'Unfit for Command' Author Defends His Book
[partial transcript of "Special Report With Brit Hume," Aug. 17, 2004; "Special Report With Brit Hume"
HUME: I understand. All right. Now, let's just to talk about you a little further here. There are allegations flying - I saw some of them today on web sites and so on - that you are a Republican activist. And partisan, who has been a registered Republican for the past 20 years or so and has given something on the order of $14,000 to Republican candidates. Your response.
O'NEILL: Well, first of all. Of course, there are 254 guys in our operation, 60 of them won the Purple Heart. I'm only one of many people, but as to me, that is not true either. The actual records, which I actually drawn, show that I have given more money to Democratic candidates than to Republican candidates.
But I'm not a Republican or a Democrat. I have always voted for the person. I have given money for example to Duane Sand who went to the Naval Academy. On the other hand, I have given money to Bill White, who is a Democratic candidate for mayor of Houston. And I've done that because I thought they would be good people.
HUME: Well, what about the 14 grand? Were those contributions you actually did make to Republicans?
O'NEILL: Actually, about half of them were mine and I've given in excess of $25,000 to Democrats over the same 15-year period. About three times as much.
HUME: What about the rest of the other $7,000?
O'NEILL: Those are actually funds, as nearly as I can tell, that were given my law partner who has almost the same name, Edward J. O'Neill. I simply didn't give them. I would have been happy to give them. I just didn't.
HUME: Mr. O'Neill, it's nice to have you. Thank you for coming. Hope we can see you again.
O'NEILL: Thank you very much. Thank you, Brit.]
Man they are desperate. The article was one-sided spin, with each comment by the good guys being debunked at length in response. It was like a written Nina Totenberg report, about that utterly biased.
The fact that they pooh-pooh Kerry's blatant and repeated lies about Cambodia (shunting it to the last few paragraphs) makes it all the more obvious.
Well, it's too bad. Their guy is going to lose, in spite of their best efforts. Just wait for the return of those 1992 bumper stickers "ANNOY THE MEDIA: RE-ELECT BUSH"
re: the chart.
You probably could make all sorts of visual representation of O'Neill's connections with Texas Democrats too. Sounds like a connected guy.
Take a look at first two statements of Elliott. They aren't mutually exclusive, but posed so.
Pretty weak job. I think the Swifties will fight back.
You notice all the writing errors in this story?
They missed at least one contradiction/inconsistency. The sKerry campaign has admitted that he was not in Cambodia on Christmas (seared, seared in his memory). Oh, and they admitted that Nixon wasn't President until 1/20/69.
Jeeze! If they did that for all the conflicting statements Kerry's made, they have to devote the whole Sunday Times (including the TV Guide & comics) to the flow chart.
When the Times wants readers to connect the dots, they run nifty little charts like that. Of course, they've never run a chart showing how the MoveOn and ACT and other anti-Bush groups have staffers who worked for Kerry et al. Or any investigation of George Soros, Stephen Bing, etc.
In a group of 254 guys, many of them very accomplished and with long military careers and all the connections that go with that, to have so FEW connections is surprising.
Evidently the New York Times believes that the swift boat veterans are being orchestrated from beyond the grave. Tex Lezar, the name listed at the center of their chart who they use as the "link" between Rove and O'Neill passed away in January of 2003 well before anybody even knew Kerry would be a candidate.
When are they going to investigate Kerry?