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A Senate hearing that began with glowing tributes to a St. Louis businessman and his qualifications to become ambassador to Belgium turned bitterly divisive Tuesday after he was accused of supporting a controversial conservative group. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., grilled nominee Sam Fox about why he donated $50,000 to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth during the 2004 presidential race. The group of Vietnam veterans made unsubstantiated allegations against Kerry – then the Democratic presidential nominee – and charged that Kerry did not deserve the medals he won in the Vietnam War. Fox, one of the nation's most generous contributors...

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide the reach of a federal law that bans certain broadcast advertisements before an election, a case with important implications for the 2008 presidential and congressional campaigns. The justices said they would decide a case involving an anti-abortion group called Wisconsin Right to Life in its free-speech challenge to a key part of a 2002 federal campaign finance law that seeks to limit the influence of money in politics. That part of the law bans corporations, unions and special interest groups from using unrestricted money to run television or radio...

An independent group that ran ads criticizing Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Hatch was funded mainly by a Houston homebuilder who helped finance the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth against John Kerry in 2004, a recent filing with the Internal Revenue Service shows. Bob Perry, owner of Perry Homes, contributed $500,000 to A Stronger America, whose Minnesota chapter spent about $750,000 on TV ads and direct mail. A spokesman for the chapter, known as A Stronger America-Minnesota, confirmed that all of the money donated by Perry was spent on the Minnesota effort. During the campaign between Hatch and GOP Gov. Tim...

Just announced on the FNC.

DES MOINES, Iowa A Democratic Congressional candidate from Iowa is canceling a campaign event later this week with Senator John Kerry. Brucy Braley says Kerry's recent comments about the Iraq war were inappropriate. Braley's decision to distance himself from Kerry came as a furor grew from comments Kerry made about the Iraq War during a campaign stop in California on Monday.

Little kids came to my door last night and we had a great time. They were dressed up as witches and knights and cowboys. Of course they aren’t any of these things. They are just little kids playing make believe. Yesterday we saw John Kerry dressed up as a man at his non apology press conference. He must have been on his way to a Halloween Party disguised as a man. On Halloween, people assume disguises to look like something they are not. John Kerry is not a man so his custom was perfect. But he ended up showing he...

Democrat's spending, tax policy criticized; campaign decries 'slander' -- NASHVILLE - A group funded by a Texan who was also the leading financer of "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" has become the first independent political organization to enter the TV advertising war in Tennessee's U.S. Senate campaign. The Free Enterprise Fund, a "527" political organization based in Washington, D.C., began airing ads in Middle and West Tennessee on Tuesday that attack Democrat Harold Ford Jr. for "living it up on campaign cash but pushing higher taxes for Tennessee families." The Ford campaign promptly denounced the ad and the organization. A...

Kerry says he deserves 2nd chance in '08 1 hour, 29 minutes ago Sen. John Kerry says he deserves a second chance if he decides to take another crack at becoming president. The Massachusetts Democrat, who lost to President Bush in 2004, said it is a basic principle that "Americans give people a second chance. And if you learn something and prove you've learned something, maybe even more so. Now, I don't know what I'm going to do yet. We'll make that decision down the road." Ronald Reagan twice unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination for president before he got it...

DES MOINES, Iowa --Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry lashed out Sunday against a group that bashed him during his last run at the White House. Kerry, who made a weekend appearance in northwest Iowa, said he is concerned that Swift Vote Veterans for Truth is again resorting to "the politics of fear and smear." The group, financed by Texas conservatives, ran commercials questioning his claim of being a decorated Vietnam veteran -- the centerpiece of his presidential campaign in 2004. "We're not going to give them an ounce of daylight," said Kerry, who is considering another run at the Democratic presidential...

Since the 2004 Campaign, the phrase "swift-boat" has entered the lexicon of American politics. To the Left, the term means to launch a high-profile character assassination campaign against a politician during an election - in other words, the equivalent of Borking as applied to Democrat politicians running for office instead of Republican judicial nominees seeking a confirmation vote in the Senate. I, of course, ascribe to the definition more popular on the Right; to "swift-boat" is to sharply bring to public attention information that the Press would much rather have the public remain completely ignorant about. In that spirit, wouldn't...

Do you want to know the name of the person most responsible for Bush's victory in the last election? Surprise! It wasn't Karl Rove. The person who enabled the Bush victory is virtually unknown outside of South Florida---Brian Craig, co-host of the Steve Kane Show on WNN radio in Broward County. And I was present at the creation of the Bush victory. It happened early one summer morning in 2004 when I flicked on the radio at 6:00 AM to listen to the Steve Kane Show. The show's opening featured the voice of John Edwards saying, "If you have...

1. swiftboating 16 thumbs up The act of exposing the exagerated or inflated claims of a person seeking to promote themselves into a position of authority. He would have gotten away with his outrageous lies if not for the swiftboating he received at the hand of his classmates.tags outing exposing uncovering revealing deflating by Bobby Farrelly Bakersfield, California, USA Aug 24, 2006 2. swiftboating 9 up, 30 down The process of smearing a military veteran's service record for political purposes. Named after the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, who discredited John Kerry's war record during the 2004 U.S. presidential election.He...

 LA Times article:"Swift Boat" Veterans Set Sights on Rep. Murtha Is Vets For The Truth the same group as the Swift Boat Veterans? No. But that didn't stop an article in Sunday's Los Angeles Times from trumpeting the erroneous headline: "'Swift Boat' Veterans Set Sights on Rep. Murtha." [EXCERPTS:]Two years after a cadre of veterans helped sink the presidential campaign of Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), they have found a new target in the old steel country of southwestern Pennsylvania: Democratic Rep. John P. Murtha.In a fight that organizers say will feature rallies, TV ads and an aggressive Internet...

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. -- His depiction in the recruiting flyer mailed to members of the American Legion leaves little room for interpretation: congressman John Murtha, scowling and wrinkled, juxtaposed against the now-famous image of a young John Kerry testifying before Congress in 1971 about alleged US atrocities committed in Vietnam. ...Murtha is no longer fit to serve in Washington. The flyer, seeking veterans to help work against Murtha's reelection, is part of a ``Boot Murtha" campaign launched this week by Vets for the Truth, a pro-Republican activist group that supports the Iraq war. The group wants Murtha, a former Marine colonel...

The “Swift Boat” veterans who grabbed national headlines in 2004 when they attacked John Kerry in his failed presidential bid now are turning their sights to Johnstown. Their target is U.S. Rep. John Murtha... Armed as a new group – Veterans for the Truth – they’re bringing their campaign to “Redeploy John Murtha From Congress” to his backyard. They plan to hold a national rally in Johnstown in October “to show their outrage at John Murtha over what he is saying about our troops,” ... Details of the rally will be outlined at a news conference at 11 a.m. Thursday...

DES MOINES, Iowa - Seeking the presidency is harder the second time around. As the race for 2008 builds, Democratic Sen. John Kerry has left little doubt about his intentions to try again after his narrow loss to President Bush in 2004. He isn't the only also-ran considering another marathon. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has the look of a White House hopeful. Three Democrats - 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards, retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark and Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware - sound a lot like presidential candidates; Al Gore, the Democrats' nominee in 2000, says he has all...

The “Real” Reason Kerry lost—Remembering and Honoring Vietnam’s Heroes. With newspaper reports (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1639667/posts) of John (The Snake) Kerry out to prove his claims about his exploits in Vietnam and thereby, intending to discredit the Swift Boat Vets (and by association, all of the rest of us Vietnam Vets who opposed him, more so, for his actions after he returned from Nam) I thought it appropriate to post this, on this Solemn Day of Commemoration. I composed this poem and posted it on the eve before the last election (November 1st) and I believe it speaks for itself. God Bless (and...

Editorial: Kerry takes up the Swift Boat charges He deserves this opportunity to set the public record straight. Most of the controversies from the wild 2004 presidential campaign have long been forgotten. But one is coming back, the New York Times reported this week, and we're glad it is: Sen. John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic nominee for president, is joining an effort to debunk the many attacks on his service in Vietnam more than two decades earlier. [snip] Although they had little bearing on Kerry's qualifications to be president, his young-man's sentiments on Vietnam were a legitimate issue. But that's...

As we watch the left of the Democratic Party press its case to return to the top of the heap in American politics, or at least evade the fate of the Dodo, we have ever more evidence validating an insight on which I stake my reputation as a political seer. To wit: partisan politics more often falls under the professional expertise of the psychiatrist than that of the political scientist. A learned shrink can often tell us more about a political issue than any other professional, not excluding a swami or a voodoo priest. Consider the ongoing controversy over Sen....

Sunday, June 4, 2006 10:49 p.m. EDT John Kerry: Bush A Criminal, Looting Country Failed presidential candidate John Kerry blasted President Bush on Thursday as a "criminal" who has been "looting the country." The Massachusetts Democrat offered the incendiary comments during an off the record meeting with liberal bloggers after a speech in Los Angeles to the Pacific Council on International Policy. According to the Web site L.A. Observed, Kerry asked the bloggers to keep his comments confidential; a request they apparently dismissed out of hand without telling him. Blogger "Hollywood Liberal" reports that Kerry "agreed completely with someone's assessment...

That's "Swiftboating" -- as John Hinderaker defines it: "when a veteran says somehthing that liberals disagree with." Kate Zernike is John Kerry's latest mainstream media stenographer regarding his service in Vietnam. I wrote briefly about her New York Times article in "Return of the magic hat" and called on Tom Lipscomb to rise to the bait: Preparing for another grab at the brass ring, John Kerry seeks to engage the claims of the Swift Boat veterans. In today's New York Times, the "magic hat" -- the hat that Kerry claims was tossed to him by the "special forces" (apparently Navy...

Failed presidential candidate John Kerry blasted President Bush on Thursday as a "criminal" who has been "looting the country." The Massachusetts Democrat offered the incendiary comments during an off the record meeting with liberal bloggers after a speech in Los Angeles to the Pacific Council on International Policy. According to the Web site L.A. Observed, Kerry asked the bloggers to keep his comments confidential; a request they apparently dismissed out of hand without telling him. Blogger "Hollywood Liberal" reports that Kerry "agreed completely with someone's assessment that everything that Bush does is solely for the purpose of looting the country....

June 05, 2006 The Truth, John Kerry, and The New York Times By Thomas Lipscomb Kate Zernike's story on the front page of the Memorial Day Sunday New York Times, "Kerry Pressing Swift Boat Case Long After Loss," is an unfortunate reminder of the Times's embarrassingly poor coverage of Kerry in the face of the Swift Boat Veterans' for Truth charges in the 2004 election. Now as then, the Times acts as if the issues involved were between Kerry's latest representations of his record and the "unsubstantiated" charges of the Swift Boat group. The Times used the term "unsubstantiated" more...

Kate Zernike's story on the front page of the Memorial Day Sunday New York Times, "Kerry Pressing Swift Boat Case Long After Loss," is an unfortunate reminder of the Times's embarrassingly poor coverage of Kerry in the face of the Swift Boat Veterans' for Truth charges in the 2004 election. Now as then, the Times acts as if the issues involved were between Kerry's latest representations of his record and the "unsubstantiated" charges of the Swift Boat group. The Times used the term "unsubstantiated" more than twenty times during its election coverage and continues to make no discernable effort to...

Most of the controversies from the wild 2004 presidential campaign have long been forgotten. But one is coming back, the New York Times reported this week, and we're glad it is: Sen. John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic nominee for president, is joining an effort to debunk the many attacks on his service in Vietnam more than two decades earlier. Kerry is a holder of three purple hearts, a bronze star and a silver star, all awarded in a four-month stint aboard Navy swift boats in Vietnam's Mekong delta.

A YEAR AND A HALF AFTER HE LOST the 2004 presidential election, John Kerry can't get enough of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. No matter the occasion, he doesn't miss an opportunity to parade his campaign wounds, however incoherently and obsessively. Supporting an Iraqi war vet running as a Democrat for Henry Hyde's congressional seat? "I know something firsthand about the Swift Boat-style Republican attack ads of the last election -- but you don't have to take my word for it," Senator Kerry wrote in a March fundraising e-mail, on behalf of Tammy Duckworth, an amputee whom no one...

The puff piece starts out: “John Kerry starts by showing the entry in a log he kept from 1969: “Feb 12: 0800 run to Cambodia.” Right off the bat, this is the first piece where the Swift Boat Vets were 100% correct. At the time, John Kerry stated that his trip took place on Christmas Eve in 1968. The SBV were right at the time, he was NOT iN Cambodia on Christmas Eve of 1968. Kerry had said that this moment was “seared” into him. After the Vets came out, Kerry had his personal biographer come out and it changed...

John Kerry starts by showing the entry in a log he kept from 1969: "Feb 12: 0800 run to Cambodia." Graphic: Kerry's New Evidence He moves on to the photographs: his boat leaving the base at Ha Tien, Vietnam; the harbor; the mountains fading frame by frame as the boat heads north; the special operations team the boat was ferrying across the border; the men reading maps and setting off flares. "They gave me a hat," Mr. Kerry says. "I have the hat to this day," he declares, rising to pull it from his briefcase. "I have the hat." Three...

WASHINGTON -- As Senator John F. Kerry prepared to make a return to presidential-style politics with a classic day of New Hampshire campaigning, he said that the 2004 run left him tougher and more eager to fight. ''When you get knocked on your ass and lose a race, you've got to stop and reflect on what you're doing, why you're doing it, what matters, and what's important. And I did," Kerry said in an interview in his Senate office on Thursday. ''There's a very different John Kerry now who is absolutely crystal clear about how I communicate what I need...

I've just learned that Anne O'Neill, John O'Neill's wife has died in Houston from an infection contracted during chemotherapy. Anne was a woman of courage and grace, and I consider it a privilege to have known her. I ask your prayers for John and for the O'Neill family.

Last week, John Walker Lindh  petitioned the president to commute his 20-year sentence for fighting with the Taliban, imposed in 2002.  It’s a shame that this pampered child of Marin County is sitting in a cell for something as trivial as treason. Under a plea bargain, Walker Lindh (AKA: Abdul Hamid, AKA: Sulayman Al-Lindh) pleaded guilty to supplying services to the Taliban regime and carrying explosives for  Afghanistan’s former rulers.Which is like to saying that Benedict Arnold supplied services to George III. Johnny Jihad trained in an al-Qaeda camp – where he learned to fire an AK-47 and rubbed elbows...

I am a combat veteran. I joined the VFW my first day back in the States, and am a life member. I flew forty missions in the Gulf War, and have received many citations for my combat service, and my non-combat service. There is a flare up underway about John Murtha's combat/decoration history here, here, and on this page is a Brit Hume video on the subject. Based on what I have read in the opening paragraphs of Forgotten Soldier and the entirety of Stolen Valor some people have a habit of exaggerating their combat records...if they have one at...

John O'neill, who you may recall, with the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, was instrumental in helping defeat John Kerry in 2004. Now he is supporting Lt Col Greg Parke, USAF in his "mission to prevent socialist candidate Bernie Sanders from entering the U.S. Senate". excerpt: Sanders is as radical as they come. In fact, he's so far to the Left that he calls himself an "independent" because he thinks Democrats are "too conservative." His record in the House of Representative - particularly on defense matters - is disgraceful. He introduced four separate amendments to slash crucial defense and intelligence...

From: John O’Neill Houston, Texas Dear Friend, Last year, when my fellow Swift Boat veterans and I spoke out about John Kerry, you rallied to our side. We will never forget your faith in our cause and your belief in our honesty. It made all the difference. Together we made history. Like most of you, I believed our mission was over. We could all move on with our lives, return to our families and homes secure in the knowledge we had done the right thing for America, and for our children’s future. Regrettably, that has not been the case for...

John O’Neill Houston, Texas Dear Friend, Last year, when my fellow Swift Boat veterans and I spoke out about John Kerry, you rallied to our side. We will never forget your faith in our cause and your belief in our honesty. It made all the difference. Together we made history. Like most of you, I believed our mission was over. We could all move on with our lives, return to our families and homes secure in the knowledge we had done the right thing for America, and for our children’s future. Regrettably, that has not been the case for a...

Dear Fellow American; Purple Heart recipient Tedd Peck has been vindictively charged with filing false tax returns and is scheduled for trial in mid-August. The US~Observer thoroughly investigated Peck's case. We found him absolutely innocent, while at the same time we obtained highly credible evidence that John Kerry contacted an insider friend at the IRS to initiate the false charges. This act was in direct retaliation for Peck's involvement in opposing him in his race for the Presidency and because of Peck's exposure of Kerry's dishonesty, etc., prior to the Swift Boat Vets for Truth movement. Please note that the...

I may have been too quick and too generous in giving John Kerry the benefit of the doubt about the full and complete release of his military records, as reported by the Boston Globe on Tuesday. As Thomas Lipscomb details in today's Chicago Sun-Times, some questions and confusion remain. The exact details will most likely get sorted out in time, but just for the moment let's consider the one aspect of this story that we know for sure: Kerry released his records exclusively to The Boston Globe. This is an odd decision for someone seeking end speculation regarding the whole...

Kerry finally signs on Published May 27, 2005 Better late than never was our reaction to Joan Vennochi's Boston Globe column on Tuesday. More than 100 days after he promised to do so, Sen. John Kerry has signed the form authorizing the Defense Department to release his military records. Somewhere, John O'Neill and his fellow Swift Boat veterans are doubtless smiling.     Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Jan. 30, Mr. Kerry told host Tim Russert that he would sign form SF 180. Conveniently, he didn't say when. After a few weeks went by, conservative Web pundits jokingly began tracking...

The Media Research Center Annual Gala and Media DisHonors Awards Cal Thomas, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Neal Boortz, Zell Miller, Midge Decter, T. Boone Pickens and Janet Parshall highlighted the presentations and acceptances of MRC's "2005 Dishonors Awards: Roasting the Most Outrageously Biased Liberal Reporters of 2004," which were presented on Thursday night, April 21, before an audience of more than 950 -- our largest crowd ever -- packed into the Grand Ballroom of the J.W. Marriott in Washington, D.C. Following the presentation of the Dishonors Awards videos in five categories, a look at the Best of the Worst of...

It happened again. Last week, during an interview in Beijing, Washington Post Managing Editor Philip Bennett voiced his contention that the United States should not be the “leader of the world.” Along with this abhorrent declaration, Bennett launched into various other statements, mostly displaying a distinctly anti-American sentiment. Such words were particularly vile, in light of the fact that he was offering them to a regime that aspires to eventual supremacy on the world scene, and is relentlessly building towards that goal. Though it is by no means certain that Bennett’s anti-American diatribe will cost him his position as chief...

Tonight was a great night. The Reagan Banquet was a great event. I was sitting at a table with Robin Burke, Adam Doverspike, and La Shawn Barber... This was truly a night to remember. Zell Miller was to present The Swift Boat Veterans For Truth with the Charlton Heston Courage Under Fire Award. Of course, the Swifties in attendance each received standing ovations when they were introduced. When Zell Miller spoke before the presentation of the award, he commended the Swifties efforts, and for having the courage to "call a lie a lie." There was a point when he speaking...

Taking its cues from the success of last year's Swift boat veterans' campaign in the presidential race, a conservative lobbying organization has hired some of the same consultants to orchestrate attacks on one of President Bush's toughest opponents in the battle to overhaul Social Security. The lobbying group, USA Next, which has poured millions of dollars into Republican policy battles, now says it plans to spend as much as $10 million on commercials and other tactics assailing AARP, the powerhouse lobby opposing the private investment accounts at the center of Mr. Bush's plan. ''They are the boulder in the middle...

Zell Miller to speak..

Blogger Breakfast with Swift Boat Veterans for Truth Creative Responsive Concepts, the PR firm behind the SwiftVets campaign against John Kerry, hosted a "Bloggers Breakfast" this morning at the J.W. Marriott across the street from the Reagan Building where CPAC is being held. The event has MC'd by Greg Mueller from CRC and the featured speakers were John O'Neill and Bill Franke of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Greg Mueller John O'Neill did most of the talking with occassional comments from Bill Franke and Mueller. O'Neill got off on a strong note with the bloggers in the room by expressing...

Euphoric after a big election victory, the organizers of this year's Conservative Political Action Conference say it's only fitting to pay tribute to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth for helping to stop Sen. John Kerry's presidential bid. Former Georgia Sen. Zell Miller, the Democrat credited with giving one of the most memorable speeches in favor of President Bush at the Republican National Convention this summer, will present the award to Adm. Roy Hoffman (Ret.), founder and chairman of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. "For a second time, the Swift Boat Veterans stepped up to serve their country honorably...

On "Meet the Press" last Sunday, John Kerry admitted he had not been in Cambodia on Christmas in 1968, even though he said on the Senate floor that the memory had been "seared – seared in me." What Kerry told Tim Russert last Sunday was that he had been in Cambodia, but it was a different day, that he had "jumbled the two together, but we were five miles into Cambodia." Then he brought up his famous "CIA guy," insisting that he and his crew were five miles into Cambodia on a secret mission "with CIA agents – I believe...

Three months after he lost his presidential bid, Sen. John Kerry has finally agreed to a full release of his military records, after being cornered on the issue Sunday by "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert. Appearing on the same show last April, Kerry insisted all his military records were already in the public domain, telling Russert, "I've shown them - they're available to you to come and look at." But in August the Washington Post reported: "Although Kerry campaign officials insist that they have published Kerry's full military records on their Web site (with the exception of medical records...

...SEN. KERRY: We were right on the border, Tim. What I explained to people and I told this any number of times, did I go into Cambodia on a mission? Yes, I did go into Cambodia on a mission. Was it on that night? No, it was not on that night. But we were right on the Cambodian border that night. We were ambushed there, as a matter of fact. And that is a matter of record, and we went into the rec-- you know, it's part of the Navy records. It's been documented by the other guys who were...

The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are credited with bringing John Kerry's real Vietnam war record to light, and now one of the authors of Unfit for Command, Jerome Corsi, says he's going to move to the Back Bay so he can challenge Sen. Kerry for his seat in Congress. "I'm going to do it," said Corsi. "I've got serious political aspirations now." Corsi, 58, is not a veteran, but he co-authored the book (that NewsMax helped to make a bestseller) with John O'Neill, that, along with the TV ads from the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, helped expose the...