Bush calls for halt to Swift Boat vets' ads

MSNBC ^ | 8/23/04 | staff

[ppaul]

CRAWFORD, Texas - President Bush says a veterans’ group should stop television ads criticizing John Kerry’s war record.

The president's criticism of the ads by Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth came as Bush denounced all TV ads by outside groups attacking both Kerry and himself on Monday and called for a halt to all such political efforts.

“I think they’re bad for the system,” he said.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP The president, center, was meeting at his Texas ranch with his defense team when he made his remarks on the ad controversy.

When asked specifically whether the ads by the group "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" should be halted, Bush said: "All of them. That means that ad, every other ad. Absolutely."

"I can't be more plain about it," Bush said. "I hope my opponent joins me in condemning these activities of the 527s (political groups that sponsor to ads). I think they're bad for the system."

[Future Useless Eater]

well said !

[Huck]

I see what happened. You responded to my response to the person who said Bush is a pr master. Both posts dealt specifically with that point. I think maybe you're post was the irrelevant one. Same difference, I suppose.

[Huck]

They got you with that headline.

You're right. My knee jerk response was to the distorted headline.

[Huck]

I don't doubt it at all.

[wardaddy]

pandora's box is open....been a long time coming and folks like kerry gonna have to pay.


good!!!

[sarasota]

Just my opinion, but I think the President's behavior is stellar. He refuses not to speak ill of Kerry's war record because he knows the SwiftVets, their people and a boatload of Republicans will do it for him. And it's all happening without him demeaning himself. Look at how Kerry's attacking Bush. Low class, pitiful childish behavior. He and his minions just can't help bad mouthing and whining. Some Commander in Chief he'd make. Thank God he's not going to win.

[rintense]

Their headline is VERY misleading. He called for a halt to ALL 527s, not just the Swiftboats. Like the Dems will agree to that.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Bush calls for halt to Swift Boat vets' ads

NOT!!!

[JoeSixPack1]

"I can't be more plain about it," Bush said.

The MSM spins this into a vortex against SBVT and on the same day Moron.org announces that they are releasing TEN new ads.

[sarasota]

I forward this kind of spin to my friends and show them how it works. We've got to keep this grass roots dialogue going so our Republican associates know what the liberal media looks like and how not to get snookered in by the headlines. I also tell them to watch Brit Hume. His show is the only one I watch these days and at times I just laugh at Juan and Mort as they grasp at the proverbial straws to keep Kerry from sinking.

[Mia T]

complexities #1: the finger
(Kerry is UNFIT #11)

[prairiebreeze]

I've been there, done that too, believe me. Headline distortion is just one more little smoke and mirrors trick of our "trusted" media. Americans deserve a lot better than what we have as far as our media is concerned.

Prairie

[Rightly Biased]

it seems futile sometimes....

[FReepaholic]

...The media tries to spin this as a rejection of the Swift Boat ads meanwhile the Kerry campaign via John Edwards says the opposite: " (Bush)...Didn't go far enough". ...

Doesn't the Bush camp know that no matter what they say the media will spin it to the Dems advantage?

I agree with the other poster here in that it makes Bush look weak. The Dems and the media were calling on him to denounce the ads and he ended up doing it.

It would have been better for him to say that this is America and we have free speech. That the ads on all sides should continue and that this is the reason we have men and women fighting overseas, fighting so that citizens of differing opinions have the freedom to voice their opinions.

[ohioWfan]

No. It's not irrelevant to disagree with your statement that Bush is not 'Reaganesque' because of numbers.

Nice try. But you're the one a mile wide and an inch deep here....

[ppaul]

The Swift Boat Vets didn't publish this:

[Huck]

Well luckily you don't die from it, so we can learn and move on. Thanks for pointing it out to me.

[Revel]

I know the main reason Bush is doing this is for political reasons. I can understand him saying this in order to take the fuel from the Democratic argument. And yet Bush is the guy who signed the finance reform bill on this election stuff. The fact of the matter still remains that no one has the right to stop these adds under the American constitution. With out these kinds of adds then the American public has no way to side step the corruption in politics. We just become puppets in the audience. Only the candidates then have the power to decide what truths are going to come out about each other. That is not right. There is a kind of blackmail that goes on there. It is you don't tell on me about this and I won't tell on you about that...Kind of thing. The public deserves the truth...Period....a part from all of that. This bill which tries to squelch these adds is nothing more than protection for corruption. It is evil. And I am all for the swift vet adds. If they were a lie then they would be exposed as a lie. The American public will decide. And that is the way it should be. None of us should ever except that there is any good in the law that takes our (the people's) right to expose corruption away from us.

[Forgiven_Sinner]

"The swift boat ads controversy is starting to work against the President. We need to move on to other more current and relevant issues, and get him reelected."

What evidence do you have that they are working against the President? I want to pursue this until there is incontrovertible evidence (Kerry's military records) that he is a liar and Kerry is left with 40% or less of the popular vote.

[Huck]

I think popularity is a good measure of someone's PR mastery. How to you measure public relations mastery? That was the subject. Anything else you have said (everything?) was off topic. I ask you again: How do you measure PR mastery?