Bush “wants them to do his dirty work”.
Today, Kerry campaign spokesman Chad Clanton suggested on the online news site Salon.com that the publisher, Regnery, should withdraw the book from sale.
“No publisher should want to be selling books with proven falsehoods in them, especially falsehoods that are meant to smear the military service of an American veteran,” he said.
“If I were them, I’d be ducking under my desk wondering what to do. This is a serious problem.”
On its website, Regnery publicises books such as The Official Handbook of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, which offers “all the ammunition you need to help you win every argument against loony liberals” and Persecution: How Liberals Are Waging War Against Christianity.
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth has also launched a series of adverts criticising Senator Kerry, from Massachusetts. The ads are being funded by a wealthy Texan Republican donor.
Senator Kerry has used his former Swift Boat crewmates heavily during his campaign.
Many appeared with him on stage at the Democratic National Convention in Boston last month.
The White House hopeful has made political capital out of his service, telling convention delegates: “I defended this country as a young man and I will defend it as president.”
He returned from Vietnam after being wounded three times and became a prominent campaigner against the war.
Some veterans never forgave him for the anti-war stance he adopted and for his claims that some US troops committed atrocities in Vietnam.
Of course, I want Kerry to show what "proven falsehoods" there are in the book.
As, he has YET to be able to prove ANY...
John Kerry testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by William Fulbright, in April 1971. Photo UPI
Ha ha, they going to pull all of Moore's stuff too ?
New Swifty adv: http://humaneventsonline.com.edgesuite.net/unfit_video2.html
Nice. International coverage of Kerry's Campaign stepping on a supersize banana peel.
Look out below...
Dick Clarke's pathetic book has been proven to contain falsehoods by the 911 commission; was it withdrawn? joe wilson's "yellow cake" op-ed piece has been proven to be founded upon one big lie; did the NYT retract it? joe wilson's subsequent book was based on assertions that were proven to be false before it was even published; was it published anyway? F911 is a proven pile of lies; will it still come out on DVD before the election?
why are hit jobs allowed against george bush, but not allowed against john kerry?
*gasps*
A Democrat advocating BOOK BANNING?
Say it isn't so!
</sarcasm>
CW..what's MOST fascinting about this whole SwiftBoat thing, is trhe list of Dems who have NOT come out and made public statement of support for Kerry and condemnation of the book..Neither Clinton has said anything..nor Chuckie SDchumer..and where's Terry McAuliffe..I could add mnay more..but it's very curious..
It's what they do.
This kind of strong-arm tactic has always increased interest in the book involved. I think it's a win-win for our side.
Of course the odds of the publisher withdrawing a #1 bestseller are, well, zero.
I still haven't been able to find my copy. My Borders store tells me that as soon as copies come in, they're sold out. It really looks like this is liberal bias, seeing that there were hundreds of unsold copies of the Clinton autobiography available. Surely you could reasonably predict a very high demand for a book that's received this kind of publicity?
D
Yet they continue to hype F911 as the gospel truth.
What a bunch of hypocrites!
The Kerry campaign has not specified a single false allegation in the book, AFAIK.
Just a little past banning, and they'll be burning. Then they'll be the Fahrenheit 411 party as well as the Fahrenheit 911 party!
So when do you think O'neill will get the Big 60 Minutes hourlong interview to promote HIS book?
This must be what it felt like when all of those DNC-agents trumped their books all spring and early summer.
Timing is everything in politics (don't fire until you see the deep, dark, empty caverns of their sallow eyes).
"Ich bin ein Waffen SS"
Maybe salon.com ought to withdraw itself...
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