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Rush, O'Neill Blast ABC's Ted Koppel
NewsMax ^ | 10/16/04 | Carl Limbacher et al

Posted on 10/17/2004 6:55:32 AM PDT by pookie18

Last week Ted Koppel's "Nightline" aired a report using the testimony of three Viet Cong communist veterans, who detailed their version of John Kerry's actions that won him his Silver Star.

To oppose them, Koppel had Swift Boat Veterans for Truth's leader, John O'Neill, as a guest.

Interestingly, the program ignored the fact that Kerry's own recollections, noted in previous books, directly contradicted the stories told by the Viet Cong terrorists, who were on the program to help Kerry.

The accounts also differed from the recollections of other Swift Boat veterans.

ABC's "Nightline" feature was so slanted in Kerry's favor that it seemingly proved accusations made against a top ABC official who wrote a memorandum arguing that it was OK for the network to favor Kerry over the president in its reporting.

On Thursday, radio host Rush Limbaugh reminded his listeners of that ABC memo.

"Remember the ABC Mark Halperin memo one week ago today?" Rush asked. "The now famous town hall debate in St. Louis at Washington University? The political director, Mark Halperin of ABC, wrote a memo that revealed itself perfectly in last night's 'Nightline' program. As he noted, the situation is now grave for John Kerry and ABC has a public responsibility to set the record straight on John Kerry's Vietnam service. You have Kerry's version of events as it relates to his service, specifically as 'Nightline' addressed it last night - his Silver Star - and then you have Vietnam vets, Americans who have been decorated. They are heroes. They have their own medals. They have their version. ABC has talked - I don't know how much; very little, probably - to them. No, they are not the correct source to go to.

"ABC went back to the allies. ABC went over to Vietnam. ABC went to the village where this Silver Star event took place and they talked to John Kerry's, they talked to three Viet Cong people, three former Viet Cong communist soldiers and residents of the village. This is in Vietnam."

Rush recalled that John Kerry is in the North Vietnamese War Museum as a hero, and noted that "this is where 'Nightline' goes to solve the crisis, to solve the question, to answer once and for all the questions about Kerry's truth and service in Vietnam. If this doesn't spell out what the ABC memo said. You might say what are we going back to Vietnam two weeks before the election for? Because it's time to pull out all the stops. As the memo said, the situation's grave. ..."

Yesterday, John O'Neill released this statement on the "Nightline" show giving the other side of the story:

"While I have a tremendous amount of respect for Ted Koppel and ABC News I was appalled to learn that ABC News would go to the lengths of traveling to Vietnam to interview three Viet Cong communists in yet a third attempt by ABC to corroborate John Kerry's version of the events that took place on February 28th, 1969.

"I would only ask the American people: 'Who do you trust more, three members of a communist regime that tortured and killed our American troops or a group of more than 280 highly decorated American veterans, who proudly served their country and are now responsible members of their respective communities?'

"The number of veterans who support John Kerry's accounts of his military service would not fill one Swift Boat. But instead of sitting down to interview some of the 280 plus members of our Swift Boat organization, ABC News chose to travel to Vietnam taking extraordinary and highly suspect steps to find someone to corroborate John Kerry's story.

"ABC News Nightline has now dedicated three separate programs to this one incident while ignoring John Kerry's now discredited Senate testimony that he spent Christmas in Cambodia, his receiving a purple heart after all three of the officers required to approve such an issuance rejected his application, or his constantly changing account of the circumstances surrounding his remaining medal, a bronze star.

"Further, one has to wonder why ABC News will not address the serious questions as to why John Kerry only received an honorable discharge through the act of then President Carter, seven years after his discharge, and had to have all of his military citations reissued, on the same day, when he became a United States Senator in 1985. And, finally, why has Nightline found it of no interest to permit any POWs to come on their program to explain why they believe John Kerry betrayed their nation, caused them to be incarcerated for an additional two years and caused them tremendous additional hardship and suffering."

During the "Nightline" show, O'Neill pounced on the testimony of the Viet Cong veterans that there was a large force of Viet Cong soldiers present and firing at Kerry and his crew.

Said Koppel, "From the recollections of the Vietnamese who were on hand at the time, they recall a superior enemy force, 12 soldiers. ..."

Recalling for Koppel that in a a biography of Kerry, published by the Boston Globe with Kerry's assistance, O'Neill said that "they describe, on Page 101, a single teenager in a loincloth, Ted. They weren't trying to make it up. This is John Kerry's own approved biography, "Tour of Duty." On Page 296 of that book, John Kerry says, boy, he's glad there was only a single person there and not more.

"Ted, this is the biography by the hometown newspaper of John Kerry. It says there was a single Viet Cong teenager in a loincloth."

Asked Rush Limbaugh: "Why go over to Vietnam, talk to people who made heroes of John Kerry and then hold up what they say as the barometer that needs to be reacted to and responded to? John Kerry's not being asked to respond to the Swift Boats, but the Swift Boat vets and John O'Neill are being asked to respond to the communist North Vietnamese who have placed Mr. Kerry as a war hero in their country. So if you have Mark Halperin's memo and you have the context of that memo and you juxtapose it with this report last night, it's fine and dandy to say you report what you find, but what if what you report and what you find is not the truth?

"I mean, after all, you're talking to communists and people in a controlled, closed society. It is an encompassed communist country. And they still live their lives in fear in those places. The record isn't set straight. I know, the record's still not set straight. This muddies it up even more. Or depending on your view, I mean, this could clarify it a little more because it does appear that this is another one of these last-gap efforts to try to get Kerry out of a jam over all this that he doesn't seem to be able to extricate himself from on his own."

Move over, Dan Rather, make room for Ted Koppel and ABC on the John Kerry bandwagon.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: abcnews; oneill; rush
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1 posted on 10/17/2004 6:55:32 AM PDT by pookie18
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To: pookie18

Viet Cong Vets for Kerry


2 posted on 10/17/2004 7:01:36 AM PDT by Montfort
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To: pookie18

One could argue that abc believes Kerry lied in his own book and that the Boston Globe also lied. Of course, that's BS, but abc does seem to be running with the story that Kerry's autobiography is not true.


3 posted on 10/17/2004 7:01:47 AM PDT by Founding Father
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To: pookie18

Does anyone watch Nightline anymore?


4 posted on 10/17/2004 7:02:45 AM PDT by Saundra Duffy (,)
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Comment #5 Removed by Moderator

To: pookie18
.........John O'Neil of SBVT issued a press release after the Nightline show this past week, the last paragraph of which contiained this teaser: "Further, one has to wonder why ABC News will not address the serious questions as to why John Kerry only received an honorable discharge through the act of then President Carter, seven years after his discharge, and had to have all of his military citations reissued, on the same day, when he became a United States Senator in 1985....

ABC - CBS - Kitty Kelly - the major networks a playing a dangerous game with the American People feeding them lies - ABC must have gone to enormous expense with that Communist country to find those Viet Cong Vets...........whose side are they on? Why the communists of course and the lame to limping John Kerry. Goodbye ABC!

6 posted on 10/17/2004 7:04:24 AM PDT by yoe ("Here's my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose." Ronald Reagan)
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To: pookie18
.........John O'Neil of SBVT issued a press release after the Nightline show this past week, the last paragraph of which contiained this teaser: "Further, one has to wonder why ABC News will not address the serious questions as to why John Kerry only received an honorable discharge through the act of then President Carter, seven years after his discharge, and had to have all of his military citations reissued, on the same day, when he became a United States Senator in 1985....

ABC - CBS - Kitty Kelly - the major networks a playing a dangerous game with the American People feeding them lies - ABC must have gone to enormous expense with that Communist country to find those Viet Cong Vets...........whose side are they on? Why the communists of course and the lame to limping John Kerry. Goodbye ABC!

7 posted on 10/17/2004 7:04:40 AM PDT by yoe ("Here's my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose." Ronald Reagan)
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To: pookie18

The only place Hanoi John should be allowed to campaign from is the exercise yard at Leavenworth Prison!


8 posted on 10/17/2004 7:08:16 AM PDT by JoeSixPack1 (Jibba-Jabba: words to live by.)
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To: pookie18

Rush hits another home run. Kerry's unable to dig himself out of a mess of his own making and has others try to do it for him. As with the Mary Cheney debacle. This morning he's got one of his daughters out there explaining her father's nonapology. Kerry, meantime, has moved on to bashing Bush over the vaccine squabble...which is clearly the result of Hill and Bill's meddling and tort lawyers like Edwards.


9 posted on 10/17/2004 7:08:38 AM PDT by hershey (i)
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To: yoe
ABC must have gone to enormous expense with that Communist country to find those Viet Cong Vets...........whose side are they on?

Sounds strangely similar to CNN reporting what Saddam wanted reported from Iraq! To get in and stay in, CNN spun the situation in Iraq to Saddam's liking! What side were they on?

10 posted on 10/17/2004 7:15:19 AM PDT by TexasCajun
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To: pookie18

I'm sure the VC remember an engagement with Kerry. Yeh, right....

He was floating around the river with a banner on his boat - "Kerry for president in '04."

If the BS gets any deeper, I'll have to break out my hip boots.


11 posted on 10/17/2004 7:16:53 AM PDT by sergeantdave (ATTENTION - Republicans vote Tuesday. Democrats on Wednesday.)
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To: yoe
"Further, one has to wonder why ABC News will not address the serious questions as to why John Kerry only received an honorable discharge through the act of then President Carter, seven years after his discharge, and had to have all of his military citations reissued, on the same day, when he became a United States Senator in 1985....

Come on Swiftees! We're two weeks out, were is THIS ad?

The Swiftees did a great job( I donated), but I'm disappointed they didn't take the lead and get this story out earlier.

Damn, Kerry can just ignore the story now, it's too late to make an impact at all!

12 posted on 10/17/2004 7:20:34 AM PDT by TexasCajun
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To: pookie18
O'Neill: "While I have a tremendous amount of respect for Ted Koppel and ABC News..."

Exactly what work of Koppel and/or ABC News should anyone respect?

13 posted on 10/17/2004 7:26:20 AM PDT by stevem
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To: All

I watched this show because O'Neill was on and he handed Koppel his head on a plate. Koppel had this rediculous story about ABC going over there and picking people out of the swamp for testimony. They spoke only their language and all of it made Koppel look like Dan Rather and ABC like CBS, so we know what they are doing . Koppel would n't let O
Neill present his story or answer questions which he tried to do with Kerry's own words in the book. In the end, Koppel showed himself for what he is, a biased reprorter who works for a biased mainstream news service. Rush had wonderful coverage the next day and his remarks were right on the money.


14 posted on 10/17/2004 7:41:17 AM PDT by cousair
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To: stevem
Exactly what work of Koppel and/or ABC News should anyone respect?

Shilling for the Kerry compaign what else? O'Neill is a class act. This was the most irratated I've seen him. He even thanked O'Rielly who is also shilling for Kerry big time!

15 posted on 10/17/2004 7:48:49 AM PDT by Bommer (“ Bush met the First Lady at a BBQ? That's Love brotha!" - stainlessbanner)
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To: Montfort
Viet Cong Vets for Kerry

No question. Someone should get those bumperstickers out - I'm a VC for Kerry!

16 posted on 10/17/2004 7:55:59 AM PDT by sevry
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To: Bommer

Here's the Swifties 2 new ads!

Donate to them.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1247731/posts


17 posted on 10/17/2004 7:57:29 AM PDT by onyx (John "F" Kerry deserves to be the final casualty of the Vietnam War - Re-elect Bush/Cheney)
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To: Montfort
Viet Cong Vets for Kerry

What's next? "Manson Family members for Kerry"?

18 posted on 10/17/2004 7:58:42 AM PDT by GreenHornet
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To: TexasCajun; yoe
ABC must have gone to enormous expense with that Communist country to find those Viet Cong Vets...........whose side are they on?

I wonder about that. There is something EXTREMELY troubling in Koppel's closing remarks. He says that ABC was offered the chance ... see for yourself:

[closing thought]

Koppel: One of our own producers, this morning, raised a question that I suspect a number of you may have on your mind. Why, just when the Presidential candidates are starting to focus on real, substantive issues devote yet another program to what John Kerry did or didn't do in Vietnam?

Here's why. Questions have been raised about John Kerry's character and honesty. We were offered the chance to set the record straight on one, discreet chapter in Mr. Kerry's war record. We didn't know what we were going to find when our crew went into Vietnam. You have the right to expect that we would have reported it, either way. And we would. Because not reporting something you know can be just as much of a political statement as reporting it. Imagine how outraged supporters of Mr. Kerry would have been if we had concealed what we found!

Is ABC's Nightline acting simply as a transcript service for the People's Republic of Vietnam? Did the Vietnamese do the "heavy lifting" and find the "combatants," prep their story, and offer them up as a nice little package for Nightline? That is a world of difference from ABC independently sending out their staff to find these people and thereby find the truth rather than a Potemkin play.

source: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1245808/posts?page=14#14. I'd link to ABC's site but I don't feel inclined to improve their traffic numbers.

19 posted on 10/17/2004 8:03:39 AM PDT by NonValueAdded (Kerry: I wholeheartedly disagree with you beyond expression)
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To: TexasCajun
" Damn, Kerry can just ignore the story now, it's too late to make an impact at all!"

Another disgruntled, unemployed, political campaign manager?

20 posted on 10/17/2004 8:06:45 AM PDT by G.Mason (A war mongering, UN hating, military industrial complex loving, Al Qaeda incinerating American.)
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