Posted on 06/22/2008 11:27:28 AM PDT by neverdem
For most people, “Swift boat” has become a political verb, a synonym for the kind of attack that helped destroy the presidential campaign of Senator John Kerry in 2004.
But for a group of Vietnam veterans at the center of the attacks, it is still a fresh fight.
On Friday, the group, who served with Mr. Kerry in Vietnam, sent a letter to T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire Texas oilman who helped finance the 2004 attack advertisements, taking him up on a challenge he issued last November: that he would give $1 million to anyone who could disprove a single charge the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth made against Mr. Kerry.
The letter-writers served alongside Mr. Kerry during the events that the Swift boat group insisted he had embellished or made up to win his military decorations.
Identifying themselves as “patriotic, concerned veterans” they say the accusations of the Swift boat group damaged their reputations and deeply affected their families, “tarnished the sacrifices we made, called into question the medals we were awarded and challenged the very authenticity of our service.”
The group is working with Mr. Kerry, who himself seized on the challenge soon after Mr. Pickens made it at an American Spectator dinner. In a letter, he offered to meet with Mr. Pickens to rebut the charges. Mr. Pickens wrote back to say that he was good for his money, but that Mr. Kerry would have to provide his military record, the journal he kept in Vietnam and movies and tapes made in his tours there.
Mr. Pickens also qualified his challenge, saying he meant that someone would have to prove false things in the group’s television advertisements — putting aside a best-selling book and extensive news media interviews that attracted the bulk of the attention. He challenged...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
And the asshat joined that div because he thought it was a cakewalk and that it would equate him to JFK.
It was a coastal patrol when he joined and easy duty. Later the mission shifted and they got sent up the rivers, largely because the boats weren’t up to open water. Thats when Kerry suddenly got 3 PH’s he submitted himself for and an out.
McCain is no John Kerry.
Look, it's okay for you to tell yourself anything that floats your boat.
But this old salt, recognizes a frontal assault on truth when I hear it or see it...
There was NOTHING "roundabout" in McCain's attack on the SBVFT.
It was an IN YOUR FACE insult to the honor and integrity of DOZENS of decorated TRUE WAR HEROES......and an attempt to SHUT THEM UP.
To throw salt in the wound -- McCain was defending a POS like Kerry who had charged my brothers with unspeakable crimes in Vietnam......
He lied......those of us who were there, KNOW he lied.
Note: I never said I was an officer.
I am not always pragmatic
If you’d be honest with yourself, and study the history — you’d know it was ALL true.
BS He was only saying that he thought attacks on vets should be out of bounds
Sigh..... I have a “thinking problem”
If Obama wins this Kerry POS just might end up Secretary of Defense or another high post
Get Senator Kerry to sign form 180 and show us his official records not “documentation” that may or may not have been faxed from a Dallas Kinkos.
LOL. Now that's a ringing endorsement. It still doesn't give me a reason to vote for him. I will note that McCain calls Kerry a "good friend of mine."
Now look at McCain. For years he had been dogged by a group of lunatics questioning his honor. These were people of marginal intellect and dubious sanity. These people would stoop to anything to smear his character and his service. They were indeed dishonorable and dishonest.
Don't believe me? Let's take McCain out of the mix and substitute Colonel Bud Day, a man of unquestionable honor and integrity and courage. Do you believe that Colonel Day was a liar, a coward, an opportunist who would sell his MOH for personal or political gain? Read this. Politicizing the Congressional Medal of Honor These are the same people attacking John McCain.
Is it any wonder that McCain would defend a fellow Senator and Vietnam veteran (no matter how undistinguished his service) against charges from the likes of these guys?
The problem was that the Swift Vets were not the likes of these guys. It was the absolutely Sterling character of the Vets, both individually and as a group that finally won the day. People like Ted Sampley made the job a lot tougher.
With McCain's experience, I don't blame him for being doubtful of another group which looked a lot like those he had delt with before.
“Why would they pursue this now? Does Kerry think he might be Obama’s VP choice, or is he really worried about being dumped from the Senate in the fall?”
Bingo!
I was going to say the same thing. This is a trial balloon sent out to see if he can overcome the Swift Boat charges. Didn’t I see an earlier article today that the official swiftboat website and organization had been disbanded?
“Four years later...”
It appears you've decided your view of the world is correct.
I have neither the time or desire to beat any sense into a closed mine.
Goodnight.
For most people, “Swift boat” meant a light shining on the French looking John Kerry, which helped destroy his presidential campaign, due to the fact that he couldn't refute their claims.
Vietnam veterans ask T. Boone Pickens to pay up on Kerry record
Dallas News
Posted on 06/22/2008 4:56:38 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2034882/posts
"DUTY" my A$$. The man doesn't know anything about Duty, nor Honor, nor Country!
I really don't want to get into a "who shot John" (sic - no pun intended) concerning John McCain and his service. I did so a few years ago and ended up eating quite a bit of crow.
Mr. McCain endured and survived something that I don't know if I could have. Whether that makes him a hero or not is certainly up to the interpretation of each person making that decision.
I can't however accept your proposition about his inability to take the time and check out the veracity of those Swift Boat Vets that he so rapidly and callously attacked.
I still can't accept him supporting John Kerry's service record during the "war" much less getting anywhere close to supporting the vile man after he (Kerry) came back and vilified us all.
I can accept that Mr. McCain must have some mental and emotional challenges after what he went through. I know I do, and I didn't go through the period of torture and confinement he did.
All that said, I have not gotten to the point that I am able to forgive or forget many of Mr. McCain's words and actions since he has been in political office, especially concerning all matters related to RVN.
Thank you for the kind and respectful manner in which couched your position to me. It was so much more that of a gentleman or lady than replying with a curt "BS".
Thanks for the links.
As I understand it, Kerry's third PH was awarded for the "wound" he received on a training mission with CD 14 -- during his first month in-country.
It was this anomalous PH, "earned" before he joined CD 11 but "claimed" and "awarded" afterwards, that gave him his ticket home.
I.e., Kerry's Purple Hearts were not awarded in the same sequence in which he was wounded.
I remember Ollie North saying that he's not sure how many Purple Hearts he himself turned down because he wanted to stay with his men.
I happened to be present at a Purple Heart award ceremony last year for a Marine who had just returned from deployment in Iraq. It was a nice ceremony, and a real pleasure to see in person, but it was not particularly upbeat in any way - - it was respectful and serious and short.
Marines, especially infantry Marines, view a Purple Heart as a sort of honorarium for the enemy. That is, it's like saying, "See this Purple Heart? I got this because the frigging enemy got me." Most infantry Marines do not take pride in the enemy getting them, and they do not show off their Purple Hearts.
Kerry, on the other hand, couldn't wait to scam himself three quick Purple Hearts
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