This article has been posted to DoctorZin’s New News Blog!
Posted on 08/15/2004 11:28:42 AM PDT by Roscoe Karns
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWS SERVICE
A group of Vietnam veterans that is challenging Sen. John Kerry's claims of heroic war service says it received a flood of donations in recent days after advertising its contentions on television in three states.
The group, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, said it hoped to use the money to monitor Kerry's campaign travels and run ads in cities where he appears.
"That's our goal," said John E. O'Neill, a Houston attorney who's one of the group's leaders and co-author of Unfit to Command, a 251-page book being distributed by Regnery Publishing house. The book quotes Navy veterans as saying Kerry distorted his record as a river boat commander in Vietnam's Mekong Delta in 1968 to 1969.
Democrats have said the group is nothing but a Republican hit squad determined to besmirch their candidate.
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is registered with the Federal Election Commission as a so-called 527 organization, not affiliated with any party. It got off the ground with a $100,000 donation from Texas homebuilder Bob J. Perry, a prominent Republican donor.
Roy F. Hoffman, a retired admiral and chairman of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, said the first TV ad, which ran for one week in Ohio, Wisconsin and West Virginia at a cost of $550,000, got so much national news attention that it generated an additional $400,000 from 8,000 donors around the country.
"We are putting together the second ad," said Hoffman, 78, of Richmond, Va. As a Navy captain in 1968 and 1969, Hoffman commanded a unit of 1,650 sailors that included Kerry as a lieutenant.
Hoffman said the unit, known as Task Force 115, included about 16 swift boats and their crews, which patrolled the delta looking for Viet Cong and other enemy fighters.
"I knew Kerry pretty well," he said. "I did not ride his boat, but we operated very close together. ... I can't say I was a personal friend or buddy-buddy, but I sure knew him ... and I never felt he had the qualifications."
Kerry has made his war service the centerpiece of his campaign for president. His supporters include men who served on his boat, including a former Green Beret who said Kerry rescued him from the water while under fire.
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth first gained public attention in May when its leaders -- including men who served on boats near Kerry's -- called a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington.
Hoffman said the group is not connected to the Republican Party. He said he hasn't been politically involved since leaving the Navy in 1978. Yes, he said, the group had taken cash donations from Republicans. But that became necessary, he said, because the news conference received little attention on network television and in national newspapers.
The group concluded that it needed to buy its own TV ad, he said. And that required money. Hoffman said of Perry: "We had our hand out, and he put money in it. ... As far as I'm concerned, he's a wealthy construction person. If he owns the money legally, I'm all for it."
The group reported $158,000 in donations as of June 30, its latest filing with the election commission.
Donors as of that date included O'Neill and Texas real estate developer Harlan Crow, also a Republican contributor. Each of them gave $25,000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington non-profit that tracks political donations.
Current advisers include Creative Response Concepts, a public relations firm in Arlington, Va., that Mike Russell, a spokesman, said has done work for the Republican Party and "conservative-oriented causes."
I am curious to know if the SwiftBoat Vets have already organized an email campaign needing volunteers. If so - how can we help?
BTTT
Kaboom! Kerry never so much HOSTILE FIRE!
"These are not sensitive half or quarter measures. These are for real, for all the marbles, for death of the campaign."
Amen to that! These guys are putting it on the line - something Mr. Kerry never did - except in fiction stories about himself supported by "men" that have vested interests in his winning.
How are his "band of brothers" vested? Well, for one they supported his false claims and many received medals themselves from the same bogus actions. If he goes down, so do they.
Send them through the roof. Instead of writing "self-employed", use "Halliburton".
You can also contribute by credit card right on the web.
http://www.swiftvets.com
Just click on "Keep this ad on the air".
God bless these vets bump.
Putting down "Halliburton" would just backfire, it's not a joke.
Besides, I think it's also illegal as per the same campaign contribution laws, which require people to put down their occupation and employer.
where do you go to make a donation
Direct link where you can make a donation via credit card:
https://swift1.he.net/~swiftvet/swift/ccdonation.php?op=donate&site=SwiftVets
(at the bottom they also have the address where you can send a check, if you prefer)
The Swift Boats Veterans are doing the country a favor and if the Democrats would listen, they are also doing the Democrats a favor - that's if the Democrats really care about our country. This would all pass if the Democrats forced Kerry to drop out - sooner the better for them. If Kerry still has any ounce of courage, he would own up to his dishonesty and resign acknowledging that governmental and political trust is founded in simple honesty.
I think it was very courageous of them to come out and make that ad, write the book and stand against Kerry -- knowing the Dem machinery, which aims to destroy anyone who tries to stand against it.
I am going to donate to them.
After all, how much would it cost us, if Kerry does become president? ::::shudder::::
And how much is is worth to us to keep Kerry from becoming president?
The stakes are very high.
I have already contributed and may do it again.
Those ads are working. Spoke with my Godmother, who is a shut in, and only has access to network tv and relatives that come to visit. She has heard of the SwiftBoat Veterans and believes that Kerry has something to hide. She also mentioned that newspeople have intoned that it was a Republican smear campaign but believes that Kerry has and is lying. Somehow she also found out that the only way to find the truth about Kerry is to go onto the internet. She is pro Bush and it is very sad to know that she will not go out and cast her vote. I would force her to the voting booth if South Carolina was still my home.
The Swift Boats Veterans are doing the country a favor and if the Democrats would listen, they are also doing the Democrats a favor - that's if the Democrats really care about our country.
Well said.
BumPing!
just answer "unemployed" for occupation and "n/a" for employer.
Help her get an absentee ballot!
BTTT
The re-airing of the 1971 Dick Cavett Show - John O'Neill/Kerry debate will be on C-Span, 6pm EST.
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