...When pigs fly...
Posted on 08/09/2004 6:14:07 AM PDT by Pikamax
August 9, 2004
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The television ad that aroused the wrath of John McCain and journalist supporters of John Kerry just begins deconstruction of the Democratic presidential candidate's war record. "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry," a 214-page critique of his performance in Vietnam and the antiwar movement, is off the presses ahead of schedule.
I have read the book and found it is neither the political propaganda nor the urban legend that its detractors claim. It is a passionate but meticulously researched account of how Kerry went to war, what he did in the war and how he conducted himself after the war. The very serious charges by former comrades deserve answers but so far have produced only ad hominem counterattacks.
Why should details of what Kerry did more than 30 years ago be part of this election campaign? Only because the senator has made them integral to his strategy. Kerry as war hero received more attention at the Democratic National Convention than plans for the future. Thus, what he did in his shortened four months of combat becomes a valid campaign issue.
John E. O'Neill, co-author of "Unfit for Command," replaced Kerry as commander of Swift Boat PCF 94 in 1969 and has been confronting him since 1971. O'Neill told me he is no George W. Bush partisan and probably would have supported John Edwards had he been nominated for president, but is committed to keeping Kerry out of the Oval Office. Thus, reversing the usual formulation, the assault on Kerry is personal but not political.
O'Neill told me neither he nor his co-author (Jerome R. Corsi, a writer and expert on the Vietnam antiwar movement) has had contact with the Bush White House or the Bush-Cheney campaign. He said he and Corsi, on their own initiative, went to conservative Regnery Publishing to offer the book.
The co-authors paint Kerry as a reluctant warrior. Contrary to claims by Kerry's supporters that he served two combat hitches in Vietnam, his one-year term aboard a guided missile frigate was far from action. His four months in the brown water navy were terminated eight months early by a third Purple Heart wound, none of which required hospitalization.
The book's strength is the vehemence of testimony by swift boat veterans, alleging that Kerry "gamed" the system to win decorations and later betrayed comrades by charging war crimes. Typical is the quote by Bob Hildreth, commanding an accompanying boat: "I would never want Kerry behind me. I wouldn't want him in front of me, either. And I sure wouldn't want him commanding our kids in Iraq and Afghanistan." Some 200 "Swiftees" on May 4 signed a letter to Kerry demanding full release of his service records.
The book's weakness is support for Kerry's presidential campaign by his swift boat crewmates, presumably people who knew him best. O'Neill told me that these former sailors served with Kerry no more than five weeks. Jim Rassmann, now part of the Kerry presidential campaign, was a Special Forces lieutenant spending a few days with Kerry when he fell or was knocked off the swift boat while under fire and was fished out of the Mekong River by the future candidate.
The "band of brothers" was organized by Kerry, according to this book. It tells of a 2003 telephone call to Adm. Roy Hoffmann, who commanded swift boats in Vietnam, telling him he was running for president. Hoffmann, mistakenly thinking it was former Sen. Bob Kerrey, "responded enthusiastically." Once the admiral realized it was John Kerry, "he declined to give Kerry his support." Hoffmann is quoted as saying, "I do not believe John Kerry is fit to be commander in chief of the armed forces of the United States."
"Unfit for Command" sends a devastating message, unless effectively refuted. Perhaps most disturbing are allegations that Kerry's combat decorations are unjustified. His first Purple Heart, the book alleges, was accidentally self-inflicted. His commander, Grant Hibbard, is quoted as saying: "I didn't recommend him for a Purple Heart. Kerry probably wrote up the paperwork and recommended himself." Full release of documents demanded by his critics could settle this claim quickly if it is unwarranted.
This story will be reported, but the MSM will report it by attacking the credibility of the Swifties and by alleging Karl Rove's participation, just as a writer for the lefty Manchester guardian did this AM.
Yes indeed, buy it and do your part to get it back to No. 1 on Amazon!
Also, be sure to send a contribution to the Swiftvets.
Leaving in a moment but wanted to say Thank You, to Robert Novak. Rather than dismissing the charges or impugning these vets honor he addressed the allegations seriously. I wish more people in the press (conservative & liberal) had the character to do so.
I have personally heard him state that he is a registered democrat many times.
Others in his field recognize that he's a registered democrat- I'll cite two examples:
MARY MATALIN, CO-HOST: "One of the original boys on the bus, the star reporter/syndicated columnist has covered Congress, campaigns and elections for over 40 years for the Associated Press, "The Wall Street Journal," the "New York Herald Tribune," and "The Chicago Sun-Times," just to name a few.Though he is neither a member of nor a spokesman for the Republican Party --in fact, he's a registered Democrat, oh, horrors -- he remains a conservative icon. Why? Because he writes books like his latest, "Completing the Revolution: A Vision for Victory in 2000," also known as straight talk for Republican wimps."
Crossfire Transcript
Progran aired January 19, 2000- 7:30 p.m. ET
AND
"Carville is such a braying jackass he might as well be the official Democratic mascot. Novak, on the other hand, while well respected in conservative circles, is still a registered Democrat and could never be accused of toeing the Republican party line. As for Carlson, he was aptly described by a New York Press writer as "a young Republican whose favorite target is older Republicans."Mark Hemmingway
The American Spectator, 6/6/2002
Why would any sane person think that a twenty-something USN Ltjg. would have gained, in four short months driving a Swift boat, the kind of insight and maturity that would qualify him for President some 35 years later?
Maybe if he had stuck it out for his full year in 'Nam, spent at least 20 honorable years as a Naval Officer and retired, THEN been elected to the Senate and (even) DONE SOMETHING THRE!, an "I fought in Vietnam" scenario would play out favorably.
Instead, this despicable, disrespectful, dishonest, disgraceful, disgusting, dishonorable and thoroughly pitiful excuse for a "man," has the gall to think he can be President of the United States based entirely on his own projections of his (manifestly not!) "heroic" actions in Vietnam 35 years ago!
That miserable sonofabitch was not qualified then, and is not qualified now to pour pi$$ of of a Navy Chief's boondocker!
If enough people buy into his and the LIEberal's lies, however, we may have to endure four years (or until he gets impeached!) of a Presidency several orders of magnitude worse than Bill Clinton's first four years.
God help us if the Lying LIEberals prevail!
Amen!
That has to be the only logical explanation.
Thanks. I'll pass yours on to my daughter.
A MEN TO TERESA TAX RETURNS.
I REMEMBER THAT WHEN KERRY WAS PROTESTING SOME WHO SAID THEY VIETNAM VETS TURNS OUT SOME WAS NEVER IN SERVICE AND SOME WHO WAS, WAS NEVER IN VIETNAM. SO THEY EVEN LIED ABOUT BEING IN SERVICE AND IF THEY WAS THEY WAS NEVER IN NAM. THIS SHOULD BE IN MANY NEWS ATRICLES BACK 60'S AND 70'S.
All these Kerry Ferries want is to deflect it long enough to get past the election--just like the Evil Teensy Bent One did in 1991 when he went on 60-Minutes with The Hellarhoid to refute the truth as told by Gennifer Flowers. Everyone knew clinton was lying through his used-car-salesman teeth, but no one cared about character in the liberal universe.
These democrat "leaders" are so despicable. And as far as rank-and-file democrats, I don't know how everyday, otherwise decent people can be so stupid or ignorant as to fall for anything democrat, post-clinton anyway.
Simply astounding...
No, I am pretty sure Novak is a Democrat and has always been one.
Exactly so and it is quite telling to anyone paying the slightest attention.
...When pigs fly...
Don't hold back Phrank! Tell us what you REALLY think! LOL! ;>)
These shots are from the 31st MAU deployment off Iran in 1980. Kerry was done with his anti-war protesting then.
Bush did.
O'Neill's a lawyer, btw.
Worth repeating.
Someday, somehow, someone will set me off and I will!
The next layer of the Onion is the noted liason interaction regarding POW investigations and Kerry's schmoozing with Vietnamese Government officials.
Kerry reassuring the Vietnamese Gov that their will not be any further investigations coming from the Senate...issue will simply fade away with U.S. Media going eleswhere for a story.
John Kerry: The Chameleon Senator By Ted Sampley
U.S. Veteran Dispatch October-December 1996 Issue :
In 1991, the United States Senate created the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs to examine the possibility that U.S. POW/MIAs might still be held by the Vietnamese. As chairman of the Select Committee, Kerry proved himself to be a masterful chameleon portraying to the public at large what appeared to be an unbiased approach to resolving the POW/MIA issue. But, in reality, no one in the United States Senate pushed harder to bury the POW/MIA issue, the last obstacle preventing normalization of relations with Hanoi, than John Forbes Kerry. (Remember the middle name "Forbes").
In fact, his first act as chairman was to travel to Southeast Asia, where during a stopover in Bangkok, Thailand, he lectured the U.S. Chamber of Commerce there on the importance of lifting the trade embargo and normalizing relations with Vietnam. During the entire life of the Senate Select Committee, Kerry never missed a chance to propaganderize and distort the facts in favor of Hanoi.
Sydney H. Schanberg, associate editor and columnist for New York Newsday and Pulitzer Prize winning journalist veteran of the Indochina War whose book, The Death and Life of Dith Pran, became the subject of the Academy Award-winning film The Killing Fields, chronicled some of Kerry's more blatant pro-Hanoi biases in several of his columns.
In a Nov. 21, 1993 column, Schanberg wrote, "Highly credible information has been surfacing in recent days which indicates that the headlines you have been reading about a 'breakthrough' in Hanoi's cooperation on the POW/MIA issue are part of a carefully scripted performance. The apparent purpose is to move toward normalization of relations with Hanoi.
"Sen. John F. Kerry, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs, is one of the key figures pushing for normalization. Kerry is currently on a visit to Vietnam where he has been doing two things: (1) praising the Vietnamese effusively for granting access to their war archives and (2) telling the press that there's no believable evidence to back up the stories of live POWs still being held. "Ironically, that very kind of live-POW evidence has been brought to Kerry's own committee on a regular basis over the past year, and he has repeatedly sought to impeach its value. Moreover, Kerry and his allies on the committee - such as Sens. John McCain, Nancy Kassebaum and Tom Daschle - have worked to block much of this evidence from being made public."
In December of 1992, not long after Kerry was quoted in the world press stating "President Bush should reward Vietnam within a month for its increased cooperation in accounting for American MIAs," Vietnam announced it had granted Colliers International, based in Boston, Massachusetts, a contract worth billions
Note...John McCain appears in the mix,
his recent defense of Kerry's record.
Is John McCain nervous about something?.....could a Kerry investigation lead to his doorstep?
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