JOHN O'NEILL ON NIGHTLINE TONIGHT (Dems are e-mailing Ted Koppel to stop it!)

Nightline e-mail ^ | 10/14/04

[areafiftyone]

The Swift Boat Controversy: New Witnesses

October 14, 2004

John Kerry's service in Vietnam has become a campaign issue. The group calling itself Swift Boat Veterans for Truth alleges that Kerry has distorted the truth about what happened during the war and questions whether he deserved the medals he received. Tonight, you'll hear from eyewitnesses who have not spoken before: the Vietnamese who fought against him.

We've had the debates and the race is a virtual dead-heat. This is the part of a campaign when there are daily fires--issues that rise, flare, and then go away, only to be replaced by a new one the next day. But for a while, this campaign was dominated by Vietnam, a war that ended, at least the fighting, thirty years ago. John Kerry made his service in Vietnam a major part of his campaign. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth fired back. They have alleged that Kerry was not truthful about his actions in Vietnam. Then questions were raised about the group's connections to people linked to the GOP. And so the story just kept spiraling in different directions. But the polls clearly showed that Kerry was hurt by allegations that he was not candid about his actions in Vietnam.

Which brings us to an old expression: the fog of war. People, in general, are not always great eyewitnesses. Memories fade, especially as the years go by. Two people standing next to each other may have very different recollections of something that happened right in front of them. But in the whole Swift Boat controversy, there is one group that hasn't been heard from at length: the Vietnamese. Producer Andrew Morse went to Vietnam, to the coordinates taken from the U.S. military after-action report from Kerry's battle for which he won the Silver Star. And there Andrew found several people who had either witnessed the events of that day, or in some cases, had actually fought against the swift boats. And it is their accounts that you will hear tonight. Do their accounts favor one version or the other? Can these questions be definitively settled? You'll have to judge. One of the surprising stories we were told? One of the Vietnamese men in the area says he was visited by a man claiming to be a swift boat veteran and a cameraman. He says the veteran was disparaging towards Kerry's conduct in the war, and asked him in an interview about the events of that day. We do not know who that man is, or whatever happened to that tape.

Ted will be anchoring tonight, and he will be joined by John O'Neill, a leader of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and the author of Unfit for Command, a book critical of Kerry. I hope you'll join us.

Leroy Sievers and the Nightline Staff,br> Washington D.C.

[james_f_hall]

Has our "pravda" been fair or balanced at all in this election cycle? That is the precursor to being ethical.

[Barlowmaker]

Here's the website e-mail link

[james_f_hall]

My email:

Add Ted Koppel to the list of Kerry sympathizers and DNC corroborators.

I just saw something amazing. ABC sent a crew to Vietnam where the controversial battle took place. Initially they were not allowed into the country, until "someone" let them in, was that before or after the communists learned that they were running a hit piece on American veterans?

The ABC crew than proceeded to interview Vietcong who were assisted by government handlers. The stories they told didn't even jive with that of John Kerry's. Apparently only one battle in the entire war took place along those banks and these guys had an excellent memory of that event, though the report was quite confusing! But that was enough for our "pravda". The memory of these vietcong contradicts even Kerry's own account of the events and one that contradicts the entire contingent of US soldiers.

So what does Ted Koppel do next? He baits John O'Neill and brings him on his program and asks him how he and his group can disparage Kerry in light of this new "evidence". This is new and valid information, authenticated by Dan Rather I bet!! This sure isn't comunist propoganda from people that hail John Kerry as a hero, can't be cause our media is FAIR and has nothing but respect for facts and the truth. So, Ted Koppel believes these plants, these coached and handled Vietcong in place of all the swiftboat vets up to and including John Kerry.

It was a depsicable report. John O'neill said flat out that ABC News and Ted had been had, that they did not interview Americans for this report. That communists were the ones that provided information for the story and all Ted could do was attack John O'neill for citing John Kerry's biogrpahies and his book which uses John Kerry's biography as a source plus sworn affidavits from swiftboat vets that were actually there fighting on our side, you know the good guys.

We truly are living in a strange time when our "free" press puts the words of communists above those of our own veterans. It is sad and I thought Ted Koppel was smarter than this. What sickened me even more was his closing statement. When we find news we must report it, concealing it would be bad.

So in effect, if a news organization is had by a bunch of communists, does shoddy work and is not fair in reporting it.. It's ok because that would be better than not reporting it? That sounds like some kind of justification for spreading lies and propoganda. I think the media thinks Americans are a bunch of idiots!!

[JLO]

Thanks for posting the chart. Let's hope others read it and comprehend.

[tazannie]

they shouldn't pull their ads from ABC. that is just the audience they need to reach.

[AmarilloMorning]

O'Neil was truly masterful. I suspect the producer of this segment will be canned. Ted looked humiliated and angry.

Anyone who calls this thing as anything but a complete victory for O'Neil is crazy. Even before O'Neil's segment. The story was flimsy. The notion that there was more than one B-40 wielding rocket guy in the area on that day never occured to ABC.

Their whole piece was a mess. O'Neil made Ted look like a hack. This was bad. Dan Rather is a major stinker, but Dan hasn't really had to face what he did publically.

In the aftermath of Rathergate, Dan was able to go on tv and
spin and control the segments. Teddy Boy made a huge mistake having someone who knew the issues cold debating him on live tv. This might be Ted's worst broadcast in history.

Make no mistake, the inner sanctum of the MSM is buzzing over this--they aren't happy.

[Mo1]

Tonight in Kerry's Iowa appearance his last words were: "I've got your Back..(America)"

Yea that does seem like poor choice of words for Kerry to use .. LOL

[maica]

It would seem logical that he did, since he was in charge of all three PCFs on that mission.

Since he WAS in charge of all three boats, wouldn't that make the skippers of the other two [43 and 23] 'under' him, and thus qualified, in Kerry's strange mind, to comment on his leadership, etc?

[Barlowmaker]

Send that, if you would, to hhewitt@hughhewitt.com. I was going to write Hugh a capsule of what happened tonight for his show preparation tomorrow, but you've summarized it beautifully.

[AmarilloMorning]

I had no problem with O'Neil holding up the books. It was compelling. It was like something out of Perry Mason. He totally impeached Koppel and ABC News. This was great tv.

O'Neil is a smart guy and a patriot.

[HalleysFifth]

"My EMail to ABC... "

Coooool!

[Kahuna]

I've had only 3 minutes to scan all of this and my blood pressure is "through the roof".

Hey gang, if you can, please send more dough to the Swifties. I love these men and respect the way that they are, yet again, defending my freedoms. I served my Country during '64 to '72 and feel that I was lucky to survive.

We have another fire fight ahead.

Let's Roll

[texasbluebell]

anyone know if Kerry wrote the after action report for this incident?

"According to television commentator Mark Hyman of the Sinclair network of television stations, he obtained a copy of the incident's after-action report from the U.S. Navy archives. The report, written by Kerry himself, shows he indeed shot the enemy fighter as he fled:"

more at:

Kerry Silver Star report backs critics Confirms Democrat shot wounded enemy fighter as he fled

[txradioguy]

"Tonight in Kerry's Iowa appearance his last words were: "I've got your Back..(America)"

Shouldn't that actually read "I've got A KNIFE in your back...(America)"?

[james_f_hall]

I sent it.

[BillF]

O'Neill was awesome!

Under fire and on live TV, he dismembered the ABC attempt to resurrect Kerry as war hero and trash the Swift Vets as liars. As O'Neill pointed out, the Vietnamese were telling a story completely inconsistent with the story in Kerry's own book and the Boston Globe book.

ABC simply had found some govt-supervised pleasants saying what they were supposed to say.

Maybe some lying witnesses were real Viet Cong Vets for Kerry, not to be confused with DC Chapter mock Viet Cong Vets for Kerry activities as shown in photo below from April and in the threads linked below.

Report: D.C. Chapter Freeps the Vote for Change Tour Finale 10/11/04
D.C. Chapter ^ | Wednesday, October 13, 2004 | Kristinn

Posted on 10/13/2004 2:17:28 PM PDT by kristinn

[snip]

Toward the end of the freep, the Billionaires for Bush tried to cross the street to crash our protest. The police stopped them from jaywalking, so they went to end of the block and used the crosswalk to get over to our side. As they walked up to us, holding mock pro-Bush signs and dressed in tuxedos and ball gowns, I reminded the group that we had a permit for this area and that they were violating our rights by encroaching on our space.

They walked past and took up a position on our left flank, trying to get a photo-op the media could use to try to discredit us.

While the MPD officer in charge sorted the situation out, Doctor Raoul pulled a brilliant maneuver. He reached into his duffel bag and pulled out some conical straw bowl hats and grabbed a sign he'd been holding in reserve. He had the FReepers gathered around the Billionaires for Bush put on the conical straw hats while he held up his large sign which said, "Viet Cong Vets for Kerry."

The FReepers started loudly chanting "Viet Cong Vets for Kerry!" while the news cameras were filming. Raoul says the Billionaires for Bush didn't know how to react to the deft counter-thrust. Their eyes grew big as they realized they were being foiled. They beat a hasty retreat and never came back.

CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THAT THREAD

-----------------

Kerry National Headquarters Sics Cops on Freepers, Kristinn to Be On Fox News - On Now
D.C. Chapter of FR ^ | 4/17/04 | L_von_Mises

Posted on 04/17/2004 12:03:06 PM PDT by L_Von_Mises

The DC Chapter of Free Republic set up a Viet-Cong Vets for Kerry bake sale in front of Democrat Presidential candidate John Kerry's national headquarters in Washington DC this afternoon. The Kerry campaign responded by calling the D.C. police to shut down the bake sale.

CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THAT THREAD

[maica]

O'Neil is a smart guy and a patriot.

$$$$$

Agreed. He knows he has to speak in soundbites. He did not let Koppel skate, which is what all interviewers do when they don't like where a line of questioning is going.

[Barlowmaker]

Kerry, and his enablers, must be inflicting a 24X7 insult to you after your honorable service.

[liberty2004]

This might be Ted's worst broadcast in history. Make no mistake, the inner sanctum of the MSM is buzzing over this--they aren't happy.

I pray you are right. I am sorry I had to work and miss it. Thanks to everyone for their comments. John is a great guy.

[federal]

My email titled

Ted's excellent vietcong adventure!

Being 58 years old I thought I had witnessed every cheap, stupid, vindictive and immoral political trick out there. But I see now that there is no scum that ABC won't swim in to cover for a lying political candidate.

I cannot believe abc will give a hearing to some ex vietcong ( who still live in Vietnam a communist country) who are talking infront on communist handlers talking about a man the Vietcong consider a ally because he took up their cause in the media (you). Yet only now have you bothered to talk to a Swiftboat veteran. What are you afraid of? Why won't you ask Kerry why he hasn't released his service records.

I haven't watch your trash in so many years I can't even begin to tell you how long it's been I just read about your cheap hit piece on the internet. I'm telling you this because unlike you there are somethings I won't lie about.

I can't begin to tell you my comtempt for your program, I laugh when you call yourself a journalist. There is about 60% of the country that has a different term for people with your credibility, we call them USED CAR SALESMAN.

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