Posted on 08/06/2004 8:06:14 PM PDT by kristinn
WASHINGTON, Aug. 6 - A commercial by a group of veterans accusing Senator John Kerry of exaggerating his decorated Vietnam War record was strongly challenged Friday by Democrats as new questions arose about the claims of one of the men calling Mr. Kerry a liar in the advertisement.
The Boston Globe quoted the man, Lt. Cmdr. George Elliott, retired, who as Mr. Kerry's commander in Vietnam had recommended him for a Silver Star, as recanting a recent sworn statement that he did not believe Mr. Kerry deserved the decoration because of allegations that he earned it by shooting a fleeing, wounded Viet Cong in the back.
The advertisement's sponsors, an anti-Kerry group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, later said the newspaper misquoted Commander Elliott and released another affidavit from him, in which he stood by his initial charge.
The Boston Globe denied misquoting him. A woman answering the phone at the Elliott home in Delaware said he would not answer questions about the dispute and referred a reporter to the anti-Kerry group.
The Swift boat group provided the initial affidavit to reporters this week when they released the spot, in which Commander Elliott says, "John Kerry has not been honest about what happened in Vietnam."
He is one of several veterans featured in the spot who call Mr. Kerry a liar and claim to have served in boats near the one that Mr. Kerry commanded in the Mekong Delta.
"I still don't think he shot the guy in the back," The Globe quoted CommanderElliott as saying. "It was a terrible mistake probably for me to sign the affidavit with those words." The paper also quoted him as saying he did so out of haste because the group, which is also behind a new book questioning Mr. Kerry's record that is set for release next week, was eager to have his statement in hand.
Commander Elliott had already shown some inconsistency concerning Mr. Kerry's record, especially regarding Mr. Kerry's storied encounter with the Viet Cong, who was armed with a rocket launcher.
When charges surfaced during Mr. Kerry's 1996 senatorial re-election campaign that he had shot the Viet Cong in the back as the man was wounded and fleeing, Commander Elliott spoke in Mr. Kerry's defense, telling reporters, "The fact that he chased an armed enemy down is something not to be looked down upon, but it was an act of courage."
Lawyers for Mr. Kerry's campaign and the Democratic Party used the inconsistencies to convince another television station, WTVG in Toledo, Ohio, not to run the spot on Friday. But the station reversed itself later in the day when the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth released another affidavit from Commander Elliott attacking the article and affirming his earlier statement. The Globe found itself further embroiled in the fight when the online Drudge Report posted an article contending that the reporter who wrote the piece about Commander Elliott, Michael Kranish, had been "Commissioned to Write Official Campaign Book Foreword - While Covering Kerry."
But Public Affairs, publisher of Mr. Kerry's campaign book, said Mr. Kranish had been retained to write the foreword for a different book, and that when it struck a deal to publish the campaign's platform, it dropped plans to publish that book.
Martin Baron, editor of The Boston Globe, backed up that version of events in a statement and also stood by the quotes from Commander Elliott in his paper. "The quotes attributed to Mr. Elliott were on the record and absolutely accurate," he said.
All the charges and counter-charges only served to give more attention to the advertisement, which is running in three swing states, West Virginia, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Even as they kept their distance from the furor, Republicans gloated, saying that by responding so forcefully to the advertisement, the Kerry campaign and Democratic Party were only drawing more attention to questions about one of Mr. Kerry's greatest strengths as a candidate.
"They're crazy for making a big deal of it, everybody was ignoring it,'' said one Republican close to President Bush's campaign.
Democrats said that the spot would only serve to anger voters for attacking a decorated veteran's war record, and that the anger would eventually be directed at Mr. Bush.
The party and the Kerry campaign have released bits of information they say show connections between Mr. Bush and the group - mostly by noting that Bob J. Perry, a Texas developer whose path has frequently crossed that of Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's top political strategist, donated $100,000 to the Swift boat group.
What Republicans gloated.
BS.
What a cheap way to try to link Republicans to this.
this is a bipartisan effort.
grrrr.
I'm getting fired up.
Well, hell has frozen over. I actually found this NYT's article somewhat balanced. Go figure.
Just a rehash of today's events with a veneer of spin to cover over the Boston Globe's lies.
NY Times doesn't mention the Boston Globe writer. Could it be that the writer is working on Kerry's book?
Shocker.. the Slimes lies...
If you are going to talk about the connection between a financeer and Rove, why don't you also talk about MOREON.ORG and Soros and their connection to the Kerry campaign.
I'd expect nothing less from the DNC's paper of record that "Prints all the News the DNC tells it to print."
The reporter is mentioned toward the end of the article.
All these "experts" know about this is what they catch on cable, a few newspapers, and talking points.
Wait until the book comes out...
type in this url: www.swiftboatvets.com
That domain was setup in May of this year. They planned to misdirect legitimate net traffic to a location designed to cloud the story. The media is only too happy to help the far left.
>>The party and the Kerry campaign have released bits of information they say show connections between Mr. Bush and the group - mostly by noting that Bob J. Perry, a Texas developer whose path has frequently crossed that of Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's top political strategist, donated $100,000 to the Swift boat group.<<
Is that a whole $100,000? George Soros and Moveon.org eat your heart out!
Jeesh.
DK
Prayers up for these brave vets. They're going to need all the spiritual support we can give them.
Frankly, I don't think anybody at the NYT can think in such a complex manner anymore. That's what happens when management fails to demand drug tests.
I see it now. I just assumed coming from the NY Times it was the case. I should never assume anything before completing the article.
I'm going to post this again. Perry is no rabid right-winger, to say the least:
| NATIONAL REPUBLICAN SENATORIAL COMMITTEE | |||
| 05/14/2002 | 250.00 | 22020361533 | |
| 07/23/2002 | 200.00 | 22020601930 | |
| 09/03/2002 | 500.00 | 22020771220 | |
| 09/10/2002 | 250.00 | 22020771220 | |
| 10/25/2002 | 250.00 | 22020911544 | |
| 11/26/2002 | 250.00 | 23020042491 | |
| 01/10/2003 | 480.00 | 23020112507 | |
| 02/03/2003 | 1000.00 | 23020140791 | |
| 03/07/2003 | 250.00 | 23020180362 | |
| 04/25/2003 | 200.00 | 23020221159 | |
| 05/07/2003 | 1000.00 | 23020242133 | |
| 05/27/2003 | 1000.00 | 23020242134 | |
| 06/06/2003 | 250.00 | 23020323444 | |
| 06/09/2003 | 500.00 | 23020323445 | |
| 06/27/2003 | 500.00 | 23020323445 | |
| 06/27/2003 | 500.00 | 23020323445 | |
| 07/22/2003 | 500.00 | 23020342851 | |
| 07/29/2003 | 500.00 | 23020342852 | |
| 08/25/2003 | 500.00 | 23020360555 | |
| 04/14/2004 | 1000.00 | 24020342176 | |
| CORNYN, JOHN VIA TEXANS FOR SENATOR JOHN CORNYN INC |
|||
| 09/20/2002 | 250.00 | 22020672170 | |
| 04/08/2003 | 250.00 | 23020260285 | |
| NATIONAL REPUBLICAN SENATORIAL COMMITTEE | |||
| 09/24/2001 | 240.00 | 21020222087 | |
| 12/24/2001 | 240.00 | 22020061871 | |
| 02/20/2002 | 1000.00 | 22020163112 | |
| 03/13/2002 | 1000.00 | 22020272178 | |
| 04/03/2002 | 300.00 | 22020311551 | |
| 06/28/2002 | 250.00 | 22020512401 | |
| 10/03/2002 | 1000.00 | 22020830509 | |
| SPECTER, ARLEN VIA CITIZENS FOR ARLEN SPECTER |
|||
| 09/30/2003 | 2000.00 | 23020383293 | |
The party and the Kerry campaign have released bits of information they say show connections between Mr. Bush and the group - mostly by noting that Bob J. Perry, a Texas developer whose path has frequently crossed that of Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's top political strategist, donated $100,000 to the Swift boat group.
Let's talk about move-on.org ads and George Soros, shall we? These folks are losing so big........bigger every time they pull a stunt like this. Kerry is toast!
Not to mention that Moveon gets money from the Tides Foundation which gets money from Teresa Heinz Kerry.
"Could it be that the writer is working on Kerry's book?"
The information that Kranish is working on the Kerry/Edwards campaign book appears to be incorrect due to a mistake on the Amazon site. There is a thread about this that was put up and is, I think, in breaking news.
President Bush can't release kerry's records; only kerry can. The SBVfT group has called for him to sign a form (a '180' form if I remember the number correctly) that would authorize the release of his records. Until he does, his records remain sealed.
This is from Savage's site. Here are the men who all media are saying are lying. Read for yourself. Incidentally, the Gunner that served with Kerry on the Swift Boat, was interviewed by Savage tonight.
IT WAS GREAT ! And there is not ONE network that will listen to them !! NONE.
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