Free Republic

Here’s an un-Conventional line of thought: I’ve sometimes wondered, idly, how it could be that John Kerry had so many pictures of himself from his Navy days in Vietnam. Just four months “in country,” as Vietnam vets say, during which time he earned three Purple Hearts, one Silver Star and one Bronze Star, and he comes home with what are reportedly hours — hours! — of 8 millimeter film. Some snips appear in Kerry campaign ads; more show up in the Great Kerry Convention Biopic produced by Spielberg protege James Moll. How did Kerry do it? Now we know. That...

Turns out that the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are not out to distort anything about John Kerry (Swift Boat Veterans Against Truth, Monday AFP), because what they have to say about Kerry is not distorted at all. Believe me, the book Unfit for Command is loaded with facts about Kerry. I have already ordered it and can hardly wait until September when it is released. True, the timing of this book's release may be bad for Kerry - but for the conservatives, it is dead on time. I, too, like Sen. John McCain, dislike politics like this. I agree,...

MIDI - IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...in the midst of war In Cambodia, Christmas trees, blow in the winter breeze Lt. Kerry wonders what's in store It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...he's set to depart But he bangs his head in the door and he writes himself up for One more purple heart John Kerry's telling his guys there's someone to despize Richard Nixon, who sent them there Even though Nixon is not yet in office, John Kerry doesn't much care He's got to blame it...

August 9, 2004 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The television ad that aroused the wrath of John McCain and journalist supporters of John Kerry just begins deconstruction of the Democratic presidential candidate's war record. "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry," a 214-page critique of his performance in Vietnam and the antiwar movement, is off the presses ahead of schedule. I have read the book and found it is neither the political propaganda nor the urban legend that its detractors claim. It is a passionate but meticulously researched account of how Kerry went to war, what he did...

Will Kerry's supporters stop at nothing? The cover of the new anti-Kerry book, Unfit for Command, set to hit shelves soon, has been given an alternative, pro-Kerry cover at the Barnes & Noble online store. The title of the book has been changed to Fit for Command, and the cover image has been changed from a close-up of a finger-pointing Kerry to a picture of Kerry in uniform with other Vietnam veterans. (The book currently sits at #7 on the Barnes & Noble Top 100 and at #2 on Amazon.) The book, which challenges the "war hero" status of John...

.....On Friday, August 6, the Sun published on page A-6 a story from the Los Angeles Times by Matea Gold called "McCain condemns ad criticizing Kerry war service," with a subhead reading "Spot by veterans group runs in crucial states, says he lied about wounds." Considering that this headline and story spanned six columns, it's amazing what's not reported. The gist of it is that an attack ad campaign is running in the "toss-up" states that has some other Swift boat Vietnam-era military men claiming John Kerry was not injured in Vietnam. The story isn't about whether or not the...

The Swift Boat Ad Susan Estrich Monday, Aug. 9, 2004 The latest piece of ugliness in this year's presidential race is an ad attacking John Kerry's record as a swift boat captain in the Vietnam War. In what is shaping up to be the ugliest, slimiest, dirtiest year in presidential history, this one takes the cake - so far. Story Continues Below The ad is an attack not only on Kerry, but also on the military itself - an attack on the process by which the military awards honors and on the men who vouched for Kerry when he was...

..........The Kerry examination began over the weekend, not by the old media, but by the Internet world of blogs. Over the weekend many have dug up a particularly interesting tidbit on exactly where John Kerry spent his Christmas in 1968. Did he go accidentally into Cambodia? Kerry says he did. Did he spend his Christmas only “close to the Cambodian border?" Kerry says he did. From the AP’s John Diamond in 1992... Navy Lt. John Kerry knew he had no business steering his Mekong River patrol boat across the border into Cambodia, but orders were orders. From the Boston Globe’s...

PREPARING for this week’s release of “Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry,” the pro and anti-Kerry camps last week rehashed the 35-year-old battle exploits of Sen. Kerry. One of the allegations in the book is that Kerry won the Silver Star for a raid in which he chased a wounded, loin cloth-wearing teenager and shot him in the back. This allegation is not new. It was covered in Boston Globe stories compiled into a biography of Kerry that was published earlier this year. “He was running away with a live B-40, and, I thought, poised...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The last time the Vietnam War loomed so large in a presidential election, it was 1972 and U.S. soldiers were still fighting in Southeast Asia. But the war has taken center stage again as both parties seek the support of Vietnam veterans - turning to them as the emerging elder statesmen among U.S. war veterans. At a conference this past week, on the 40th anniversary of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the Vietnam Veterans of America urged its members to make their voices heard. "This election is probably more important than any election for president since...

Whatever you usually think of him, tune into Savage live now! He's spending the show (again) on getting the swiftboat vets story out there. His guest will be, for the second time, the machine gunner who served with John Kerry on his boat. Steve Gardner, I believe is his name. Also, Savage is expressing his disappointment with Fox News, specifically O'Reilly, for spiking this story and essentially calling the veterans liars. Savage says it's because O'Reilly wants to get John Kerry on his show.

U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., said he doesn't find ads accusing Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry of lying about his military service inappropriate. "If Senator Kerry can trot out his people on stage that he served with to use as an endorsement of his military service, then it's not inappropriate for others who also served with him to question whether his service is all it's made up to be," Kolbe said Friday. Kolbe said he got to know Kerry during his year as a naval communications officer and later as an operations officer in Vietnam. The 60-second ad is scheduled...

John Kerry is either a "war hero" or a "war criminal" Can't have it both ways. John Kerry and War Crimes in Vietnam He was in command of a Swift Boat and ordered his men to do these things. Listen to this 1971 audio clip in Kerry's own words. LONG BEFORE THE '04 Election Listen Here John Kerry went before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in 1971 to accuse the United States military of committing massive numbers of war crimes in Vietnam. So my question is did Kerry lie about his "heroism" or the "atrocities" that he took part...

-- To preempt the release of a new book questioning John Forbes Kerry's account of his service in Vietnam, the Kerry-Edwards presidential campaign announced it had received the endorsement of yet another military veterans group. Viet Cong Veterans for Kerry (VCVFK), an ad hoc group of North Vietnamese soldiers who served in the early 1970s, said their support is "payback for all Mr. Kerry did for us in his 1971 testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He almost single-handedly put an end to U.S. atrocities against innocent Viet Cong soldiers and their families." The Viet Cong veterans' support comes...

There’s dissention in the ranks and the smell of mutiny on deck as a parade of Vietnam veterans who served with and/or knew John Kerry in Vietnam come forward to denounce him as a leader, officer and veteran. This situation has helped becalm Kerry’s already some say foundering campaign warship, which got little if any boost from the Democratic National Convention and which also got about the same result from Kerry’s selection of John Edwards as his vice-presidential running mate. Kerry’s latest headache is followed by frustrating events like Shove-It-Gate, Sandy Berger’s light-fingers episode in the National Archives, and Kerry’s...

I have been puzzled about the lack of conversation about the appearance of such opposing views between sKerry's crewmen, and the Swiftvets. It just stands to reason that one of the groups is just flat wrong (I didn't say lied). It intrigued me that so many, who are against sKerry, could be ofset by so few that support him. It is almost as if the media thinks that the public would buy off on a conspiracy of such a grand scale.I got curious about the motivation of the supporters. While many have postulated about $$$ or some plum position in...

hanity discussing swift vets now

Nets Condemn Anti-Kerry Ad by Vets and Focus on Bush's 7 Minutes After abdicating their journalistic responsibility to report on how a significant number of officer colleagues of John Kerry's in Vietnam condemned his behavior during his four months in-country, or in the case of CBS, smearing them while running glowing profiles of the vets who are backing Kerry, CBS, CNN and MSNBC on Thursday night decried a new anti-Kerry TV ad produced by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. CBS anchor John Roberts stressed criticism of it over its content: "A harsh new television ad that attacks John Kerry is...

Matthews had one of the Swiftboat vets on along with a Veteran from Kerry's campaign. The guy from Kerry's campaign said that Kerry's boat was blown up. This is a complete fabrication as far as I understand it. I don't think even Rassman is saying this. Mostly the Kerry vet looked goofy...like he didn't want to talk because he knew he would have to lie.

Fox News has just reported the Boston Globe/Swift Boat Veteran "retraction" of his damninmg words about Kerry as fact, and omitted that the man quoted has since called the Globe a liar and reaffirmed his statement. Is Fox screwed-up or has this story changed again??