Posted on 08/21/2004 11:14:55 AM PDT by kattracks
WASHINGTON - Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites)'s campaign released a video Saturday comparing the controversy over Kerry's Vietnam service to attacks on John McCain during the 2000 Republican primaries.The video, sent via e-mail to supporters, says, "George Bush is up to his old tricks" and shows then-Texas Gov. Bush and Arizona Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) at a debate in February 2000.
McCain, sitting next to Bush, says that when "fringe veterans groups" attacked him at a Bush campaign function, Bush stood by and didn't say a word. McCain says a group of senators wrote Bush a letter that said: "Apologize. You should be ashamed."
McCain, also a Vietnam veteran, says Bush "really went over the line."
"I don't know how you can understand this, George, but that really hurts," McCain says.
Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a group funded in part by a top GOP donor in Texas, has been running ads featuring veterans who served in Vietnam at the same time as Kerry and question his wartime record.
In Roanoke, Va., on Saturday, Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards (news - web sites) called on Bush to end the ads.
"This is a moment of truth for George W. Bush," Edwards said at a Democratic rally. "We're going to see what kind of man he is and what kind of leader he is. ... We want to hear three words: Stop these ads."
Edwards said the commercials were from "people who financed the same kind of attacks against John McCain in the 2000 presidential campaign."
The Kerry campaign has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (news - web sites), alleging the Swift Boat Veterans group is coordinating its ads with the Bush campaign. The Bush campaign has denied the claim.
Being that mc cain is ALREADY ON RECORD in 1973 or so DENOUNCING kerry and the vvaw activities THE SAME WAY THE POWS IN THE SECOND SWIFT VETS AD DOES, IMHO, Mr."Gee I was a VN POW, so PLEASE DON'T BRING UP MY "VERY-MINOR-INCIDENT ON THE USS FORRESTAL", mc cain, better NOT have ANYTHING AT ALL NEGATIVE to say about the Swift Vets FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE !!!
LMAO
I want to hear what he has to say about Kerry trashing the POWs in the new ad.
And he better speak up; if he sides with Kerry on this, I say all bets are off with him and it's time to expose him for the miserable whiner he is.
You are exactly right. I don't suppose they put that part in, did they?
An old magazine article has already been quoted on FR -- McCain saying exactly what he, as a POW, really thought of Kerry.
can someone tell me why McCain doesn,t resent kerry for testifying against the war when he came home, didn't that hurt McCain?
Why isnt Kerry releasing his records?
Stalling for time?...hoping the Clintons will bail him out with one of their dirty tricksters favors?
I just hope Kerry is able to mentally hang in there until his Nov. defeat
I dont think he can hack it much longer...
imo
Except that the Bush-Cheney campaign hasn't attacked Kerry on this issue. Not ever.
Yahoo is lying. What a blooming surprise.
If Bush should lose, it certainly won't be because he failed to give the whiners validity by responding to their wails.
The most pathetic political posture is to be delusional and demand that the opponent "do" any specific thing: e.g. "Kerry demands that Bush deny that he eats kittens and children!".
If they're so unfazed, why did CBS say Kerry's poll numbers were plummeting...a situation that had started at the RAT convention and now was basically in freefall. Veterans had been evenly split, now were going for Bush close to seventy per cent...and their families. Don't forget how many others whose vote the influence. Kerry's peeing in his pants.
McCain is in photos all over the web and media giving Bush bear hugs!
Susan Estrich was in high dudgeon awhile ago on Fox.
She claims the ads are hurting George Bush.
She said that since she used to call Bill Clinton a draft dodger, she is entitled to say the same about George Bush, so she called President Bush, a draft dodger.
Then Estrich said that the ads were obviously coordinated with the WH and RNC-because Karl Rove's lawyer and friends had given money to the SBVFT.
Apparently, there is some law I am unaware of, that prohibits anyone who knows Karl Rove from participating in the election process.
Then she added to her litany of " links," by saying that " how else would the SBVFT have known to run ads in the battleground states ??""
Guess she thinks the identity of the battleground states is a secret.
Then she said this and I am 100 % I heard her correctly,
"Of course the ads are hurting George Bush,which is why John Kerry has filed a complaint with the FEC."
Huh ??
And then she trashed Zell Miller-he used to work for Lester Maddox.. she stopped short of saying he wore a white sheet, but, that's where she was going.
I think the book and ads are hurting Kerry, Big Time.
The truth to Kerry is like a cross to a vampire.
IMHO, this is nothing but propagation of dim talking points. The President DID condemn ALL 527 ads. Ignore it if you like, but the MSM reported this many times over.
It would be illegal for the President to make any direct statement of ANY kind, to the Swifties.
I heard on the news a bit ago (XM Radio, America Right), that McCain made a statement that he was saddened by the kerry rhetoric.
LLS
The original Manchurian Candidate should be required viewing.
GRIDLEY Crew members (67-68) say Kerry exaggerated in TOUR OF DUTY
"...John Kerry and I were shipmates in the guided missile cruiser USS
Gridley (CG-21) in 1967 and 1968. He served as First Lieutenant, the
officer in charge of the deck division, and I was Executive Officer,
or second in command..."
"...But there is also no doubt in my mind that his anti-war
activities while our troops were still fighting, dying and being
tortured in filthy Vietnam prisons were despicable.
For that reason, even aside from his anti-defense voting record in
the Senate, he is one ex-shipmate that I could never support as
commander-in-chief of the armed forces."
J. F. Kelly, Jr.
USS Gridley (CG-21) Executive Officer in 1967 and 1968.
GRIDLEY Website page on John Kerry
http://home.nycap.rr.com/pwcarter/the%20kerry%20page.html
Other crew members speak about John Kerry
(Looks like Kerry's shipmates, who did serve with him,
say he lied and told whoopers about his time on the GRIDLEY.
Remember these are not Swift Boat Vets,
BUT Kerry's crewmates who served with him on the GRIDLEY)
Examples follow:
"As everyone must surely know by now, John F. Kerry came on board
GRIDLEY as a boot Ensign when we returned from our 1967 Westpac
Cruise. He remained on GRIDLEY through the 1968 cruise. Politics
aside, shipmates of the time who have read TOUR OF DUTY, the
authorized campaign biography, will have something to say about the
chapter on GRIDLEY. "
1. Kerry never talked about his time on GRIDLEY. He says on page
74 that it is because “nothing much of note” happened while
he was
onboard. He uses words like monotony and tedious, when, despite
being a boot ensign he was given every opportunity for responsibility
by Captain Slifer and Commander Kelly (XO). He came aboard
designated for Electrical Officer (80100), a grunt position in the
Engineering Department and spent four months in that position. He
was assigned duty as First Lieutenant, as Commander Kelly recalls,
because of his knowledge of seamanship and his experiences with small
boats and sailing. Besides being responsible for the decks of the
ship, the First Lieutenant is also responsible for the ship’s
small
boats. He also was assigned collateral duties as Public Affairs
Officer. Despite all the responsibilities he was given, he gives the
impression that serving on GRIDLEY was somehow beneath him. He
certainly had less of an opportunity to collect “gongs” there.
2. Page 78 – “motivate 400 swabbies” – The First
Lieutenant is
responsible only for the personnel of 1st Division, not the entire
crew. 1st Division had a roster of about 30 in 1968. To the extent
that other divisions had responsibility for deck space, their
officers would have been responsible for motivating them.
3. Page 87 has Kerry “shuttling sailors and provisions”
between
GRIDLEY and KITTY HAWK in a small motor whaleboat out in the Gulf of
Tonkin. The regular method of travel between the two ships was via
helo. That is how I went over to the KITTY HAWK. If such an event
did occur, it would have been unusual and hardly a shuttle.
4. Later on page 87 Kerry talks about Olongapo in the Philippines.
He talks about bloated corpses floating in the river and starving
women with babies dying of malnutrition. Now Olongapo was a wild and
wooly town that existed solely for the entertainment of the US Navy,
but in over three years of calling there, I never saw a single
instance of either thing happening. Kerry uncovered this in his
first visit. If this was from his letters home then he was certainly
writing for dramatic effect. Balderdash.
5. The trip to Danang – GRIDLEY went into Danang for briefings
before going to Northern SAR. This section is so full of hyperbole
that the urge to giggle is almost uncontrollable. “The panic and
pressure onboard GRIDLEY, strapping on a .45, wondering if I would
have to use it, B-52’s howling overhead”. A B-52 over Danang
would
have been so high that only contrails would have been visible, cloud
cover permitting. David Simons confirmed my recollection that during
our brief stay in Danang Harbor, the sky was overcast to the point of
being ominous.
More seriously, no one can remember John Kerry going ashore. I was
part of the shore party that went to Monkey Mountain. We were taken
in a screened in truck (to protect against grenades being tossed in)
and made to unload our .45’s. The driver said that he did not
want
us newbies to shoot anyone by accident.
Neither Commander Kelly nor LCDR Rueckert (Kerry’s immediate
boss)
can recall approving a trip ashore for Ensign Kerry. The author uses
remarks of David Simons IC2 as a lead in to the Danang section. I
spoke to David and he has no personal knowledge of Kerry going ashore
at all. He did talk to a researcher and made some generic remarks
about Danang but had never discussed Danang with Kerry. He recalls
arguing with the researcher because he tried to put the
words “cowboy” in his mouth, which ended up in the book.
There is no mystery about the “gruesome site of a pile of dead
VC.”
We saw no sign of anything like this. However, our escort to Monkey
Mountain did tell us how the VC bodies were stacked up on the
LZ’s
after the TET Offensive, which had been several months before.
Ensign Kerry would have been told this story by members of the shore
party.
If, indeed, he got to the pier, because he was in charge of the
motor whaleboat, it certainly would not have been within his purview
to wander Danang, eating dog meat and drinking beer in a bar (under
arms). It also seems amazing that he had all these observations on
Vietnam in such a brief visit.
6. In command – Again with the hyperbole. Kerry makes much
about
being “in charge” of the ship after the Captain and XO. The
OOD is
in charge of the operation of the ship during his four hour watch but
hardly in charge of the ship. Kerry qualified almost immediately as
OOD(P), in port OOD but that is a given. For much of his time
onboard he would have been Junior Officer of the Deck when underway.
Although his fitness report as of 22 March says "he is qualified as
OOD(I) now" (Independent steaming – with no ships or land
anywhere
near) , only OOD(P) is listed under duties. His Fitness Report from
July 1968 lists two months as OOD(I) which would mean he qualified
after leaving the war zone.
McCain has developed a case of Republican Media Disease (RMD). This is a psychological disorder that affects some Republicans.
The media love the Democrats and hate the Republicans. Thus, Democrats who break ranks with their party, such as Zell Miller, are treated with media disdain. In contrast, Republicans who break with the GOP's basic conservatism get lavish and fawning media treatment.
Some Republicans are easily flattered and lured in by this tactic. Sandra Day O'Connor is a good example. Whenever she helps to deliver a 5-4 leftist ruling, the press fawns over her for having shown "pragmatism". They drool over her for having "grown" into a more "enlightened" judge. In other words, O'Connor suffers from RMD.
McCain has also contracted RMD. Anytime he feels to need to be fawned over, he betrays conservatives in some way. He knew that denouncing the Swiftvets would get him a lot of favorable media. He needed a "fix", as it's like a drug to him.
RMD might also be called the David Rodham Gergen Syndrome.
Estrich needs recalled for reprogramming... she is sounding stale and silly.
BUMP FOR SWIFT VET AD2... http://www.swiftvets.com/
The reason I think they're hurting Kerry is that his campaign mode has become "illogical".
Compare the President's response to F9/11 or the Bush bashing books that were released.
The authors were interviewed, their books advertised on 60 Minutes, the White House said nothing, and the controversary all sort of blew over.
Now with the Swiftvet incident, Kerry could have employed the same tactic...if it wasn't hurting his numbers.
But when they saw it hurting their numbers, instead of just running counter ads (which would have been the right response), the first things....let me repeat that, the FIRST things he did was to call for banning of the book and he filed a FEC complaint against the ads. This gives the book and the ads much more influence than they would have had if he hadn't been protesting so much.
IMHO, these tactics are not a sensible response to an attack ad. They are illogical (sound like Spock, don't I) and emotional responses. They must be having more of an effect than we had realized.
P.S. His reactions yesterday were so "over the top" that I wondered if there might be something in that book that was damaging, that nobody had realized was in there...some little nugget published that not even the Swiftvet guys knew had impact (but that was when I was wearing my tin foil hat and now I've taken it off.)
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