[Jeff Head]

Everything the Kerry campaign is doing to try and get at the Swift Boat Vets and their message is turning into nothing but a HUGE PR campaign for the Swifties.

Honest, sincere, seekers of the truth look at both sides in order to see what the big uproar is about. Those that do contrast Kerry and his attack dogs and their rabid attempts to smear the Swifties with the detailed, documented and reasonably presented information of the Swifties.

This is a big time loser for Kerry...as well it should be.

In essence, the Kerry campaign is funding the PR for the swifties.

The best thing Kerry could have done was to ignore it and mitigate the damage to what the Swifites could afford themselves.

But Kerry and his ilk love a lie and so they must attack...and thereby bring more and more attention to the issue...and to the truth.

[Boundless]

> 1. Americans know George Bush has no war record.

Actually, we know he has an amazing war record in the war
that counts, the one going on right now.

> ... while Kerry is calling Bush a draft-dodger.

Calling attention to Bush's enlistment motives/expectations
vs. Kerry's is apt to surprise anyone who thinks it favors
Kerry.

> He needs to let Americans (preferably in swing states)
> know how these ads break his heart.

Why not just refute the charges instead? SF-180 anyone?

> There is a media double standard of titanic proportions
> in this story. News outlets like the New York Times look
> silly ...

The progessive propagandist press will not even begin to
pretend to become objective until looking silly becomes
painful (and/or it's clear JfK will lose, and/or Hillary
tells the NYT to turn on Kerry).

[Guillermo]

The Swift Boat Veterans are liars because Bush served in the National Guard.

[Political Junkie Too]

Wait until next week when another media double standard begins with Kerry breaking tradition and campaigning during the Republican convention. We'll see if there are any comparisons to how President Bush sat quite during the Democrat convention last month.

-PJ

[CaptainK]

3. The Bush camp correctly pointed out this morning that $65 million has been spent in anti-Bush ads over the past year by 3rd party groups with close ties to John Kerry. Democratic front groups like moveon.org, ACT, and the Media Fund are all dedicated to electing John Kerry in the fall and have much closer ties to John Kerry than the Texas Republican who spent half a million dollars on this one ad. The Media Fund is run by John Kerry's former campaign manager and the head of ACT, Harold Ickes, spent his week in Boston holed up in the Four Seasons with John Kerry's top money men. Was their coordination between the two? Of course. There is a media double standard of titanic proportions in this story. News outlets like the New York Times look silly deconstructing the political connections of this one ad while turning a blind eye to the $65 million in hit pieces run by Kerry supporters over the past year.

This needs to be shouted from the mountain tops.

[PlushieWithTeeth]

Wow! Thank you for posting this. I didn't expect MSNBC to allow anything like this on their site. I'm relieved to know there's hope yet for them.

[rebel_yell2]

Americans know George Bush has no war record.

Joe, you poor Shmoe, Dubya has a fabulous war record. He has served as Commander-in-Chief for the wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq during the past four years.

Kerry wants us to believe that his four months in command a crew of six sailors 35 years ago qualifies him to be Commander-in-Chief today.

Now, solely on the basis of this information, would ANY sentient human being choose Kerry?

[Benrand]

I want Lurch and his troglodyte minions to jsut come out and say that the Vietnam era Air Nat'l Guardsmen did not serve their country.

These people are more hideous than they were in the Clinton years.

[BillaryBeGone]

Ok, here's what my husband (a Swiftie OinC of the "Kerry Era" and USNA graduate on active duty for 26 years) and I would like to know: President Bush flew the F-102 aircraft during his Air National Guard days. The F-102 was notorious for its ability to make widows on a regular basis, as in, "Why was this aircraft ever certified in the first place?!"

What we'd like to know is this: How many men were killed qualifying/training in the F-102 (Air National Guard and USAF) vs. how many men were killed "driving" Swift boats in Viet Nam. Hubby did a FULL tour on Swifts at about the same time as Kerry (hubby was further north). He doesn't recall an overwhelming number of OinC's buying the farm. Anyone have any statistics on this?

[NYCVirago]

I agree with some of Scarborough's comments, but not this:

The only way to do that is for John Kerry to continue confronting these attacks as sleazy hit pieces. He needs to let Americans (preferably in swing states) know how these ads break his heart. "Not only are their attacks hurtful to me and my family. They are also slandering those band of brothers who risked their lives alongside of me in Vietnam. And to me, that is unforgiveable."

Nah, Kerry should have taken the moral high ground and said that while he appreciates their service to this country, his recollections differ from theirs. Instead, he's bashing not only veterans but POWs!

[Mike Bates]

Just heard Joey say that the Chicago Tribune is "certainly not a liberal newspaper." That new rug of his must be cutting off circulation to the brain.

Michael M. Bates: My Side of the Swamp

[diamond6]

"So Bush stays on the high road while Kerry goes on attack and bleeds support because of these ads. The Kerry camp must change this political dynamic quickly. "

Stop giving them advice Scarboough, we don't want them to win.

[Burlem]

Can anyone say "Kerry's Senate Record" he has done a masterful job in drawing attention away from the real issue...his very ultra liberal voting record

[JeffersonRepublic.com]

I won’t be surprised if the media doesn’t mention the fact that Zell Miller is a democrat. It would be against everything they believe in. After all, it is the republicans who are suppose to be jumping ship, at least according to NBC.

NBC is also saying Bush is not welcome at the Olympics. http://www.drudgereport.com/flashat.htm
They just want a piece of Kerry’s 527 money ($125 Million), and say anything to get some.

[Stakka Skynet]

Watching Scarborough Country right now......can someone tell me why Joe feels compelled to give advice to the kerry campaign nearly episode?

[Intolerant in NJ]

Tad Devine attacked the President's lack of service while Russert pointed out that the campaign had sent out Wes Clark and Stansfield Turner to bash the President's Vietnam record...A really dumb tactic from a party which last elected a president who's believed by many to have dodged the draft for Vietnam and who argued that one didn't have to have served in the military to be an effective CIC......