Posted on 08/22/2004 1:04:33 PM PDT by kattracks
Swiftboat Veterans for the Truth spokesman John O'Neill dared Sen. John Kerry on Sunday to sue him for libel if, as Kerry's presidential campaign maintains, key claims in O'Neill's book "Unifit for Command" are not true.
"I invite him to sue me for libel," O'Neill, who co-authored the overnight bestseller with Jerome Corsi, told WABC Radio's Monica Crowley. "If he was actually in Cambodia on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day he should sue me. If, in fact, those other five [Swift]boats, on March the 13, [1969], if they all fled like he did, instead of staying like he knows they did, he should sue me."O'Neill continued:
"If he didn't wound himself with a grenade - causing sort of a rice-fanny wound - and then reported it to the Navy as a water mine - if he didn't do that on March 13th should sue me."
O'Neill issued the challenge after noting that Kerry's campaign has gone to extraordinary lengths to supress the information in "Unfit for Command."
"On our first [Swiftvet] ad, he had two huge lawfirms send letters to every [TV] station, threatening to sue the stations themselves" if they ran the ad, the former Swiftboat commander told Crowley.
"The next thing he did was challenge the book's publisher, Regnery, indicating he would sue them if they continued printing the book," he added.
The bestselling author said that while Regnery declined to stop printing "Unfit," it offered to republish Kerry's 1971 book "The New Soldier," which chronicles the top Democrat's anti-war protests with a group bankrolled by Jane Fonda.
Kerry has declined to have "New Solidier" republished over the years and reportedly bought up most of the available copies in 1972, after his opponent in a congressional race used it to paint him as anti-American.
sorry...I had misread it...was thinking that you were a newbie...apology extended!
Ouch! That's gotta hurt. Which book do you think Kerry would rather be burned faster?
Its On like Donkey Kong!
I was wondering how long he would wait for Kerry to actually threaten to sue. Guess he got tired of waiting.
This just show that the Swifties are being honest. Oneill is not stupid. This shows that he has confidence in the what the Swifties have documented.
This also puts Kerry on the spot. If he does not sue...he looks like he is afraid of what will be exposed in the filing.
This will help ramp up the calls for Kerry to release all of his records.
THE SWIFTIES SHOULD DO AN AD WHERE THEY EXPLAIN THAT SOME OF THEM ARE DEMOCRATS, ONE OF THEIR FUNDERS ALSO GAVE TO DEMOCRAPS, AND THEN CHALLENGE KERRY TO RELEASE ALL OF HIS RECORDS.
They should explain that he has not done so. Explain that he has held back records that are the most descriptive.
I never said anything of the sort.
He won't sue because if it goes to court, Kerry's records become court evidence, as in "out in the public domain". These are the same records he won't release.
60 days prior to the election is September 2nd, unless your implying the election is in "late November".
ping
I have thought of law school in the past. I have some problems with it. I don't think that has to be described.
We all know the problems in the legal area today.
But this Oneill guy, man...he's got me thinking.
When I was a sr. in college, a lawyer let me hang out with him for a week at his office...so I could see what it was about. He was a local republican and took on the ambulance chasers all the time.
Somebody played games with his client and refused to pay money owed to him from a contract transaction...so the lawyer issued the lien.
I actually got to watch as he had the guy on speaker phone.
The dude realized that he was going to have to pay the money. In a last panic attempt...he threatened the lawyer.
At which point the lawyer informed him that he was no longer playing around and he would seek financial penalties that the contract allowed. He told the guy that he would owe so much money that he would have to "sell his Neil Diamond records" for food. The dude sent the check that day.
Oneill reminds me of that lawyer.
/john
"Sue? Not a chance. The SBV's have to quit advertising after Sept. 2, IIRC, but a lawsuit would keep this in front of the news for the foreseeable future. Kerry is trapped"
I understand that:
527's are NOT subject to the 60 day electioneering communications limitation.
http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/electioneering.htm
I've seen that 1971 debate between O'Neil...age 25..and Kerry...age 27... 3 times (in 1971 and 2 times since then), and O'Neil debated w/facts and skill to the point that he beat Kerry to a pulp in terms of a successful debate.
Agree.
Just wait. George Will today revealed that Swiftboat Vets have a 28 minute documentary coming out!What statergy!
I don't know how old you are but John Kerry has been despised by vets and their families for many years. Imagine if you had a son, friend, brother, or neighbor killed in VN and you turn on the news and Cronkite's got Kerry on telling you that your boy was a baby killer and he died for nothing.
Kerry didn't have to make his war experience the centerpiece of his campaign, but that's what he chose to do. Over four bloody (or should I say bloodless) months! The problem is Kerry spent a longer time protesting and lying about the war than he spent in it, but he figured his friends in the media would be able to give him a pass since they were able to ignore the initial press conference the swifties held back in May. The only problem is, Kerry is so self absorbed he hasn't noticed that the news isn't restricted to what Walter Cronkite tells us anymore.
Hmm... this might explain why we haven't heard anything from the Joint Victory Committee and a few other 527's that Bing and the rest of the money men are backing.
Ouch, O'Neil is SO GOOD.
I want him the next time I need an attorney!!!
What a hero.
Do you think that O'Neil might know what's in Kerrys military file? I like the Bravado.
thanks for the info on the O'Neill family. Very impressive.
Prairie
Edwards is probably right on it now...
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