Posted on 08/20/2004 7:41:15 AM PDT by gopwinsin04
The Los Angeles Times notes this morning that he Kerry campaign has hired former Clinton White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart and Joel Johnson, a lobbyist who worked for President Clinton to help respond to the Swift Boat Veteran's attacks.
Group officials who discuss strategy on condition of anonymity said that the anti-Kerry group plans to hammer the Democrat for his war claims and protests after he left Vietnam, especially his claims that US soldiers committed war crimes.
The group are also arranging local veterans to criticize Kerry when he vists their states.
Aides said Kerry has been flooded with calls from concerned veterans, and a CBS poll released last night showed the senator losing significant support amongst those who served in the armed forces.
Instead of rebutting each charge, Kerry blamed Bush for sanctioning such highly personal attacks, though there is no evidence that the presdients campaign has any direct connections to the anti-Kerry group.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Want to join in the fun? Click the logo to donate to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth!
None of them should represent themselves. They will need an attorney before this is over, imo. I have no doubt they will be vindicated, but attorney fees could ruin them.
What's Kerry going to do to shut up the GRIDLEY crew
that served WITH him on the SAME ship PING?
GRIDLEY Website page on John Kerry
http://home.nycap.rr.com/pwcarter/the%20kerry%20page.html
GRIDLEY Crew members (67-68) say Kerry exaggerated in TOUR OF DUTY
"...John Kerry and I were shipmates in the guided missile cruiser USS
Gridley (CG-21) in 1967 and 1968. He served as First Lieutenant, the
officer in charge of the deck division, and I was Executive Officer,
or second in command..."
"...But there is also no doubt in my mind that his anti-war
activities while our troops were still fighting, dying and being
tortured in filthy Vietnam prisons were despicable.
For that reason, even aside from his anti-defense voting record in
the Senate, he is one ex-shipmate that I could never support as
commander-in-chief of the armed forces."
J. F. Kelly, Jr.
USS Gridley (CG-21) Executive Officer in 1967 and 1968.
GRIDLEY Website page on John Kerry
http://home.nycap.rr.com/pwcarter/the%20kerry%20page.html
Other crew members speak about John Kerry
(Looks like Kerry's shipmates, who did serve with him,
say he lied and told whoopers about his time on the GRIDLEY.
Remember these are not Swift Boat Vets,
BUT Kerry's crewmates who served with him on the GRIDLEY)
Examples follow:
"As everyone must surely know by now, John F. Kerry came on board
GRIDLEY as a boot Ensign when we returned from our 1967 Westpac
Cruise. He remained on GRIDLEY through the 1968 cruise. Politics
aside, shipmates of the time who have read TOUR OF DUTY, the
authorized campaign biography, will have something to say about the
chapter on GRIDLEY. "
1. Kerry never talked about his time on GRIDLEY. He says on page
74 that it is because “nothing much of note” happened while
he was
onboard. He uses words like monotony and tedious, when, despite
being a boot ensign he was given every opportunity for responsibility
by Captain Slifer and Commander Kelly (XO). He came aboard
designated for Electrical Officer (80100), a grunt position in the
Engineering Department and spent four months in that position. He
was assigned duty as First Lieutenant, as Commander Kelly recalls,
because of his knowledge of seamanship and his experiences with small
boats and sailing. Besides being responsible for the decks of the
ship, the First Lieutenant is also responsible for the ship’s
small
boats. He also was assigned collateral duties as Public Affairs
Officer. Despite all the responsibilities he was given, he gives the
impression that serving on GRIDLEY was somehow beneath him. He
certainly had less of an opportunity to collect “gongs” there.
2. Page 78 – “motivate 400 swabbies” – The First
Lieutenant is
responsible only for the personnel of 1st Division, not the entire
crew. 1st Division had a roster of about 30 in 1968. To the extent
that other divisions had responsibility for deck space, their
officers would have been responsible for motivating them.
3. Page 87 has Kerry “shuttling sailors and provisions”
between
GRIDLEY and KITTY HAWK in a small motor whaleboat out in the Gulf of
Tonkin. The regular method of travel between the two ships was via
helo. That is how I went over to the KITTY HAWK. If such an event
did occur, it would have been unusual and hardly a shuttle.
4. Later on page 87 Kerry talks about Olongapo in the Philippines.
He talks about bloated corpses floating in the river and starving
women with babies dying of malnutrition. Now Olongapo was a wild and
wooly town that existed solely for the entertainment of the US Navy,
but in over three years of calling there, I never saw a single
instance of either thing happening. Kerry uncovered this in his
first visit. If this was from his letters home then he was certainly
writing for dramatic effect. Balderdash.
5. The trip to Danang – GRIDLEY went into Danang for briefings
before going to Northern SAR. This section is so full of hyperbole
that the urge to giggle is almost uncontrollable. “The panic and
pressure onboard GRIDLEY, strapping on a .45, wondering if I would
have to use it, B-52’s howling overhead”. A B-52 over Danang
would
have been so high that only contrails would have been visible, cloud
cover permitting. David Simons confirmed my recollection that during
our brief stay in Danang Harbor, the sky was overcast to the point of
being ominous.
More seriously, no one can remember John Kerry going ashore. I was
part of the shore party that went to Monkey Mountain. We were taken
in a screened in truck (to protect against grenades being tossed in)
and made to unload our .45’s. The driver said that he did not
want
us newbies to shoot anyone by accident.
Neither Commander Kelly nor LCDR Rueckert (Kerry’s immediate
boss)
can recall approving a trip ashore for Ensign Kerry. The author uses
remarks of David Simons IC2 as a lead in to the Danang section. I
spoke to David and he has no personal knowledge of Kerry going ashore
at all. He did talk to a researcher and made some generic remarks
about Danang but had never discussed Danang with Kerry. He recalls
arguing with the researcher because he tried to put the
words “cowboy” in his mouth, which ended up in the book.
There is no mystery about the “gruesome site of a pile of dead
VC.”
We saw no sign of anything like this. However, our escort to Monkey
Mountain did tell us how the VC bodies were stacked up on the
LZ’s
after the TET Offensive, which had been several months before.
Ensign Kerry would have been told this story by members of the shore
party.
If, indeed, he got to the pier, because he was in charge of the
motor whaleboat, it certainly would not have been within his purview
to wander Danang, eating dog meat and drinking beer in a bar (under
arms). It also seems amazing that he had all these observations on
Vietnam in such a brief visit.
6. In command – Again with the hyperbole. Kerry makes much
about
being “in charge” of the ship after the Captain and XO. The
OOD is
in charge of the operation of the ship during his four hour watch but
hardly in charge of the ship. Kerry qualified almost immediately as
OOD(P), in port OOD but that is a given. For much of his time
onboard he would have been Junior Officer of the Deck when underway.
Although his fitness report as of 22 March says "he is qualified as
OOD(I) now" (Independent steaming – with no ships or land
anywhere
near) , only OOD(P) is listed under duties. His Fitness Report from
July 1968 lists two months as OOD(I) which would mean he qualified
after leaving the war zone.
bump
I can't help but notice Lockhart's "attachments". He's a Clintonista, through and through.
And, if Lockhart and his "bimbo erpution" crew think that they can treat these vets the way they treated Klintoon's bimbos, they are sadly mistaken. They can attack these vets as much as they want, but it will only strenthen their resolve.
Some of these vets spent time being beaten to a pulp, being taken to a level of pain that most humans (and no liberal) can even imagine. (And, for those that still don't understand what happened to the vets while John Kerry was trapsing in front of the Senate, fueling the enemy on, read this account. Grab a tissue or two and be ready to see what John Kerry is doing in a whole new light).
And, Joe Lockhart and his sycophant lackies are going to scare these guys?
Yeah. Ok.
I think that the Kerry camp is woefully misjudging what they are doing in the veteran community. Almost everyone of the older male influences in my life (my dad, my uncles, my dad's friends, my uncle's friends, etc. about 10 in total) served in the military during Vietnam. Some in combat (many), some not. There isn't 1 of them supporting Kerry. Not only are they not supporting Kerry, every one of these fine men are furious at Kerry. There isn't any tepid response from any of these men, most of which are now well-studied, scholarly, thoughtful types, where you might (rightly) expect to find at least 1 who might see it the other way. Bob, being a man of few words about his service (like most guys who are just trying to move on with life) changed his entire tone. I have seen/heard him mad a few times; I have seen/heard him upset a few times. I have even seen him talk through tears once. However, last night, I had never heard the tone of voice from that man. I have known him for almost my entire life.
The tone was that of fury. I am/was about 500 miles away from Bob, but I could feel the heat through the phone. He didn't say much, he ended that part of our conversation with "We were betrayed by him. That's it. Betrayed."
I don't have to know the Swift Boat Vets. I know my family. I believe my family. My family isn't a "Republican-funded attack machine". My family isn't a tool or front for George W Bush. Simply put, the men that I look up to in my life aren't liars.
So, Kerry and his freshly-minted, sleazy PR crew can try to make these men liars. In the meantime, they are only going to tear 35-year old scars back open. And, why? So they can get back in power, no more.
So, while I celebrate the political stupidity of this tactic, I am sorrowful to the vets that will, once agaiin, be reminded of the suffering and the dishonor brought to them by the likes of John Kerry.
You know.... much of this might not have even come out if he hadn't played up his service so big during the convention. I mean I think that for these people.... seeing him act the way he did during the convention just set them off.
BTT!!!!!!!
I Double Dare Lockhart and the Clinton/Kerry goons to go after these vets ..
Especially the POW's that are in the Ad I just witness
This ain't 1971 anymore ..
They've already shown us what they're going to do, Skipper!
I've been reading reports of the DNC lawyers scraping up dirt on the vets - divorce trials, police records, etc. - they're going after the vets with all the Ailinsky tricks of the trade.
I see with not a little pride, that none of the vets have caved yet. This is going to be the single ugliest election in US history.
WOW! I hadn't seen that one! Powerful! Thanks for the link!
"seeing him act the way he did during the convention just set them off."
I spent 3yrs on a destroyer in the Navy from
'66-'69 as a Gunners Mate, GMG3.
USS CORRY DD 817 '68-'69 Gulf of Tonkin Yacht Club Member.
http://www.uss-corry.com/
Home port was Norfolk Virginia
and sailed with her in the North Atlantic,
Caribbean,(dealt with Cuban gunboats off of Havana in Jan '68)
thru the Panama Canal, across the Pacific to Viet Nam and back.
I was there the same time Kerry was.
I was there Oct'68-Apr'69 on the destroyer USS Corry DD-817
which supplied PCF's and PBR's
and provided gunfire and gunfire support
in North AND South Viet Nam.
My ship may have even supplied
Kerry's boat in the Mekong Delta
Although there are many similarities between naval gunfire support
and Operation Sea Dragon (which ended Nov '68), they differ in two important areas:
naval gunfire support is normally fired at the request of troops ashore,
while Sea Dragon's mission is the interdiction of supplies and destruction
of military targets; and naval gunfire support is always conducted in South Vietnam,
while Sea Dragon missions are fired only above the demilitarized zone.
29 US Navy ships received gunfire from Viet Cong shore batteries.
My ship DID not get hit by the VC.
In Feb '69 my ship was part of Operation Bold Mariner
which was the largest amphibious assault since Korea.
is that lockhart??? bad bad
Where is the link for donations? I don't see anywhere to donate on the site I clicked onto. Thanks.
Next Clintonoid to be drawn in must surely be---keep out of jail expert-- Bruce Linsay. He is about the one missing from that loveable (unless your Kathlenn Wiley's cat) gang. Where is Dee Dee--there has to be room for her too.
I can just see Kerry and his consultants exulting over lattes and croissants about their great idea. No need to bring up his thirty year record as a politician, guaranteed to lose votes in swing states. Bring up his four months of service, and neutralize Bush's war leader image! Woohoooo! Bury his radical book and make anyone who brings that stuff up into Linda Tripp!
After we just got rid of a perjurer, and just missed electing a neurotic serial liar, I am honestly kind of scared that Kerry could be so popular. The Swift vets are indeed doing service to the nation talking about Kerry's character, regardless of how the election goes.
…Joe Lockhart and Joel Johnson, a lobbyist who worked for President Clinton to help respond to the Swift Boat Veteran's attacks.
BTTT
The hits keep right on coming!
Good point, these veterans will fight back--hard!
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