Posted on 08/21/2004 8:41:10 AM PDT by Pikamax
Swift Boat Accounts Incomplete And Flawed Clashes Roil Kerry Campaign
By Michael Dobbs Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, August 22, 2004; Page A01
When John F. Kerry rescued James Rassmann from the Bay Hap River in the jungles of Vietnam in March 1969, neither man could possibly have imagined that the episode would become a much-disputed focus of an American presidential campaign 35 years later.
For Kerry, then a green and gangly Navy lieutenant junior grade and now the Democratic challenger to a wartime Republican president, that tale of heroism under fire has become integral to his campaign. A centerpiece of public rallies, videos and a new campaign advertisement last week, it has helped distinguish the candidate from his Democratic primary rivals and from President Bush, who spent the war at home as a member of the Texas Air National Guard.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I'm just going by their own words in this full article. Even there own words peg out the BS meter.
I didn't say so at the time, but I also suspected he had help with it, and I still do.
Re: voting record...patience...
The graphic says is all. Kerry, not Cheney, is the coward.
"Kerry refused the request for the interview. That should make the press curious to what he is hiding? ALL of Kerry's "Band of Brothers" have refused to be subjected to an interview. The absence of press mention of this fact is damning of the press, in its own right
Cboldt you are right. Kerry and his "band of brothers" have chosen to have surrogates answer the charges. Until Kerry and his "band" submit to an interview like O'Neill and the Swift Boat Veterans, you really have nothing to make that final comparison necessary to determine factual matters.
I still say the "Cambodia In Christmas" story made the fat lady clear her throat preparatory to singing.
Above the fold? We'll have to wait and see.
My guess is yes. If so, they can't make it any more prominent.
This is as objective as any of the MSM have been. And it appears that the Post reporters actually did some investigating. If they keep looking, there is no telling what they might find.
In related news...
David Espo of the AP characterized "ridiculous" the claim that AP is a 527 organization, and therefore forbidden by law from campaigning for a specific candidate.
"The AP is not a 527 organization, therefore the campaign literature I wrote in support of John Kerry under AP on August 21, 2004, is perfectly justified", Mr. Espo insisted.
"As a loyal employee of AP, I will never hesitate to seek the highest level of impact for his election, using research gleaned from the Democratic party talking points. It's only right. That's my job," he continued.
****************
You gave up any charade of objectivity in your article of 8/21/04 on Kerry. Instead of research, you wrote the DNC talking points.
Really a shame, don't you think?
'signed'
It doesn't do any good but I feel a little better.
That is the essence of "campaign finance reform."
It sounds like a crew conspiracy to make up a cover story for Kerry's cowardice under fire, a court-martial offense. What was the payoff? Did I read somewhere that Kerry got them all transferred to safer assignments as he bugged out to the U.S.? Can anyone confirm? If so, it is truly damning evidence.
Congressman Billybob
Latest column, "Carville, Davis, and Other Pests -- 'Those We Don't Speak of' "
If you haven't already joined the anti-CFR effort, please click here.
Eyewitness account from James Rassmann also details the fact that PCF-94 and other boats were under fire . In March of 2004, Rassmann, a registered Republican who had not seen Kerry in more than 30 years before their reunion in Iowa this year, recalled the following: “Viet Cong snipers fired at him, and Rassmann submerged over and over to avoid being hit. The bullets came from both banks, and Rassmann had nowhere to go. He began thinking his time had come, but the fifth time he came up, he saw the convoy had turned around. Kerry had ordered the boats back to pick up the man overboard. Kerry's boat, under heavy fire, sidled up to the struggling soldier. Rassmann tried to scramble up a cargo net at the bow but was too exhausted to make it all the way. He clung to the net as bullets whizzed past.” [Los Angeles Times, 3/13/04]
What a biased load.
It also says that Kerry made a quick turn starboard that threw him off the boat. Now if memory serves that would have been a hard RIGHT turn.
Good catch!
" Actually, this is a great article from the Washington Post. Those of you on this thread that are slamming it need to read the entire thing."
The title is totally misleading.
I think the article buttresses the SBVFT.
Kerry was the only skipper on the river that day, who refused to be interviewed.
Skip Barker, a swift boat commander who backs up Kerry's version-
is not listed in the official records or unofficial records as being on the river that day.
Skip Barker refused to be interviewed.
Douglas Brinkley has " exclusive " rights to Kerry and some of Kerry's crew mates.
So, they are not talking.
" Brinkley, did not reply to messages left with his office, publisher and cell phone."
" The Kerry campaign has refused to make available Kerry's journals and other writings to The Washington Post.."
Rassmann says that Kerry got rice and pieces of rice imbedded in his buttocks, earlier in the day.
Someone filed an " erroneous " personal casuality report stating that Kerry suffered an injury to his left buttock, during the mine incident.
Kerry did not suffer any injury to his buttocks that day-only a bruise to his right forearm.
Disagreement among Kerry supporters as to the nature of the explosion-" beneath " or " near" Kerry's boat.
May have been a " mine underneath "- Kerry's version.
RPG close by- Del Sandusky.
SBVFT deny there was a 2nd explosion.
Kerry did flee- " anywhere from a few hundred yards to a mile."
Kerry told Brinkley he wanted to get his men ashore and out of harm's way.
But,according to " Unfit For Command "- page 91
Kerry filed a " false " after action report stating that there were three and a half miles of enemy fire coming from the shoreline, so this makes no sense.
The only ones who say that there was fire from both sides of the river-are Kerry's crew and Wayne Langhofer ( see below.)
" But both the Kerry and anti-Kerry camps continue to deny or ignore requests for other relevant documents,
including Kerry's personal reminiscences (shared only with biographer Brinkley),
the boat log of PCF-94 compiled by Medeiros (shared only with Brinkley)
and the Chenoweth diary."
Chenweth refuses to give the WP his diary, but, he did read passages to the author over the phone.
Author slams the Kerry campaign for stating on their website that they have released all relevant docs.
There are 100 pages still on file at the Naval Personnel Command.
Author thinks the SBVFT are still harboring hard feelings about Kerry's anti war actions- as if that's an invalid motivation.
Two new names in the mix- Wayne Langhofer and Richard Pees. Langhofer was a gunner on the boat behind Kerry's and claims there was gunfire from both sides of the river.
He was approached by the SBVFT and refused to cooperate with them.
Richard Pees is another skipper on the river and he supports the SBVFT version of no enemy fire.
More nonsense about the funding of the SBVFT - how dare anyone in Texas take part in the election process !
A swipe at GW's Air National Guard service.
William Rood, a friend of Kerry's an editor at the Chicago Trib is added to the mix.
But, he has no knowledge of the Rassmann incident-clearly another smokescreen , the Dems will try and spin this.
Rood was present when Kerry shot the naked kid-another incident with many different versions.
The most important things from the article:
No one from the Kerry camp would cooperate with this interview.
Kerry fled down river.
Kerry was hit in the butt earlier in the day with rice projectiles.
"Someone " filed a false report claiming Kerry had suffered a buttocks injury later that night on the river.
The author does not discuss Kerry's USS Gridley ship mates coming forward to dispute Kerry's version of their time together onboard.
Kerry refuses to release his diary, his writings or his full record.
bttt
Meant to say "corroborate some of the Kerry claims". WP is probably working overtime creating these letters right now.
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