John Kerry media jackals go after swift boat veterans

Brookes News (Australia) ^ | 23 August 2004 | Addison Ross

[Lando Lincoln]

Deeply worried that the swift boat veterans' ads are damaging John Kerry his media pals intensified their campaign to destroy the credibility of these veterans.

On August 20 the New York Times struck back for Kerry by allocating a huge amount of space to the swift boat veterans. The article will now be used by the Democrats, who basically wrote it anyway, and the rest of mainstream media to attack the swift boat veterans and their allies.

Nevertheless, it should be plain to honest observers that the article was nothing but a hit job by Kate Zernike and Jim Rutenberg, who masqueraded as honest journalists. This pair of party hacks painted the swift boat veterans as Republican stooges by linking them to the GOP. In other words, they were forced to use guilt by association to taint these men because they were unable to refute their allegations.

This sleazy tactic immediately raised two important points. First, how does these veterans' funding affect the truth of what they say, unless Zernike and Rutenberg are trying to infer that the veteranss were been paid to lie by wicked Republicans.

The second point is that neither the Times nor John Kerry mouthpieces Zernike and Rutenberg complained about vicious attacks by the Dems' 527s on President Bush. Nor did they draw attention to the fact that these 527s have so far received over $70 million from Dem supporters.

The Times can be gauged from the fact that it continues to ignore the actions of vicious Dem operatives like Harold Ickes and Zack Exley who have been coordinating, in defiance of the law, the activities of their 527s with the John Kerry campaign.

So why didn't Zernike and Rutenberg, not to mention their corrupt editors, object to these activities? Well, in fact the paper did finally object to 527s — after the swift boat ads, which only cost about $500,000, began to hurt Kerry.

While this pious hypocrites express phoney concern about the activities of the Dems' 527s it continued to run a vicious anti-Bush campaign of its own, of which the Zernike and Rutenberg hit job is a part. This is the same greasy rag that had the gall to call on Bush to halt the veterans' ad campaign while refusing to make the same demand of John Kerry with respect to his own 527s.

By linking the swift boat veterans to Republican funding Zernike and Rutenberg were using the vindictive tactic of guilt by association. Therefore, according to these paragons of honest journalism, anyone who takes money from a Republican source is at best untrustworthy and at worst a liar. This speaks volumes about these phoney journalists' attitude towards Republicans.

But what matters, as any reasonable person knows, is not the source of the funds but the truth of the charges. This is something the mainstream media has refused to consider. The same Democratic mouthpieces that slavishly follow Dem talking points as if they were carved in stone have now turned to smearing John Kerry's fellow veterans because they have the courage to speak out against him.

The Dr Letson incident is an excellent example of Zernike and Rutenberg's contempt for the truth and the reputation of others. They falsely charged that Letson did not treat John Kerry. But Letson had already publicly pointed out that the signature on the medical record was that of the late J. C. Carreon, who was not a doctor.

That Carreon signed the medial record in lieu of Dr Letson is, as this pair well knows, irrelevant because Kerry admits he was treated by a doctor, and Letson was the only doctor on the base from September 1968 to September 1969.

Far be it from me to impugn the motives and professionalism of the noble Zernike and Rutenberg, but am I alone in noticing that their charge against Dr Letson is identical to the line taken by Marc Elias and Joseph Sandler. (By the way, this rag also devoted masses of space to Dem allegations about Bush's National Guard service).

Elian is the General Counsel for the Kerry-Edwards campaign and Sandler is General Counsel for the Democratic National Committee. No ain't that curious? Not that I'm suggesting for a moment that Zernike and Rutenberg take their marching orders from the DNC. Still, it makes one wonder why they used the Elias and Sandler line to eagerly impugn Dr Letson's integrity.

The Washington Post is another disgusting example of media bigotry. It used the freedom of information act to accuse swift boat vet Larry Thurlow of being a liar. (Isn't odd how these fearless newspapers can't be bothered dig up all of John Kerry's records?)

Fortunately the Post's sleazy tactic backfired when it appeared that the citation they quoted was copied from Kerry's, which he himself apparently wrote. Out of concern for the truth, the swift boat veterans contacted the journalist. Surprise, surprise, he refused to speak with them.

On August 21 the Los Angeles Times published another hit job, this time by Matea Gold and Maria L. La Ganga. The thing read like a John Kerry campaign press release. For example, it mentioned Larry Thurlow but omitted any reference to the origin of his citation. It also — wait for it — devoted an entire paragraph to the Texas developer who helped fund the swift boat veterans' ad. The only thing missing from the article was Kerry's name in the byline.

The Media Research Center has revealed just how bigoted and corrupt the American media is. For example, it found that by August 20 the CBS, ABC and NBC had broadcast only nine stories about the swift boat veterans, nearly all of which were personal attacks on the veteranss. But the same networks had broadcast 75 stories about the Dems' charge that Bush went AWOL from the National Guard. So much for honest journalism.

The swift boat veterans' case is detailed in Unfit for Command but don't expect the media any time soon to actually deal with the facts. But do expect the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the rest of the Dem media to keep inventing dirt and running interference for John Kerry.

Remember, the mainstream media see their job as putting John Kerry in the White House and to hell with the truth — and especially the swift boat veterans, who have now found out the hard way that the mainstream media are a pack of lying political bigots.

[Semper Paratus]

Vietnam redux, The Homefront. The same clymers that orchestrated the smears against the Viet Vets 35 years ago are at it again.

[Intolerant in NJ]

For example, it found that by August 20 the CBS, ABC and NBC had broadcast only nine stories about the swift boat veterans...CNN leadin this morning, approximately, "Has the press been too accepting of charges made by the Swift Boat Vets in all the coverage they've been giving them over the past few weeks?" - it is to laugh - there's been no coverage until this week, when the press thought it had damaging reports they could use to bring the vets down.......

[68-69TonkinGulfYachtClub]

Mommy Heinz!
Help!
Look! What the Harvard Crimson wrote about me in 1970

Published on Wednesday, February 18, 1970
John Kerry: A Navy Dove Runs for Congress
By SAMUEL Z. GOLDHABER
Crimson Staff Writer

"...One time Kerry was ordered to destroy a Viet Cong village
but disobeyed orders and suggested that the Navy Command
simply send in a Psychological Warfare team to be
friend the villagers with food, hospital supplies,
and better educational facilities."


Now my shipmates on the
USS GRIDLEY CG-21
are attacking me.

Click Here Mommy
and see what
the USS GRIDLEY crew say.

They say I told lies in Tour of Duty
GRIDLEY CREW ARE LIKE
SWIFT BOAT VETS MEANIES!

Mommy : Can I please sell MY real book?
The New Soldier,
By John Kerry
and Vietnam Veterans Against the War


Mommy : Please don't be mad
about my hero Al Hubbard.

Head of Kerry's Vietnam Vets Against the War was Vietnam Vet phony
"Many of the stories were later shown to be fictional. Other so-called Vietnam veterans, such as the executive secretary of VVAW, Al Hubbard, a self-styled poet ("See what you've become, Amerika," ends one of his Vietnam odes),
turned out to have no record of service in Vietnam."


OOPS! I POOPED in my diaper again.

Mommy : Don't take my allowance away.
Mommy : Why does McCain
still campaign with Bush?
Mommy : Why doesn't Al Gore defend me?
He is a Vietnam Vet.

Mommy : OOPS I Pooped again.

Mommy : Why did Hillary
"leak" FBI Files on me?
I even used her famous slogan?

"Kerry entered and abandoned Vietnamese village and slaughtered domestic animals
owned by the civilians and burned down their homes with his Zippo lighter."



It only takes one idiot to raze a village!
(My original response!)

Mommy : Where is Ted Kennedy?

[shrinkermd]

Great Post!

[tubebender]

I love this guys writing style...

[sinbad17]

Do you think Stephie was a bit harder on Podesta and more lenient to O'Neil? I wonder if this old clinton serf is out to help defeat kerry ???

[sweetliberty]

Very perceptive article. The Aussie gets it. Too bad that most American "journalists" do not.

[Mrs Zip]

ping

[rolling_stone]

btt

[sweetliberty]

"It's really stunning how they can speak in one big, coordinated voice when they want to."

Not so stunning when you consider that they all serve the same master.

.

[shiva]

Yes! I was really surprised at Stephie. He played the newest Swiftboat Ad. He even mentioned the 'Christmas in Cambodia' thingy. Said they already knew it was a lie. And I just got back from DU where they are choking and spitting up blood. Are they ever mad!They say Podesta was the wrong person to debut O'Neil. Yep! Podesta blew it!LOL!

[Libertina]

Aussies for truth BUMP! (How'd guns ever get taken away from these tough guys? If there is any place on earth you'd think would not be populated by libs, it would be Australia...)

[sweetliberty]

Another great article.

[agrace]

Great article, and the most important line is

In other words, they were forced to use guilt by association to taint these men because they were unable to refute their allegations.

[fire_eye]

The details of all this pedantic squabbling are going to be lost on the American public - and the Demonrats know it.

What is *not* going to be lost is the impact of the ads the Swift Boat vets are putting up - and the Demonrats know that, too. I'm getting the impression that there are a lot of VVs out there who, while they haven't forgotten Vietnam or they way they were treated when they got back, have never really realized until now that John F'n Ketchup himself was one of the prime perpetrators of the perfidy, and that more than anything the SBV ads are waking them up.

The USS Ketchup is taking one round after another, amidships. The crew is just sitting and praying that they don't take one in the magazine.