Media buzz aided anti-Kerry effort

***Although the ad makes it appear as if Kerry is recounting atrocities he witnessed, he in fact was reciting claims made by soldiers that year during an anti-war gathering in Detroit. "They had personally raped, cut off heads, cut off ears," he told senators.

Reflecting on those comments this year, Kerry said they were too harsh. "I think some of the language that I used was a language that reflected an anger. ... The words were honest, but on the other hand, they were a little bit over the top," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press" in April. *** Source

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Unfit for Command [Excerpt] Kerry's testimony to the Fulbright Committee was a carefully orchestrated piece of political theater. Fulbright wanted a presentable, young Kennedy-esque face to put on the antiwar effort, and Kerry wanted a national forum from which to launch his climb to political celebrity. Ted Kennedy helped arrange Kerry's testimony with Senator Fulbright at a private fundraising event held at the home of Democratic senator Philip A. Hart of Michigan.

………Once Kerry learned that he would have the chance to give testimony before the committee, he recruited the assistance of Adam Walinsky, a speechwriter noted for his work with Robert Kennedy. Walinsky drafted the speech and coached Kerry on its delivery. The only image Kerry wanted us to see was a myth: a young man with a burning passion for the truth, the leader forced to sleep on the ground, the man answering his country's call to be where he was urgently needed, before a committee of the United States Senate where the senators and America were urgently waiting for his firsthand criticism of the war. He porceeded to level his charges: [End Excerpt]

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I'm beginning to wonder how long this political theater was in the making.

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Kerry's World: Father Knows Best****……….As early as prep school, John Kerry showed signs that he shared his father's suspicions about America's cold war foreign policy. In a debate at St. Paul's in the late '50s, he argued that the United States should establish relations with Red China. During his junior year at Yale, he won a speech prize for an oration warning, "It is the specter of Western Imperialism that causes more fear among Africans and Asians than communism, and thus it is self-defeating." And, when he was tapped to deliver a graduation speech in 1966, he used the occasion to condemn U.S. involvement in Vietnam, intoning, "What was an excess of isolationism has become an excess of interventionism."……….***

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John Kerry testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by William Fulbright, in April 1971. Photo UPI

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New Swift Boat Ad

A frame grab shows Vietnam war-era Swift boat veteran Ken Cordier speaking during a television commercial over Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry 's war record. Kerry asked the Federal Election Commission August 20, 2004 to force Republican critics to withdraw the ads challenging his military service, and accused the Bush campaign of illegally helping coordinate the attacks. Photo by Swiftvets.Com/Reuters

What a bunch of idiots.

Dean's World

Tsk, Tsk

I have been mildly amused to watch the Bush-hating left's reaction to the Swift Vet's story. First it was shock. Then it was angry denunciation and ridicule. Then it became an increasingly frenzied panic, while the mainstream press--whose reporters and editors vote overwhelmingly Democratic in every election--have maintained almost complete silence except to sneer at the Swifties.

The latest attempt has been by the increasingly laughingstock New York Times, which today finally broke its silence on the story with the shocking, stunning revelation that some of the Swift Boat Vets for Truth have long hated John Kerry (oooh! aaaah!) and that after the Democratic Convention was over, some big-money Republicans gave them money to fund an ad.

Which anyone who's actually read the Swift Boat Vets for Truth web site already knows.

What's been most stunning about the Vets' story, however, is not their allegations, but the fact that this group has been able to completely bypass the mainstream media. Even more stunning, when Kerry-friendly newspapers have launched attacks on them, they have been able to attack back, answering charges, pointing out where they feel they've been misquoted or misrepresented, and answering their accusers point-by-point--and they have not had to rely on sympathetic reporters and editors to get their message out. Just a web page, and a host of citizen journalists (i.e. "webloggers") to point their message out.

What's even more laughable is those in the press (like the amazingly pompous and inane New York Times) who are now tut-tutting about how awful it is that these independently funded groups are allowed to be heard. Oh, what is it you're afraid of, Mr. News Editor Man? That you don't get to be the gatekeeper of what people are allowed to hear about anymore?

The Kerry campaign has been in an absolute frenzy this week, and it's reached its fever pitch with this advertisement attacking the Swift Boat Vets. The funny part being, it doesn't actually answer most of their charges, or even identify who they are, but it lets us know that people who've given Bush money have also given the Swifties money. Oh My GOD! People who like Bush are willing to give money to a group that opposes Kerry? CALL THE FBI!!! WHAT AN OUTRAGE!!!

The most hilarious thing has been watching John Kerry suddenly come out and demand that George W. Bush condemn the Swift Boat Vets. Even though, since he helped pass the campaign finance laws that made the Swift Boat Vets for Truth possible, he knows perfectly well that it would be illegal for Bush to coordinate with them. Furthermore, John Kerry has stood silently or even applauded when independent groups like Michael Moore and the utterly vicious MoveOn.org have said some of the most horrible things imaginable about President Bush over the last year.

But now suddenly, a completely independent group has just smacked Senator Kerry in the toe with a hammer, and he's howling for Bush to make it stop!

In the meantime, the Swift Vets have strongly answered the more recent press assaults on them, as well as other charges against them.

You can smell the fear in the Kerry camp: a huge collection of John Kerry's band of brothers hates his guts, including men who served on his Swift Boat, the commanders of the boats that served alongside his, several people who were in combat with him, and every single officer in his chain of command during Vietnam. More and more people are learning of this, and the best Kerry can do is ask Bush to make them shut up!

Meanwhile, the Swifties are showing up on more and more television and radio shows. Furthermore, as Instapundit notes, it appears that a growing number of very well-known reporters are meeting with the Swifties behind the scenes and finding them far more credible than they expected.

But here's the bigger story: The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Boston Globe are no longer the arbiters of what's important and what's not, of whose criticisms of our politicians will be heard and whose will be ignored.

The Internet has detected the mainstream media as a form of censorship and simply routed around them.

Moveon.org subscribers exposed***Subscribers to MoveOn.org's mailing lists may have found their interest in the anti-Bush political site a matter of public record.

A Web page misconfiguration left dozens of the liberal political group's subscriber pages easily searchable through simple Google queries. Each page included a subscriber's name, e-mail address and the mailing lists to which he or she is subscribed. CNET News.com confirmed that several related searches turned up more than two dozen individual subscriber pages.

"This is extremely disturbing," said one subscriber, when contacted through e-mail. The subscriber asked that his or her name not be used. "I'm not sure if I should be worried or not, but I am," the person said.

The subscriber Web pages linked member's names with interests in various topics, "Distortion of evidence" for one, and, for another, Errol Morris, the director of the documentary "The Fog of War," which won the Oscar for its portrayal of the life of Vietnam era Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara.

MoveOn.org fixed the problem on its site after being contacted by a member. The search results on Google now redirect people to MoveOn.org's front page. The organization is implementing

But here's the bigger story: The New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Boston Globe are no longer the arbiters of what's important and what's not, of whose criticisms of our politicians will be heard and whose will be ignored.

BUMP!

Now, the Swiftees' story definitely has legs, especially with the 2nd ad. Just say your prayers.

What I take away from all this is that the Democrat Party waterboys in the media are in full desperation mode. I have now witnessed firsthand and up close (Matthews' spittle nearly hit me in the face) how the pressure from alternative media sources--the blogosphere, conservative Internet forums, talk radio, Regnery Publishing, FOX News, etc. --is driving these people absolutely batty.

The libs' media monopoly is tumbling down. They tried to keep the story buried and failed. Politics will never be the same again.

The Swift Vets have managed to expose not only Kerry, but the old guard media as well. And I'm happy to say it's curtains for both.

The Swift Vets have managed to expose not only Kerry, but the old guard media as well.

It would be nice if a few "old guard" politicos were exposed to daylight , too. (Ted Kennedy, Adam Walinsky, etc)

"The libs' media monopoly is tumbling down."

And oh how glorious it is indeed!

Yes, but I think they're all ducking for cover right about now.

My question is this......when did Kerry become involved with the anti-war effort? Before he volunteered to go to Vietnam with the film crew? How much of this was planned...down to getting the purple hearts for an early release???? Scumbag!

Excellent! Thank you!

The Swifties knew before they started that the MSM was against them, so they cultivated talk radio and Fox News, but I think even they were surprised at how influential the Internet (including us Freepers) would be. Talk radio gets its show prep from the Internet.

Not to take anything away from the Swift Vets, but Jim Robinson started FR before anybody was blogging.

You're welcome.

You might like My Top Three Questions For A John Kerry Press Conference

Who's Jim Robinson? ;-)

They tried to keep the story buried and failed.

And only because the Swift Vets wouldn't give up. Remember the echoing silence that greeted their first press conference?

"The words were honest, but on the other hand, they were a little bit over the top," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press" in April."

Yes, that is leftwing speak if I've ever heard it

Crime=I made a mistake.
Sexual misconduct= an error in judgement.
Sexual misconduct= inappropriate relationship
lying= I mispoke
Kerry=dirtbag (ok, that was just gratuitous)

So let me get this straight, is it the DNC that props up the MSM, or is it the MSM that props up the DNC?

Either way they go hand in hand.