Posted on 10/14/2004 1:55:15 PM PDT by 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.
Thanks. Hugh is almost the "father figure" of the blogosphere. If he gets behind something, it really attains new media traction.
Thinking about it more, I think they should pull the ad dollars from ABC. Call a press conference stating the exact reasons for doing so, that will generate a decent amount of publicity and get the ads played in the news. I think they have legitamate reasons for not wanting to support ABC News. It's more a principle of the issue type of thing. Put that money everywhere else but ABC. Send a little message, money talks! I am sure John O'Neill would have loved a fair shake tonight, he didn't get one. So pull the ads, get your money back.
Were the Democrats given a heads-up about Nightline's intentions?
Or did they perhaps encourage Koppel to "go to Vietnam and get to the bottom of the story"?
If anybody believes for one second that Kerry and the Democrats do not have the resources to outrace Koppel to Vietnam, grease a few palms, and set things up just right, then I got a bridge in Massachusetts for sale.
Will they rebroadcast it as is for the west coast? or will they have a few "technical difficulties" with O'Neill's satellite feed, or mic, or something?
Travis, can you tape this and let me know tomorrow what you saw. Cold Spring girl tapes Ted Koppel every night and watches it with Dad every morning. I'd love to know if ABC alters its original broadcast in any way.
Since it's the Elephant in the room, I'm going to bring it into the discussion. If the MSM is the information gate-keeper and they have come to the point where they will invoke the words of Communist Peasants as the truth, over that of our honorably discharged veterans, then it is time for SERIOUS ACTIONS to be taken against them.
We own the airwaves, we license them. They do not own the truth or the right to say whatever they want. I propose that we begin to discuss legal (and let me emphasize legal) action plans to make a change and remove this column of the "evil Empire"
Ted looked awful. The MSM has to know that this coupled with the hideous Kerry and Elizabeth Edwards comments will have legs in the New Media. I am so energized by this. I would walk
over glass to vote against John Kerry.
The guy who died in the battle's tombstone said H.S. 12.1.1969 That sure does not add up with February 28, 1969 the date of the battle.
ABC has been had.
Yeah, either much to early if it is a January date, or much to late if it is a December date.
If you can, you should watch and tape O'Neill as he reveals Koppel's reliance on phony witnesses on live (taped in your region) TV. It was something to behold.
Also, I wonder if Koppel changed the show for the West Coast and Mountain versions. O'Neill destroyed Koppel.
Buckhead-esque BUMP? ;^)
I really think something concerted needs to be down. We have the money. We need to take back the airwaves.
We can't have people who want us to lose in Iraq as our information gatekeepers. I am so enraged by this. It makes me furious that a great nation such as ours is burdened by such powerful Fifth Column hacks. They are the reason this race is tied. they have total control of the idiot Kerry voters. The only way a person could vote for Kerry is if they were brainwashed by the MSM.
It's been like that for thirty-five years now.
I thought that was what it said!! Anybody have a TIVO caption of that???
Is that what it really says?
OMG, the MSM is getting sloppy. They are so biased and they have no respect for our ability to see through their garbage.
Not sure. nonkultur saw it in post 327. I didn't tape (no TIVO) the show, so I missed it. Somebody will verify it soon with a screen capture, I'm sure.
They should re-air another show. I hope they don't, but the rules of save your a$$ would dictate that.
I don't get to listen to Hannity on the radio much. But he was interviewing people. Most don't even know who our VP is, and they are voting for Kerry because of what they see in the news. If that is not an indictment for the bias of the media, I don't know what is.
Most Americans are not politically saavy and they rely on "trusted" new sources and quick soundbites to make their decisions. Many of these people going in, voting for Kerry, if they knew the truth of the matter would not be voting for him.
Kerry
I put out a call for a screen capture. I also flashed Drudge.
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