Free Republic

In May, U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha roused the anger of some in the military and on the political right by saying that American Marines had "killed innocent civilians in cold blood" in Iraq. Now, the Western Pennsylvania Democrat - who hopes to become majority leader if his party captures the House in the fall election - finds himself under fire on two fronts as a result of his comment, which dealt with a still-unresolved incident in Haditha, Iraq, late last year in which 24 people died. Politically, Murtha is under attack from a few of the veterans who during...

Sen. John Kerry’s 2004 presidential hopes were sunk when he buckled under to “authoritarian” conservatives hellbent on smearing his military record as part of a larger “proto-facist” movement, says a former top White House aide whose testimony helped sink Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal. John Dean, a Republican who served as Nixon’s top counsel, said Kerry slipped up during the 2004 campaign against President Bush by not suing the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth when they published a book calling into question the Bay State senator’s Vietnam service. “What most surprised me is that Kerry never did anything with...

Three Vietnam War veterans who sued over a documentary about Sen. John Kerry's anti-war activities have dropped their lawsuits, leaving just one court fight pending over the 2004 film. Filmmaker Carlton Sherwood says the withdrawal of the lawsuits shows they were frivolous complaints filed by Kerry operatives to try to block the film's release in the final weeks of the presidential race. "We've always believed that Kerry controlled these lawsuits," Sherwood said Monday. The 42-minute film, "Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal," charges that Kerry's actions as an anti-war activist after his tour in Vietnam harmed American POWs. It also...

WASHINGTON -- The comic career of Senator Jean-Francois Kerry is picking up steam, or gas, as the case may be. This inveterate windbag is, according to the New York Times, reopening the Swift Boat controversy of 2004 that did such damage to his presidential prospects when hundreds of the Vietnam War veterans who served with him deflated his reckless boasts of military gloire. He has undertaken this quixotic mission claiming that he can repristinate his military record despite the Swifties' evidence against it. Then the delusory senator from Massachusetts seems to think he will be a shoo-in for the presidency...

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.

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...

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...

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...

Kerry Pressing Swiftboat Case, Long After Loss By KATE ZERNIKE John Kerry starts by showing the entry in a log he kept from 1969: "Feb 12: 0800 run to Cambodia." 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...

WASHINGTON - The Federal Election Commission failed to give a good reason for refusing to rein in nonprofit political groups that spent huge sums in the 2004 presidential elections, a judge has ruled in a case brought by President Bush's campaign and lawmakers. In a 34-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan said the FEC failed to give "a reasoned explanation" for its decision not to issues rules to require so-called "527" groups to register as federal political action committees and face the same strict fundraising, spending and disclosure rules PACs do. But Sullivan stopped short of saying the...

MURRIETA-TEMECULA REPUBLICAN ASSEMBLY CLUB presents: Friday Night Dinner, April 7, 2006, at 6:00 PM Featuring Dr. Harry Kloor, PhD, PhD - Meet the man who started the Swift Boat Ad Campaign as the Writer, Director, and Producer of the first two Swift Boat Veteran Ads, and the Swift Boat Vet Documentary exposing failed democrat presidential candidate John Kerry. - Founder of the first conservative film fund to take back Hollywood! Writer, scientist, educator, researcher, inventor, story editor, director and producer, Dr. Kloor is the only person in the country (according to the Council of Graduate Schools, the National Research Council,...

Dubai Ports World is scheduled to take over operations at 22 U.S. ports, not six as previously reported by most major media. According to the website of P&O Ports, the port-operations subsidiary of the London-based Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co. (P&O), DPW will pick up stevedore services at 12 East Coast

ANNE BRADLEY O'NEILL passed away on Saturday, February 11, 2006. Anne was born in Monroe, Louisiana on October 23, 1947 and moved to Houston when she was two years old with her parents, Dick and Louise Bradley. She was a graduate of Lee High School and Ole Miss where she was a Chi Omega and recipient of various honors. After working at Mitchell Energy, Anne married John O'Neill in 1976. The couple was blessed with two wonderful children, Katie (1977) and Bradley (1981). Anne was a member of the Junior League of Houston and River Oaks Garden Club. She was...

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.

John Kerry Touts Al Qaida Successes In quotes sure to bring delight to Osama bin Laden and his followers, Sen. John Kerry said Sunday that the reason the U.S. homeland hasn't been attacked by al Qaida since 9/11 is because the terror group is having so much success against U.S. forces in Iraq. "Many people surmise that one of the reasons we haven't been attacked here, is because they are being so successful at doing what they need to do to attack us in Iraq and elsewhere," the failed presidential candidate told ABC's "This Week." Kerry was responding to comments...

"Former representative Don Bailey (D-Pa.) has apparently broken ranks and attacked the war record of fellow Democrat John Murtha" "...The story was picked up by CNS, a conservative web site. In their report they also cited excerpts from The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2002, and several quotes from political opponents in the 1990s that raised questions regarding Murtha's record." "...But the quote used above comes from a Washington Post article that confirms many of the accusations in the CNS story. But before Murtha's political opponents begin jumping for joy, they had best take a close look at how the Post is...

Vietnam Veterans Bare Their Souls In a Searing '72 Documentary See "Winter Soldier." This extraordinary documentary, made in 1972 and having its first theatrical release, not only revisits events during the Vietnam War that have uncanny resonance today but also stands as a riveting example of pure filmic storytelling. An unadorned, black-and-white record of a three-day gathering held in Detroit in 1971, "Winter Soldier" turns the camera on the testimony of former soldiers invited by Vietnam Veterans Against the War to share accounts of atrocities they committed or witnessed. The result is a spellbinding film that achieves impressive power through...

John Kerry is responding to the President's speech this morning, and I may be mistaken, but did he just out and out call the President a liar??

An architect of the swift boat campaign that contributed to the derailment of John F. Kerry's presidential bid has created an exploratory committee for a run for the senator's seat in 2008. Jerome R. Corsi, a 59-year-old author from Denville, N.J., who co-wrote the antiKerry book ''Unfit for Command," took his first formal step toward challenging the four-term junior senator from Massachusetts. Corsi said Kerry was not fit to be senator. He said he was ''testing the waters to see if there's enough interest to support me to make the run feasible." Corsi has not yet registered with the Federal...

From John O'Neill: The November election is long past, but I want to tell you about some unfinished and urgent business with which I would like your help. When my fellow Swift Boat veterans and I made our ads to expose John Kerry’s record with respect to Vietnam during the presidential campaign, we were not alone in our mission. A number of veterans who had spent time in North Vietnam prison camps were eager to tell the American people about how John Kerry’s anti-war activities had affected their treatment. The two groups of veterans worked together as the Swift Boat...

Far from the jungles, the politics and the killing fields of one of the most divisive conflicts in recent history, the leading repository for research on the Vietnam War is housed in a cool, temperature-controlled room in Lubbock. There are rows and rows of acid-free boxes, filled with millions of documents, pictures and artifacts lining a special section of the Texas Tech Southwest Collections storage area. Downstairs, archivists set up in an indoor loading dock catalog more boxes of information. There are manuals given to foreign service officers, brig logs from troop ships, and a new set of prized documents...

Later this summer, the First Amendment will lose its most valuable ally in the Bush administration: FEC Commissioner Brad Smith. From his perch at the Federal Election Commission, Smith has long sounded a brave — if lonely — note of caution against America's increasingly disastrous experiments with campaign-finance reform.... In his time at the FEC, Smith has served as the whipping boy of the campaign-finance-reform "movement" — the slew of "clean government" groups funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and seven other liberal foundations, plus Sen. John McCain and his merry band of speech police. But they've never been able...

John O'Neill on records release: 'This is hardly what we called for' Sen. John Kerry's release of Navy records to his hometown Boston Globe newspaper is not the full disclosure sought by critics of his Vietnam war record, says John O'Neill, spokesman for Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The group of more than 260 veterans who served in Kerry's swiftboat division asked the senator during his presidential campaign last year to sign a Standard Form 180 that would permit anyone to examine his full and unredacted military records at the Navy Department and the National Personnel Records Center in St....

When it comes time for the inevitable legal challenge to the latest iteration of the First Amendment-trampling legislation known as campaign finance "reform," we hope the Supreme Court takes a careful look at a dispatch in yesterday's issue of Roll Call, a newspaper that covers Capitol Hill. Dating back to their egregious 1976 error in the landmark case of Buckley v. Valeo, the justices have held that the public interest in preventing corruption is adequate to allow limits on campaign contributions, that is, restrictions on political speech that would otherwise be protected by the First Amendment. Since then, the slope...

The Oregon State Bar has cleared Clackamas County prosecutor Alfred French of ethics violations when he lied years ago to his former boss about an interoffice affair and when he participated in a presidential campaign ad last year that said Democratic Sen. John Kerry lied about his Vietnam War record. The bar's nine-member Professional Responsibility Board on Saturday put to rest its investigation, dismissing more than 60 complaints that French's actions involved dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation. The state bar is the regulating organization that licenses and disciplines attorneys in Oregon. The ruling means that the 59-year-old father of three...

One of the most dramatic stories of Election 2004 was the coalescence of a large group of Vietnam veterans dedicated to the idea that John Kerry was not fit to become America's Commander in Chief. Many of those who joined Swift Boat Veterans for Truth had served with Kerry in Vietnam. And his behavior there--and, even more, upon his return--convinced them that Kerry could not be trusted to lead our nation in wartime. To their great surprise, the testimony of the Swift Boat veterans was simply ignored by a hostile media establishment. The veterans were tenacious, however, and eventually captured...

One of the most dramatic stories of Election 2004 was the coalescence of a large group of Vietnam veterans dedicated to the idea that John Kerry was not fit to become America's Commander in Chief. Many of those who joined Swift Boat Veterans for Truth had served with Kerry in Vietnam. And his behavior there--and, even more, upon his return--convinced them that Kerry could not be trusted to lead our nation in wartime. To their great surprise, the testimony of the Swift Boat veterans was simply ignored by a hostile media establishment. The veterans were tenacious, however, and eventually captured...

After President Bush returned from Europe, reports in the liberal mainstream media circulated to the effect that the administration had changed policy regarding Iran. When President Bush suggested the United States would support the E.U.-3's negotiations with Iran, even to the point of offering incentives should the mullahs drop their nuclear weapons ambitions, the administration was seen as backing off from playing tough. Not to worry. President Bush didn't set foot on France and Germany only to get infected with John Kerry's flip-flopping determination to appease the mad mullahs. Nor did he look into Putin's eyes and see the wisdom...

John Kerry is about to receive his own personalized copy of the latest book by nemesis Jerome Corsi, co-author of "Unfit for Command" and planned opponent for the former presidential candidate's Massachusetts senatorial seat. Corsi said a pair of pre-publication, finished copies of his upcoming release "Atomic Iran" are for sale on eBay today, with instructions to the buyer to keep one and send the other to Kerry.

Calling it a tool of Bush-administration plans to attack Tehran, leftist activists say they might target WND Books' upcoming release "Atomic Iran" with a picket or boycott of the Nashville publisher partnered with WorldNetDaily on the project. A group based in the Music City called Citizens for a Democratic Media claims Cumberland House Publishing, WorldNetDaily's partner on WND Books, is "part of the new PR campaign to sabotage our democratic process." "The attempts to control public opinion through right-wing media bias need to be confronted," says Anna Thompson, a leader of the activist group.

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...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 - 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...

Zell Miller to speak..

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...

By far the funniest line I've read since the 2004 election comes from the conclusion of Michael Kranish's interview of Sen. John F. Kerry in today's Boston Globe (hat-tip to an alert reader who emailed me the link): Asked what hurt him the most during the campaign, Kerry mused about how ''all of us are flawed as human beings" and ''I think I have a strong record" before raising his voice and declaring: ''One thing I know is that I didn't flip-flop on anything." Surely that line must induce soda-through-the-nose chortling among even many loyal but clear-eyed Democrats. It would...

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...

Jerome Corsi, co-author of the Swiftboat veterans' book that challenged Sen. John Kerry's Vietnam record, plans to vie for the former presidential candidate's Senate seat in 2008. Corsi, who lives in New Jersey, told the Boston Herald he will establish residency in Boston this spring. "I'm going to do it,'' said Corsi. "I've got serious political aspirations now.'' A WorldNetDaily columnist and author of an upcoming WND book, "Atomic Iran," Corsi was the co-author with John O'Neill of "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry," which became a New York Times No. 1 best-seller. He told...

ELECTION 2008 Swiftvet author wants Kerry's Senate seat Jerome Corsi says he'll move to Boston, enter politicsPosted: January 25, 2005 12:48 p.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com Jerome Corsi, co-author of the Swiftboat veterans' book that challenged Sen. John Kerry's Vietnam record, plans to vie for the former presidential candidate's Senate seat in 2008. Corsi, who lives in New Jersey, told the Boston Herald he will establish residency in Boston this spring. "I'm going to do it,'' said Corsi. "I've got serious political aspirations now.'' A WorldNetDaily columnist and author of an upcoming WND book, "Atomic Iran," Corsi was the co-author...

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...

BOSTON, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- The co-author of a book accusing Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry of embellishing his war record plans to run against him for U.S. Senate. Jerome Corsi, who, with retired Navy Lt. John O'Neill, is credited as the co-author of "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry," said he plans to move to Massachusetts later this year as the first step in his 2008 campaign for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Kerry. "I'm going to do it," Corsi said. "I've got serious political aspirations now." The book, described by...

Bush Sworn-In, Swift Boat Vets Glad It's Not Kerry Thu Jan 20, 2005 5:53 PM ET By John Crawley WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With thousands of Republican faithful cheering the inauguration of President Bush to a second term on Thursday, a group of veterans at the forefront of the "Swift Boat" campaign banded quietly to salute their part in thwarting the candidacy of Sen. John Kerry. "Swift Boat guys were not unified in supporting George Bush. Many were independent or many were Democrats. The only point of union was that they did not want John Kerry to be president," Jerry Corsi,...

Washington (CNSNews.com) - Vietnam Veterans who opposed Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry held an "un-augural" reception on Thursday afternoon in Washington to celebrate the fact that Kerry lost the election and to honor the veterans who helped defeat him. "We are celebrating the fact that John Kerry lost," said Jerome Corsi, co-author of the best-selling book Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry. Corsi wrote the book with former Swift Boat veteran John O'Neill. "The whole Swift Boat effort was organized, not to re-elect George Bush but to defeat John Kerry, and that was the...

Steve Gardner, member of the effective 527 group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, is getting legal and financial help from Gary Aldrich, former whistle-blower and president of The Patrick Henry Center for Individual Liberty. Gardner, also know as "The 10th Brother", was one of two men who courageously refused to stand with Senator John Kerry at the Democratic convention. As a result of this and an interview he gave stressing his strong opposition to a Kerry presidency, Gardner suffered threats, insults, and, finally, a mysterious firing from his lucrative employment. Gardner, an exemplary manager, was fired within 24-hours of the...

When opinion is accepted as fact, perception soon becomes reality, at least for those who share these opinions and cling to the resulting perceptions. Herein lies the reason for the division in America today and unless we make a concerted effort to separate perception from reality, opinion from fact, fiction from truth, that division will continue. How is it that an individual can read the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and see the word “of” as relates freedom of press, speech, or redress, yet the word “from” as relates only to religion? How does one reason that we can...

Swift Boat Vet Receives Help from Former Whistle-Blower Gary Aldrich reaches out to man under fire Steve Gardner, member of the effective 527 group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, is getting legal and financial help from Gary Aldrich, former whistle-blower and president of The Patrick Henry Center for Individual Liberty. Gardner, also know as "The 10th Brother", was one of two men who courageously refused to stand with Senator John Kerry at the Democratic convention. As a result of this and an interview he gave stressing his strong opposition to a Kerry presidency, Gardner suffered threats, insults, and, finally, a...

News Release An Ad Hoc Committee of Veterans FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 10, 2005 Contact: Lou Priebe (priebe@erols.com) (703) 569-0946 "Un-augural” Reception To Honor Veterans Who Helped Defeat John Kerry’s Election Bid …At the National Press Club on Jan. 20 (Washington, DC, January 20) Leaders of prominent “527” military service veterans groups, film producers and authors who made substantial contributions to the veterans revolt against Senator John Kerry’s 2004 Presidential bid will be honored by their supporters at a tongue-in-cheek “Un-augural” reception at the National Press Club on January 20, 2004. The event will celebrate the absence of Senator Kerry...

RATHER STAYS HOME; EXECUTIVES SPLIT; MOONVES LOOKS TOWARDS FUTURE *Exclusive** CBSNEWS veteran Don Hewitt called Dan Rather's disappearance from Monday's Evening News "really stupid" during a damage control meeting on Monday, sources tell the DRUDGE REPORT. One top source inside the CBS Broadcast Center claimed Rather was told to stay off the air on Monday, as a form of punishment! Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer was called in to anchor the damaged ship. CBS staffers were shocked Monday when CBS president Les Moonves suddenly tied Rather's upcoming resignation to the phony document flap, a departure from CBS's official storyline. Moonves...

The New York Times, once ironically known as the "Newspaper of Record", has a problem. But they aren't lonesome. The same problem threatens CBS news, and the rest of the "mainstream" media. Though Dan Rather will soon be freed from his many duties in the news manufacturing division, and thus be able to enlist the aid of O.J. Simpson in finding the real perpetrator/hoaxer, there remains to the liberal media that nagging problem. And that is "the record". In the past, engineered crises and hard hitting ambushes, once they had accomplished their intended purposes, could be safely laid to rest,...