Posted on 08/24/2004 3:59:25 AM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
washingtonpost.com Swift Boat Sniping
WEN WE FIRST wrote about the ads slamming Democratic nominee John F. Kerry's service in Vietnam, we said that Mr. Kerry's emphasis on his Vietnam experience had made questions about his war record fair game. But we said that ads by the group calling itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth had crossed the line in smearing the service that earned Mr. Kerry three Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star. Nothing we've seen in the two weeks since has changed that view.
snip
Mr. Kerry's conflicting statements about where and when he was in Cambodia remain troubling. He has backed away from repeated claims that he spent Christmas Eve 1968 in Cambodia, a memory that, he said in a 1986 Senate speech, is "seared -- seared -- in me." This does not undermine Mr. Kerry's military bravery, but it does raise an issue of candor. It's fair to ask whether this is an episode of foggy memory, routine political embroidery or something more. Indeed, the Kerry campaign ought to arrange for the full release of all relevant records from the time. Mr. Kerry granted historian Douglas Brinkley exclusive use of his wartime journals and other writings; the campaign should seek to be freed from that agreement and to make all the material public. Though the ads are being underwritten by longtime Bush partisans, the Kerry campaign's claim of illegal coordination between the Swift boat group and the Bush campaign is unconvincing.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
My point only is that the press want to associate the SBVT with Republicans. The SBVT have appeal much broader than that, and ABC news cannot call SBVT Republican; that is poor "reportage" since it cannot be verified. The liberofascist agenda of guilt-by-association is at work at ABC when they term the SBVT as "Republican".
Regards.
Here the Washington Post says it is not 'convinced' by Kerry that Bush is behind the swift boat vets. Kerry is in trouble if even liberal bastions don't buy his spin.
Not only that, but didn't Bush allow medical records from his Guard service to be released -- that showed he had problems with hemorrhoids? I seem to remember a little lib snickering over that.
Turns out, hemorrhoids are apparently a common problem for fighter pilots who have to undergo g-forces. So as far as I'm concerned, if Kerry deserved a Purple Heart for rice in his butt, then Bush deserved a medal for those hemorrhoids.
The Swifties have provided evidence that Kerry spent Christmas eve in Sa Dec, 55 miles from Cambodia. None of the sailors who served with Kerry on the two swift boats he commanded, PCF-44 and PCF-94, have supported his claim, though Mike Medeiros, a crewmate on PCF-94, said they may have strayed into Cambodian waters inadvertently.
But this was impossible, according to Doug Regelin, a swift boat commander in 1969, but who is not a member of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. PCF-94 was part of Coastal Division 11, which was stationed at An Thoi.
"There is no way to enter Cambodia from the An Thoi patrol area," Regelin wrote in the Augusta (GA) Free Press. "That patrol area started at the coastal fishing village of Ha Tien and ran parallel to the Cambodian border, but there was no way into Cambodia. Any good map will show this to be true."
Regelin also dismissed the possibility that Kerry's boat could have wandered into Cambodia by accident: "The claim that there were so many rivers and canals, and that no one knew where they were, is ludicrous. We had detailed maps and overlays that showed everything right down to movements in fishing stakes."
Screw the press. They are now no more then the sad observers of the destruction of their latest "Great White Hope".
I don't put the WaPost in the same catagory as the NYTIMES. Yeah, the Post is lib, but they still have some dignity. The NYTIMES is the house organ of the DNC.
>> Notice how WaPo capitalizes Senator for Harkin and not for Dole.
Good catch. Thats an obvious sign of contempt/disrespect.
His title is still Senator Dole, just like Carter's is
President Carter. It's not "former senator Bob Dole"
That's not the way I read it bud. Outside of questioning the veracity of Skerry's Cambodia claims, everything else there is partisan BS, carrying Skerry's water, with lies and misrepresentation.... I don't know who's worse, NY Slimes, or Wash Compost.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.