AUGUST 24, 2004 : (C.R.E.W. GOES AFTER THE SWIFT BOAT VETERANS FOR TRUTH aka SWIFTIES WITH A FOIA REQUEST...)
To: National Desk
Contact: Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, 202-588-5565
WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 [2004]/U.S. Newswire/ -- Earlier today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a Freedom of Information Act Request (FOIA) with the White House asking it to detail its contacts with individuals connected to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT).
CREW asked the White House to release information regarding contacts between the Executive Office of the President and: any member of SBVT; SBVT donors Harlan Crow, Bob J. Perry and Paraclete Armor & Equipment; Merrie Spaeth, who has coordinated the public relations efforts of SBVT; any employee of Stevens Reed Curcio & Poltholm, the advertising agency that has made SBVT's commercials; Rupprath and Associates, the detective agency that gathered the SBVT affidavits; SBVT fundraiser The McIntosh Company; and Kenneth Cordier, a former member of the Bush campaign's veterans steering committee.
The White House has claimed no involvement with SBVT or the group's anti-Kerry campaign ads, a claim undermined by recent revelations that Cordier, who appears in one of SBVT's advertisements was on the Bush campaign's veterans steering committee at the time he made the ad, and by the fact that a Kerry campaign volunteer picked up a flier for SBVT at the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign offices in Gainesville, Florida.
CREW's executive director Melanie Sloan stated "Despite evidence to the contrary, the Bush Administration has repeatedly claimed that it has nothing to do with SBVT or its ads. If this is true, then the White House should have no qualms about releasing information regarding any contacts between White House officials and those connected with SBVT."
Sloan decided to send the FOIA after reading that, upon being asked whether she had worked with White House officials, SBVT public relations coordinator Merrie Spaeth said "The answer is 'no' unless you refresh my memory." (NYT 8/20/04).
Sloan said that she was also skeptical of Bush political advisor Karl Rove's claim that he has not spoken with his friend and large Republican donor Bob Perry in over a year.
The FOIA was sent, said Sloan, "to gather the information Ms. Spaeth, Karl Rove and others may need to have their memories refreshed as to whether or not SBVT illegally coordinated with the White House."
A copy of CREW's FOIA request can be found on the Web at http://www.citizensforethics.org ---------- "CREW FOIAs White House Contacts with Swift Boat Veterans Group," U.S. Newswire, August 25, 2004 , http://www.usnewswire.com/
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=5886
"The Fairy Tale Democrats
September 25th, 2006
Like some fabled vampire jerkily rising from his crypt, John F. Kerry crept back in the news, madly signaling a new run for the Democrat Party nomination. As in previous revivals, Kerry is banking on his faithful Teresa, who sprinkled her life-giving Heinz ketchup money all over his stiff body to bring it back to life. Teresa even does a darned good imitation of Count Dracula’s sidekick Igor.
Mythic thinking
If I seem to be fascinated by Kerry’s resemblance to Count Dracula, it is because mythic thinking plays such a big role in the Democratic Party. John Kerry has been driven by one supreme fantasy all his adult life: to be just like JFK. In pursuit of that dream Kerry goes through all kinds of amazing transformations. Unlike the rest of us who just get older day by day, in the 2004 campaign John Forbes Kerry seemed to grow magically younger. Starting out looking gaunt and tired, his cheeks suddenly botoxed out, his hair morphed from grey to black, and his body hiccupped into he-man shape. It was awesome. The Dems were selling a fraud, of course, but the thing is that they expected their voters to believe it. Most of them went right along. Gosh, they must have marveled, our guy John looks better every day!
Recently Kerry has been theatrically threatening to “kick their ass from one end of America to the other”—referring to his former Swiftboat commanders and comrades—if they to dare to question his heroic record during those three fabled months in the Mekong Delta. Apparently Kerry’s media advisors have called for an Alpha Male impression early on in the campaign. The candidate is doing his best.
Bill Clinton notoriously marched a group of US Marines up the West Lawn, after his popularity crashed early in his first term. By putting media cameras on top of the hilly slope of the grass lawn, our fearless leader could be made to look much bigger than all the real soldiers marching up the hill behind him. As I remember it, after several heroic media scams along those lines his poll numbers rebounded. It’s a sort of tradition. After all, LBJ finagled a Silver Star to jump-start his political career in Texas. He also got away with it. But Clinton and LBJ knew they were faking. It seems that John Kerry really believes his own story of the moment.
We sorely need presidents who can tell the difference between truth and fakery. For that reason, the return of Count Kerry is pretty scary. Here’s a man who has been carrying his old Navy hat in his briefcase for almost forty years, only taking it out to share with a few selected reporters (and possibly for his own private delectation).
Kerry scripted his victory speech at the 2004 National Convention as a pretend-USN officer coming aboard a pretend-USN warship, making a pretend-salute, and uttering the brave words, “I’m John Kerry and I am reporting for duty!” It made one cringe with embarrassment"........
there's more....hehheh.....